Prosecution of Human Trafficking Cases

What does the data reflect?

Human trafficking cases are commonly charged through 18 U.S.C. §1591 for sex trafficking and 18 U.S.C. §1589 for forced labor, which are found in Chapter 77 of the United States Code. This data module presents those cases prosecuted under Chapter 77 of the United States Criminal Code, for offenses established in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and its subsequent reauthorizations. You can view the number of cases, defendants, and victims in federal criminal prosecutions since 2000. Because of the limited information available through public sources on the identity of victims, the number of victims who are impacted by federal human trafficking prosecutions may be underrepresented. The data can be filtered by the type of case, and the federal districts within the states where cases were prosecuted.

The Federal Human Trafficking Report’s findings are not a prevalence estimate of trafficking in the United States, but instead, serve as an objective summary of how the federal system holds traffickers accountable for their exploitative conduct. The Report does not capture data from state prosecutions, state civil suits, or human trafficking cases that are not prosecuted.

How to download a report

You can use this module to view and filter the data. To download a report featuring the data with your filters, click the download icon on the bottom right corner of the data module.

How to cite the data

Suggested Citation: Human Trafficking Institute, Prosecution of Human Trafficking Cases, June 2022,
data.traffickinginstitute.org/prosecution-of-human-trafficking-cases/