Human trafficking has garnered a significant and growing amount of attention from the U.S. government since the 1990s, culminating in the passage of the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000. There is also a growing body of research on human trafficking, but most of it has focused on trying to show that human trafficking is a problem. The authors explore the extent and characteristics of concrete cases of human trafficking in Columbus and Toledo, Ohio, as well as the awareness of and response to the problem by the justice systems and social service provider communities in the two cities. The authors summarize their content analysis of newspaper accounts as well as key respondent interviews that they conducted with criminal justice officials and social service providers in each site. These identified several cases of juvenile sex trafficking and forced prostitution in Toledo, as well as a smaller trafficking market centered on the forced labor of noncitizens in Columbus. The authors compare the two cities' considerably different responses to human trafficking, and conclude with suggestions on how to raise awareness about human trafficking and improve the responses of the criminal justice system, the juvenile justice system, and social services to the problem.

The human-trafficking markets in Columbus and Toledo -- Justice system response -- Service provider and community responses -- Key policy considerations.