National Assessment of Demand Reduction Efforts, Part II: New Developments in the Primary Prevention of Sex Trafficking, [United States], 2021

To combat prostitution and sex trafficking, criminal justice strategies and collaborative programs have emerged that focus on reducing consumer-level demand. From 2008 to 2012, the National Institute of Justice (NIJ) sponsored a study entitled "A National Overview of Prostitution and Sex Trafficking Demand Reduction Efforts" (referred to as Part I) that featured the systematic collection of information to determine the types and distribution of demand reduction tactics implemented throughout the United States. These efforts gave rise to a typology of law enforcement and community-based tactics identifying 12 different methods for deterring people (mostly men) from buying sex or which sanction those individuals who solicit sex acts. The essential product of that study was the Demand Forum website, launched in January 2013 by Abt Associates. In the years that followed, Demand Forum provided information about demand reduction interventions in the United States, and its content was updated and expanded through daily web searches and supplemented by periodic literature reviews or direct contact with a network of practitioners and other experts. During the website's first seven years of operation, it was viewed by more than 262,000 individuals from 179 countries and was used to shape policy and practice within the United States. However, innovations in the field, primarily new tactics using information technology (IT) to deter buyers and develop evidence to apprehend those actively seeking to purchase sex, have emerged since Demand Forum's launch.
The current study (referred to as Part II) builds upon the methodology and knowledge base of the initial study to keep the field informed of innovations and evolving responses to buyer behaviors and to continue to provide support for practice and policy. Beginning January 2021, the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE), which now maintains Demand Forum, conducted a systematic assessment of current demand reduction tactics and created an expanded tactic typology to reflect recent innovations intended to reduce the demand that drives sex trafficking markets. The project also aimed to provide updated information and resources that could be used by practitioners. The methodology for identifying new information about existing tactics and their implementation in U.S. cities and counties featured a web-based survey distributed to more than 3,200 law enforcement agencies, more than 50 interviews with expert practitioners and survivors, searches of thousands of open source reports, reviews of the research and practice literature, and reviews of prostitution laws within all 50 states.
<strong>NOTE: </strong>Data collected from the survey and interviews during this project were intended to verify information about demand reduction tactics and were not meant for analysis. This collection is limited to the online survey data.