Sex Trafficking and Commercial Sexual Exploitation

Book excerpt: This is the first comprehensive text to critically analyze the current research and best practices for working with children, adolescents, and adults involved in sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation (CSE). With a unique, research-based focus on practice, the book synthesizes the key areas related to working with victims of sex trafficking/ CSE including prevention, identification, practice techniques, and program design as well as suggested interagency, criminal justice, and legislative responses. Best practices are examined through an intersectional, trauma-informed lens that adheres to principles of cultural competency. Highlights include: Integrates a trauma informed lens in practice, program design, and interagency responses. Uses an intersectional approach to examine identity-based oppression such as race, class, sex, LGBTQ identities, age, immigrant status, and intellectual disabilities. Highlights the importance of cultural competency in practice and program design, prevention and outreach efforts, and interagency and criminal justice system responses. Reviews the different types of sex trafficking and CSE, the physiological and psychological effects, various risk factors, and the distinct needs of survivors to encourage practitioners to tailor interventions to the specific needs of each client. Examines the role of social workers and practitioners in interagency, legislative, and criminal justice responses to sex trafficking. Takes a broad societal perspective by examining the role of macro-level risk factors facilitating sex trafficking victimization. The book analyzes the commonly reported indicators of sex trafficking/CSE, how to conduct a screening with potential victims, and direct practice techniques with various populations including evidence-based trauma treatments. Other chapters guide the reader in implementing trauma-informed programming in a variety of organizational settings, advocating for sex trafficking and CSE survivors within the criminal justice system, and implementing effective prevention and outreach programs in schools and community organizations. Intended as a text for upper division courses on sex or human trafficking, interventions with women, trauma interventions, violence against women, or gender and crime taught in social work, psychology, counseling, and criminal justice, this book is also an ideal resource for practitioners working with victims of sex trafficking and CSE in a variety of settings including child protective services, the criminal justice system, healthcare, schools, and more.