Abstract
Human sex trafficking refers to the exploitation of human beings through coercion, force or fraud. It is a growing epidemic that is currently being identified as modern day slavery. There are 27 million slaves estimated in the world today. Criminal justice and social work disciplines are crucial to preventing and intervening in human sex trafficking. This descriptive quantitative study strives to identify criminal justice and social work’s knowledge and perspectives towards human sex trafficking. Furthermore, the researchers are seeking to develop an understanding of the collaborative relationship between the two disciplines. The researchers surveyed 191 undergraduate criminal justice and social work students at California State University, Sacramento in their respective practicum classes using paper questionnaire. The data analysis used descriptive and inferential statistics including chi-square and t-test to facilitate interpretation of the data collected. Our findings indicated that social work students are more likely to believe that the two disciplines agree on services and interventions appropriate for persons involved in human sex trafficking. Where as criminal justice students were more reserved with their level of agreement. Despite any perceived value difference, students in these two disciplines are willing to embrace a collaborative spirit. This finding demonstrates the importance for further facilitating the perspectives and skills in interprofessional collaboration during the professions’ undergraduate studies.