Commercial sexual exploitation occurs in both urban, suburban and rural communities in all 67 counties of Pennsylvania. The definition of a commercial sex act includes involuntary servitude, on account of which anything of value is received by the victim, i.e., food, shelter, money, drugs, iPhone, personal offerings.

Human trafficking is a pervasive human rights injustice; the reality is that human trafficking need not involve human smuggling.

Social media platforms are common ways traffickers supply buyers of sex in an industry estimated to be $810 million in annual revenue.

Victims are lured into the trade because they are vulnerable - runaways, homeless, in foster care, abusive childhood living conditions, or are migrant, with no community support. The average age of entry into child commercial sexual exploitation is 16. The average victim is trafficked for three years before coming to the attention of law enforcement.

Traffickers are good at feeling out those who are vulnerable. They woo them in, initially, by developing a “relationship”, then force them into a trafficking relationship. Youths often become dependent on them, their young age, developmentally adds to the vulnerability in terms of emotional attachments. Some get lured in and become dependent on substances after being forced to use, or they are secretly given drugs in order to become dependent on their supplier - the trafficker. The opioid crisis has added to vulnerabilities of addicted people - often living on the street.

The Polaris Project operates the U.S. Human Trafficking Hotline, where victims can call for help or information. The number of trafficked victims increased 20% from 2018-2019. In 2019, Polaris identified 22,325 victims and survivors; 4,384 traffickers were identified.

Our Foundation supports Villanova School of Law Institute To Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation. The CSE has been providing training throughout the Commonwealth, promoting new pieces of vital anti-trafficking legislation. The Justice For Victims Fellowship provides direct legal representation to survivors in need of post-conviction relief.

Conspiracy theorists, such as QAnon have spread misinformation about trafficking on social media. Unfortunately, this has now politicized an established bipartisan social human rights issue.