Abstract
Approximately 25 million individuals are exploited for sex and labor trafficking internationally at any given time. The United States is one of the largest markets for human trafficking, and among all the states, California has the greatest number of victimization reports. Human trafficking is commonly labeled as a hidden crime, largely because victim demographic data are scarce, often unreliable, and inconsistent across the literature. As a result, there is a significant need for research aimed at better understanding domestic human trafficking victim demographics. In this thesis, a secondary analysis was performed focused on descriptive characteristics and demographics of domestic human trafficking victims in California spanning 2016-2021. The data utilized in this research were collected from the California Governor’s Office of Emergency services; in total, 190 Human Trafficking Victim Assistance (HV) Program progress reports between 2016-2021 were analyzed in this study. The findings of this thesis suggest that of the 21,034 reported victims, sex trafficking was the most prevalent type of trafficking and adult women represented the majority of victims. Additionally, most victims were of African American or Latino backgrounds, reported English as their primary language, and nearly 20% of the victims were reported to have a disability. Ultimately, the findings from this research work towards providing more clarity on human trafficking victim demographics in California. This study highlights the need for additional research locally, across the United States, and globally in order to better characterize the most vulnerable populations.