There are more underage victims of sex trafficking in Arizona than are currently identified through the juvenile court system, Arizona State University researchers have found.
Dominique Roe-Sepowitz, director of the universityβs Office of Sex Trafficking Intervention Research, announced the findings Tuesday at a meeting of Gov. Jan Brewerβs Human Trafficking Council.
The study, which was based on a survey of 26 Arizona delinquency service providers, showed that at least 161 youths receiving services through the juvenile justice system in March were victims of trafficking.
Youths are considered trafficking victims if they were compelled through force, fraud or coercion to perform a sexual act for money, clothes, protection or a place to stay.
The study found that three-quarters were involved in the stateβs child welfare system.
The analysis was an early effort to try to measure the extent of the issue.
βThe problem with focusing only on known cases, if you havenβt been trained recognizing the problem, youβre not looking for the problem,β Roe-Sepowitz said.
The level of awareness and availability of reliable data are related, she said.
βSex trafficking is where domestic violence was 35 years ago,β she said. βWe are really at the beginning of the anti-trafficking movement.β
Roe-Sepowitz and her colleagues provided a four-hour training on sex trafficking to service providers in February and then asked participants to complete a survey.
Of the 105 agencies invited, 32 sent representatives to the training and 26 filled out the survey.
Of 37 detailed accounts, more than half involved drug or alcohol addiction, two-thirds had a history of runaways and more than 8 in 10 had a history of sexual abuse.
Gil Orrantia, co-chairman of the council, said the findings will be used to help design training and victim services.
