DOI: 10.3886/icpsr03366
title: Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in the United States, 1997-2000
title: Archival Version

description: This project undertook the systematic collection of
 first-generation data concerning the nature, extent, and seriousness
 of child sexual exploitation (CSE) in the United States. The project
 was organized around the following research objectives: (1)
 identification of the nature, extent, and underlying causes of CSE and
 the commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) occurring in the
 United States, (2) identification of those subgroups of children that
 were at the greatest risk of being sexually exploited, (3)
 identification of subgroups of adult perpetrators of sex crimes
 against children, and (4) identification of the modes of operation and
 other methods used by organized criminal units to recruit children
 into sexually exploitative activities. The study involved surveying
 senior staff members of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and
 government organizations (GOs) in the United States known to be
 dealing with persons involved in the transnational trafficking of
 children for sexual purposes. Part 1 consists of survey data from
 nongovernment organizations. These were local child and family
 agencies serving runaway and homeless youth. Part 2 consists of survey
 data from government organizations. These organizations were divided
 into local, state, and federal agencies. Local organizations included
 municipal law enforcement, county law enforcement, prosecutors, public
 defenders, and corrections. State organizations included state child
 welfare directors, prosecutors, and public defenders. Federal
 organizations included the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal
 Public Defenders, Immigration and Naturalization Service, United
 States Attorneys, United States Customs, and the United States Postal
 Service. Variables in Parts 1 and 2 include the organization's city,
 state, and ZIP code, the type of services provided or type of law
 enforcement agency, how the agency was funded, the scope of the
 agency's service area, how much emphasis was placed on CSEC as a
 policy issue or a service issue, conditions that might influence the
 number of CSEC cases, how staff were trained to deal with CSEC cases,
 how victims were identified, the number of children that experienced
 child abuse, sexual abuse, pornography, or other exploitation in 1999
 and 2000 by age and gender, methods of recruitment, family history of
victims, gang involvement, and substance abuse history of victims.
description: The benefits of economic globalization,
 internationalization, and free trade have brought with them an
 unanticipated set of social problems. Among them is what appears to be
 a dramatic rise worldwide in the incidence of child
 exploitation. Among the most virulent forms of this exploitation is
 child sexual exploitation (CSE), including the commercial sexual
 exploitation of children (CSEC). The extent of these problems in the
 United States has been unknown, although most experts dealing with
 CSEC regard it to be a serious problem in North America. This project
 undertook the systematic collection of first-generation data
 concerning the nature, extent, and seriousness of child sexual
 exploitation in the United States. The project was organized around
 the following research objectives: (1) identification of the nature,
 extent, and underlying causes of CSE and CSEC occurring in the United
 States, (2) identification of those subgroups of children that were at
 the greatest risk of being sexually exploited, (3) identification of
 subgroups of adult perpetrators of sex crimes against children, and
 (4) identification of the modes of operation and other methods used by
 organized criminal units to recruit children into sexually
exploitative activities.
description: This study involved surveying senior staff members
 of nongovernment organizations (NGOs) and government organizations
 (GOs) in the United States known to be dealing with persons involved
 in the transnational trafficking of children for sexual purposes.
 Part 1 consists of survey data from nongovernment organizations.
 These were local child and family agencies serving runaway and
 homeless youth. Part 2 consists of survey data from government
 organizations. These organizations were divided into local, state, and
 federal agencies. Local organizations included municipal law
 enforcement, county law enforcement, prosecutors, public defenders,
 and corrections. State organizations included state child welfare
 directors, prosecutors, and public defenders. Federal organizations
 included the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Federal Public
 Defenders, Immigration and Naturalization Service, United States
 Attorneys, United States Customs, and the United States Postal
 Service. Surveys were originally mailed to the
 organizations. Researchers used additional mailings, telephone calls,
and faxes to encourage responsiveness.
description: Variables in Parts 1 and 2 include the
 organization's city, state, and ZIP code, the type of services
 provided or type of law enforcement agency, how the agency was funded,
 the scope of the agency's service area, how much emphasis was placed
 on CSEC as a policy issue or a service issue, conditions that might
 influence the number of CSEC cases, how staff were trained to deal
 with CSEC cases, how victims were identified, the number of children
 that experienced child abuse, sexual abuse, pornography, or other
 exploitation in 1999 and 2000 by age and gender, methods of
 recruitment, family history of victims, gang involvement, and
substance abuse history of victims.
description: Response Rates: The response rate for Part 1 (nongovernmental
 organizations) was 22 percent. The response rate for Part 2
(governmental organizations) was 24 percent.
description: Presence of Common Scales: Several Likert-type scales were used.
description: Stratified random sampling.
description: Datasets: 
DS0: Study-Level Files
DS1: Nongovernment Organization Survey Data
DS2: Government Organization Survey Data
description: Government and nongovernment agencies in the United States
 that dealt with persons involved in the transnational trafficking of
children for sexual purposes.
description: (1) The data in this collection came from a larger
 project studying CSE and CSEC in the United States, Canada, and
 Mexico. ICPSR did not receive data pertaining to Canada or Mexico. (2)
 The principal investigators also used data from the NATIONAL
 INCIDENT-BASED REPORTING SYSTEM, 1998 (ICPSR 3031) and the UNIFORM
 CRIME REPORTS (UCR) AND FEDERAL INFORMATION PROCESSING STANDARDS
 (FIPS) STATE AND COUNTY GEOGRAPHIC CODES, 1990: UNITED STATES (ICPSR
 2565) for this project. (3) The user guide, codebook, and data
 collection instruments are provided by ICPSR as Portable Document
 Format (PDF) files. The PDF file format was developed by Adobe Systems
 Incorporated and can be accessed using PDF reader software, such as
 the Adobe Acrobat Reader. Information on how to obtain a copy of the
Acrobat Reader is provided on the ICPSR Web site.