Virginia has taken vital steps to identify, track, and cease human trafficking but there is still important work and research to be done. What is required to 

It’s a question Jennifer Reid, Ph.D., evaluation director and senior consultant at the Center for Public Policy (CPP) explored during a recent Wilder School Lunch and Learn presentation.  She discussed how her team  is working to understand available data, create avenues for accurate data collection and shed light on overlooked victims of trafficking. 

Through a grant with the Commonwealth of Virginia Attorney General’s Office from the Office of Victims of Crime, the CPP is working o to identify opportunities and gaps within Virginia’s trafficking mitigation efforts. 

“Virginia does not have a complete understanding of how many trafficking cases we have,” Reid said, explaining how instead relies on data from the National Human Trafficking Hotline. “There is not a centralized database that currently exists.” 

>>Watch the complete video presentation on our YouTube channel

Overlooked demographics 

Reid has focused on often overlooked victims of human trafficking: youth, labor trafficking and the trafficking of boys. 

“Boys are the growing population when it comes to human trafficking,” she said.“ Many of the services that exist for individuals who are trafficked are very much focused on female trafficking and sex trafficking.” 

The societal perception of male victims can hinder the identification of cases and pursuit of justice and support for victims. 

“Boys who are engaged in trafficking are more viewed as the criminal and not the victim. When it comes to labor trafficking, we see an increase in boys who are engaged in gang-related activities can actually be considered trafficked and not the criminals in the activities they engage in.”
– Jennifer Reid, evaluation director and senior consultant, Center for Public Policy 

Bringing change through policy 

Reid’s research has concluded that a sound foundation requires comprehensive legislation, a central strategic plan, short and long-term support for victims, centralized data collection, and dedicated resources and employees are necessary to track and mitigate human trafficking. 

She also proposed a collaborative, multidisciplinary system with structures for engagement, one that builds agency and department collaborations, engages with lived-experience experts, uses community-based approaches, and employs standard screening tools. 

Educating mandatory reporters and employees in industries with a high percentage of trafficking on how to identify potential signs of trafficking is identified as an essential step in stopping trafficking. 

The Center for Public Policy is creating innovative ways to track and understand trafficking. 

“What we've come up with are two different alternative ways, and instead of specifically indicating where trafficking is occurring, we're creating a vulnerability map,” Dr. Reid said. 

The first method is called the Albright method, which “is based on wage and labor violation type throughout Virginia … as well as identification of industries of concern.” 

The second method is the Child/Youth Risk Vulnerability method, which is being developed through literature and data analysis from the Office for Victims of Crime, as well as Research Triangle Institute International. It is a method to identify specific factors that may make an individual more vulnerable to trafficking, such as homelessness or involvement in the juvenile justice system.