UPDATE June 14, 2012:

ISWFACE NOTES: Polaris Project, which has the contract for running the NHTRC, reports that in 2010 it received a total of 471 phone calls 'referencing potential human trafficking' cases, and the Melissa Data website (where you can find how much income non profit organizations received each year) reported that in 2010, Polaris Project

listed on its form 990 an income of $3,266,852. So each of the 471 phone calls it received cost the taxpayers $6,935.99. As explained below, the other phone calls it received related to 'concerned individuals contacting the organization to report suspicious behavior' as well as 'training' and giving general information. In other words, the tax payer is being 'screwed' by the anti- trafficking hysteria which claims that the increased calls from 2010 to 2011 (from 471 to 756) is 'a real groundswell' of interest. That same year, there were over 80,000 reported rapes- actual cases where a victim asked for help and the police managed to apprehend about 20% of the alleged rapists. There is no information available on how many alleged rapists were convicted or sent to prison. As indicated below number of arrests for rape: 17,132  number of prostitution arrests: 52,211 where all participants involved were adult and consenting, none of them called the police to report being a victim. To view a copy of the Polaris Project Report, click here To view the article in The Washington Times, click here ["Human Trafficking hotline calls show 'groundswell of interest']

The media bombards us with horror stories about human trafficking (by which they mostly mean prostitution) and how very many cases there are (supposedly). But exactly how do the actual statistics stack up against the other equally devastating acts of  intimate violence? The purpose of these pages is to compare incidents of reported rape (in which the victim of rape files a report with the police and possibly undergoes a traumatic procedure to obtain DNA evidence), the number of rapists arrested for their crime, the number of prostitution arrests in which the only complaining party is a law enforcement agent (stats presented here are the adult arrests, and do not include the juveniles who are arrested - "rescued"- for acts of prostitution), the number of calls to human trafficking hotlines and the  number of domestic violence incidents reported on just one day in each state. Do a search for "actual number of cases of human trafficking" and you are not likely to find very much. You will find plenty of references to how serious a problem it is, and then interested persons are given a few anecdotes  about 5 year old girls who were bought and brought to the US to be sex slaves (the younger the child, the more money it brings in for "the cause..."). But it is difficult to locate any cold, hard statistics. The US Government issued a report in 2011, which you can read here:   'Characteristics of Suspected Human Trafficking Incidents, 2008- 2010.'

Further reading on the GREAT MORAL PANIC OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING: "Craigslist, Sex Trafficking and the Next Moral Panic" by Dr. Marty Klein

Click here to read the section on domestic violence with  government statistics  related just to that issue.

2010: THE PROPAGANDA OF THE POLARIS PROJECT: The table following the Polaris Project information below shows (1) the number of rapes reported to the police, (2) the number of rapists arrested as well as (3)  the number of prostitution arrests in each state for the same year (2010). Additionally, it shows  (4) the number of calls to the National Human Trafficking Resource Center as reported by the Polaris Project, which receives government funding. Finally, (5)  it shows the number of victims of domestic violence who requested help on just one day in 2010. The US Government reports that there are approximately 12 MILLION incidents of intimate partner violence and 1 MILLION intimate partner rapes.

My question is; if we have solid stats on the number of reported rapes, arrested rapists, arrested prostitutes and their clients and reported acts of domestic violence, why don't we have solid stats on the number of cases of human trafficking of which we are aware-  cases in which a victim has been identified? Why so much ambiguity? Sure, we are told that there are so many victims that we don't have an accurate estimate- just a wild guess. But surely there have to be some solid numbers for each state just as there are for victims of rape... one would think, anyway. And aside from the US Government Bureau of Statistics, shouldn't an organization which gets much of its funding from the US Government have a better handle on the statistics they are supposed to collect? Instead of  "potential victims referenced," shouldn't they know if these are actual victims? Wouldn't you think that the "National Human Trafficking Resource Center" (NHTRC) would have that information and make it available to the public if it wishes to convince us of the magnitude of the problem?

Click on the state number of calls to view pdf document for the Human Trafficking Calls. [From its 2009 filing, Polaris Project reports that it received $3,755,801 for its work in answering- according to its website- 7,637 phone calls- primarily NON human trafficking crisis calls at a cost of $491 per call (divide the total number of calls they handled in 2010 into the $3million and that's what you get). Of course, they also claim to do policy advocacy ("Abolish all prostitution"), Client Services (services to whom? to victims? if so, how many victims? no telling because we don't have any idea how many actual victims there are), Training and Technical Assistance (training to do what? spot the non existent hordes of victims? turn in alleged prostitutes? raise public awareness about an insignificant number of victims? I am not saying that the victims are insignificant- just the highly inflated number of victims), Public Outreach and Communications (to solicit more money for their project?), Fellowship (teaching future leaders about the necessity of abolishing all prostitution),  International Programs (training more people to find those darn prostitutes who insist they aren't victims) and Campaigns (their crusade against all prostitution and adult sex work). According to their 990 for for 2009, they paid out $1,590,099 in salaries. Seems like most of the money is spent on everything but the alleged victims.

