The Typology of Modern Slavery: Defining Sex and Labor Trafficking in the United States

Recognizing that the forms of human trafficking vary from one sector to another, and that strategies for combatting trafficking must be adapted to the circumstances of each sector, the Polaris Project has produced this typology of 25 "types of human slavery."  An important goal of the study was to move beyond the traditional broad categories of sex trafficking and labor trafficking.  The study is based on an analysis of more than 32,000 cases of human trafficking documented between December 2007 and December 2016 on the National Human Trafficking Hotline and the BeFree Textline -- services operated by the Polaris Project. The authors describe their study as "the largest data set on human trafficking in the United States ever compiled and publically analyzed."  Within each of the 25 categories, the authors describe the business model, recruitment practices, methods of control, geographic patterns, and give profiles of both victims and traffickers. The authors caution, however, that cases of labor trafficking are probably underreported in the Polaris database "due to a lack of awareness about the issue and a lack of recognition of the significant vulnerability of workers in many U.S. labor sectors."

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