What is Human Trafficking?

Human Trafficking is the exploitation of men and women, adults and children, foreign nationals and United States citizens for financial gain, and is criminalized under Florida, federal, and international law.

The federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 defines “severe forms of trafficking in persons” as:

• Sex trafficking in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age; or
• The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery.

There are 3 main populations of victims:

• Minors (under age 18) induced into commercial sex
• Adults (age 18+) involved in commercial sex via force, fraud, or coercion
• Minor and adults forced to perform labor and/or services in conditions of involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery, via force, fraud or coercion

Victims in Florida, and around the world, are trafficked for many purposes, including:

• Commercial sex
• Agricultural work
• Traveling sales crews
• Massage therapy
• Domestic work 

Victim Profile

• Trafficking victims can be men or women, adults or children, US citizens or foreign nationals, and rich or poor.

Trafficker Profile

• Traffickers include a wide range of criminal operators:
  • Individual traffickers (also known as pimps)
  • Families
  • Small businesses
  • Decentralized criminal networks
  • International organized criminal syndicates

Click here for Statistics and FAQs on human trafficking in Florida, the US and worldwide.

Click here to learn about DJJ's Office of Human Trafficking Intervention Initiatives.

*Information adapted from “Human Trafficking Cheat Sheet” found at http://www.polarisproject.org/resources/resources-by-topic/human-trafficking