PLEASE NOTE: The number of calls to the Human Trafficking Hotline does not indicate how many  cases of human trafficking were reported in that state, rather, the number includes all calls to the hotline for the following purpose: (Source: Hotline Statistics)

RED- Crisis Calls – This category includes calls received from self-identifying victims of trafficking in need of immediate assistance or calls from individuals calling on behalf of a potential victim in need of immediate assistance. Calls referencing potential minor victims of trafficking may also fall into this category even if the situation is not an emergency.

GREEN- Tips – Tips include calls received from individuals wishing to report information related to potential trafficking victims, suspicious behaviors, and/or locations where trafficking is suspected to be occurring.

BLUE- Training and Technical Assistance – Calls requesting training and technical assistance on anti-trafficking topics often include, but are not limited to, requests for: specialized information, phone consultations, materials reviews, trainings/presentations, and field training or joint activities.

PURPLE- Referrals – This call category includes requests for referrals to organizations working to combat human trafficking, specified by name, geographical area and/or type of service provided.

YELLOW- General Information – This category includes calls requesting general information on the issue of human trafficking, such as legal definitions, scope, statistics, trends, prevalence, etc.

GREY- Related Calls – This category was created to address calls that are either irrelevant to the purpose of the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, or are related in issue (such as sexual assault or general labor exploitation) but are beyond the scope of NHTRC services.

CLICK ON IMAGE ABOVE TO VIEW SOURCE

As you can see, the majority of calls to the hotline had little to do with human trafficking  victims in crisis... most were  either for general information  (yellow) or for 'related calls' which are 'either irrelevant to the purpose of the National Human Trafficking Resource Center' (grey). Nevertheless, all calls are counted, regardless of their relevance to human trafficking. This is how these highly funded organizations keep the money coming in. Very few people investigate beyond the "number of calls"  to learn what the calls are for and how they relate to actual victims.

GRAND TOTAL EXAMPLE:   ALL CALLS TO THE HOTLINE ARE INCLUDED IN THIS FIGURE AND  MAY DIFFER SIGNIFICANTLY FROM THE ACTUAL NUMBER OF 'POTENTIAL VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING'-  for example,  the total number of hotline calls in 2011 in Alabama was 87, while the number of "potential victims referenced" was 9. And in Texas 2011, the total number of calls was listed as 1,314 while the "Number of Potential Victims Referenced" was 79.

Even though there is a substantial difference in these numbers, for the sake of argument I am using the highest number given for each state and each year rather than the number cited for the 'potential victims.'  Even with the highest number, the reported rapes, arrests for prostitution and stats for one day reporting domestic violence far surpasses the hotline calls for human trafficking. Of course, we are told that the reported number of human trafficking cases is about 1% (although there is no way to test the accuracy of this claim, we will go with that, and also use the FBI's estimate that only about 37% of rapes are reported, leaving about 63% UNREPORTED), but when compared to the number of unreported rapes AND domestic violence, their statistics still fall incredibly short of being an 'epidemic.'

The US Government report on the 'Characteristics of Suspected Human Trafficking Incidents, 2008- 2010' states that the Federally funded task forces opened 2,515 suspected incidents of human trafficking for investigation between January 2008 and June 2010. " Among trafficking incidents opened for at least one year, 30% were confirmed to be human trafficking, 38% were confirmed NOT to be human trafficking, and the remaining incidents were still open at the end of the study period."  You can do the math. Either there are just not that  many victims of human trafficking or the US Government is incredibly inept at finding them. The calls to the government funded hotline would indicate that there are just not that many victims and we are being misled by the abolitionists whose sole goal is to abolish all prostitution. They just don't seem to be all that concerned about thousands of victims of human trafficking forced into domestic servitude or agriculture or garment manufacturing. And they  certainly are not as concerned about victims of domestic violence and rape as they are about prostitutes!

Click on links below to go to the Government website where you can view my source for this information. Click on the number of hotline calls and the domestic violence incidents for each state to view the source for those statistics.

• For data on arrests state by state for 2007
• For data on arrests state by state for 2008
• For data on arrests state by state for 2009
• For data on arrests state by state for 2010
• For data on arrests state by state for 2011
  

Click here to view to the other tables on this site:  Rape and Prostitution Arrests by state:

• 2007
• 2008
• 2009
• 2011
  

Rape cases are reported by those who have been raped, whereas  in prostitution cases, the police officer is the complaining witness. We do not know how many actual instances of prostitution are going on at any given time, but very seldom if ever does the prostitute or client turn him or her self in as being  the perpetrator of a criminal act. Therefore the only cases of prostitution or solicitation that are recorded and for which a 'perpetrator' is arrested are those cases in which a law enforcement agent either directly observes or witnesses a solicitation, or claims to have witnessed such a solicitation. They may also make a claim of "observing a crime" after they have participated in a sex act, in states/ cities where such questionable and unethical activity is allowed.  In other states, the police can recruit civic minded men in the community to engage in sex acts with a suspected prostitute and then testify against the suspected prostitute, for which the witness is paid. In either case, it would seem that the taxpayers who funds such encounters are getting screwed.