The FBI marked World Day Against Trafficking in Persons by issuing data on the scope of the problem in the United States, as well as information on the agency’s enforcement efforts.
“Right now across the FBI we have more than 1,600 pending cases involving human trafficking,” special agent in charge Lyonel Myrthil said.
The national office also released a special report to examine drug offenses in relation to human trafficking incidents. In total, the FBI said there were more than 10,000 reported victims of human trafficking since 2013.
The July 30 report showed that in 2022, the FBI saw 2,378 reported incidents of human trafficking, up from 2,125 in 2021 and 1,540 in 2020. Meanwhile, the number of reported victims for 2022 reached 2,883.
A majority of reported human trafficking incidents occurred in the South, which was also the largest in terms of population and the number of participating law enforcement agencies. There were 58 reported drug offenses per 100 human trafficking incidents in this region. By comparison, the Northeast saw the lowest number of human trafficking incidents and only two drug offenses per 100 human trafficking incidents. The ratio in the West was 22 drug offenses per 100 human trafficking incidents.
Methodology
The National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), which collects data from law enforcement agencies across the country, informed the July 30 report.Increasing participation from law enforcement has, as expected, risen with the number of reported human trafficking incidents. Since 2013, participation has risen from 29 percent of law enforcement agencies to 70 percent, with 77 percent of the population covered in 2022.
The FBI defines an “incident” as “one or more offenses committed by the same offender, or group of offenders acting in concert, at the same time and place.”
From the offense level, commercial sex acts made up the predominant form of reported human trafficking offenses, with 68 percent identified in 2013 and 80 to 90 percent from 2014 to 2022.
The remaining trafficking offenses involved involuntary servitude, amounting to 19 percent of trafficking incidents in 2022. Since 2014, the proportion of involuntary servitude offenses in human trafficking has fluctuated between 10 percent and 20 percent.
Among the trafficking incidents recorded from 2013–2022, the FBI reported 707 incidents of assisting or promoting prostitution, 534 incidents of rape, and 411 incidents related to pornography or obscene material, including the exploitation of children.
Data from NIBRS showed that of the 2,691 human trafficking incidents reported in 2022, the most common location for the offenses was a residence or home, where 985 incidents occurred.
Demographics
Women constituted the majority of the victims of human trafficking offenses in 2022 with 2,068 reported cases compared to 476 cases for men and 147 cases for victims of an “unknown sex.”Human trafficking victims’ ages varied but tended to cluster between 11 and 30 years old. There were 712 victims who were 16 to 20 years old, 588 victims who were 11 to 15 years old, 338 victims who were 21 to 25 years old, 228 victims who were 26 to 30 years old, and 102 child victims aged 10 years and younger.
Commenting on the 1,600 pending cases, Myrthil said the vast majority of these cases involve U.S. citizens who are recruited and trafficked from their own cities and towns and even their own homes.
“We understand the victims of these crimes are often coerced with money or drugs and our victims specialists work closely with them to reduce the trauma of the criminal justice system and ensure their needs are met every step of the way,” he said in the news release.
According to the 2022 data set, 123 of the human trafficking victims were related to their offenders. Another 1,019 knew one or more of the offenders but were not related to them. For 405 victims, the offenders were recorded as a stranger.
FBI data recorded 2,428 known offenders, most of whom were adult males; 222 were white, 201 were black, 23 were Asian, four were Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, and three were American Indian or Alaska Native.
Most arrestees—a total of 292—were between the ages of 21 and 40, but there were 50 people who were 41 to 45 years old, 49 people who were 16 to 20 years old, and four people 11 to 15 years old.
