The Prevalence and Correlates of Labor and Sex Trafficking in a Community Sample of Youth Experiencing Homelessness in Metro-Atlanta

Research suggests that runaway and homeless youth (RHY) in the United States are vulnerable to sex labor trafficking. In this paper, we report analyze estimates of trafficking collected as part Atlanta Youth Count 2018, a community-based field survey RHY between ages 14 25 metro-Atlanta area. A total 564 participants were recruited completed included questions about their backgrounds well Human Trafficking Screening Tool (HTST). We found 39.9% experienced some form while homeless. While 15.6% reported commercial sexual exploitation homeless, coerced (29.3%) or fraud (25.2%) even more common experiences. Women, transgender, gender nonconforming youth, young people who had prior system involvement those been for than year most likely having trafficked. The significance these findings research policy on discussed.