Sex Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation

This book offers a comprehensive volume of work synthesizing and critically analyzing the available research examining social work practice with sex trafficking/commercial sexual exploitation (CSE) survivors, and focuses on practice in the area of sex trafficking, CSE, and sex work. It is essential for practitioners and social work students involved directly in the fields of sex trafficking and CSE. The first chapter provides a basic introduction to sex trafficking/CSE, reviewed definitions, types of trafficking and exploitation, characteristics of survivors, prevalence and need for services, and the physiological and psychological effects of sex trafficking/CSE. The next chapter centers on prevention and outreach, specifically examining ecological risk factors of sex trafficking/CSE. The third chapter examines identification and screening for sex trafficking/CSE and includes a critical analysis of commonly reported indicators of sex trafficking/CSE. Chapter 4 critically examines the various forms of practice working with sex trafficking/CSE survivors as well as those who continue to be engaged in the commercial sex industry, and discusses evidence-based trauma treatments and mental health treatments. Practices with specific populations, such as those with intellectual disabilities, refugees, children/adolescents, immigrants, and LGBTQ people are also delineated. The fifth chapter details programmatic design recommendations, including trauma-informed programming and the development of a holistically trauma-informed organization. The following chapter emphasizes interagency coalition involvement and community based-responses (CBRs), and discusses the history and development of antitrafficking coalitions in the United States, as well as the benefits and challenges identified in the extant research. The penultimate chapter explores recommended advocacy practices when survivors are involved in the criminal justice system, and explores the benefits and challenges of related legislation addressing sex trafficking and ways practitioners can assist clients in accessing benefits and addressing challenges. The final chapter summarizes the key points of each chapter and subsequent recommendations.