Identifying High-Priority Needs
to Improve the Measurement and
Application of Human Trafcking
Prevalence Estimates
Rebecca Pfeffer, Melissa M. Labriola, Lynn Langton, Duren Banks, Dulani Woods,
Michael J. D. Vermeer, Brian A. Jackson
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
RESULTS
Measuring prevalence with purpose
• Recommend that research funders and researchers
use, at a minimum, a co-creation model, but, ideally,
they should use a rigorous community-based partici-
patory action research approach.
Establishing consensus on methodologies
• Create a guide with best practices on instrument
design, sampling approaches, testing, open data,
and dissemination practices to allow for appropriate
disaggregation (while protecting privacy).
Accounting for variation
• Establish, design, and co-create the research
design and implementation with researchers and
the affected community (including those with lived
experience).
Prioritizing community input
• Ensure that prevalence research includes under-
represented subpopulations by using designs that
employ community-based approaches that identify
diverse perspectives in communities.
Understanding existing data sources
• Conduct targeted primary studies to enable statisti-
cal modeling that uses administrative data and other
data sources to produce prevalence estimates.
Conducting formative research
• Conduct postresearch studies to better understand
the potential for retraumatization that could result
from primary research (e.g., interviews).
SELECTED PRIORITY NEEDS
Human trafficking is a complex and nuanced problem that
exists around the world and continues to be a difficult social
issue to combat. A pervasive issue is the lack of understand-
ing of approximately how many people are trafficked. Over
the years, there have been many attempts to determine the
prevalence of trafficking; however, the hidden nature of such
exploitation continues to be problematic (Durgana and van
Dijk, 2021; Tyldum and Brunovskis, 2005). Understanding the
prevalence of this issue is difficult because of the coercion used
by traffickers, isolation felt by victims, lack of awareness, and
cultural and social barriers preventing victims from coming
forward. Without this foundational knowledge, it can be chal-
lenging for government and human services agencies to create
an effective plan of action and evaluate efforts made to both
prevent trafficking and assist those who are trafficked (Durgana
and Zador, 2017).
Measuring the prevalence of such behaviors as trafficking
may have utility for practitioners and other key stakeholders
who are assessing the level of need and resources necessary
to engage in outreach and intervention with individuals who
have experienced trafficking. However, the information that
practitioners often need to know about the scope of traffick-
ing for the purpose of engagement and assistance may be more
comprehensive than a high-level measure of prevalence can
provide. ere is no clearly defined set of indicators of human
trafficking that has utility for both measuring prevalence and
filling gaps in the information needs of practitioners working
with people who have experienced human trafficking.
Responding to this need, RAND, in collaboration with
RTI International and on behalf of the National Institute of
Justice, hosted a workshop in January 2024. is workshop
built on prior federal efforts to measure prevalence and focused
on the type and level of information (national, state, local)
