Leveraging Researcher Practitioner Partnerships to Improve Human Trafficking Prevalence Studies

(Due to occasional audio issues, the use of subtitles is recommended for this video.)

How widespread is the problem of human trafficking in the United States? Understanding the scope of human trafficking prevalence is a priority for policymakers, law enforcement, researchers, and community-based practitioners. However, it can be difficult to accurately measure. This presentation will provide a brief overview of the strategies used to measure the prevalence of human trafficking, the importance of the engagement of community-based agency participation in this work, and a discussion of the benefits of taking a researcher-practitioner approach to prevalence research. The presenters for this presentation are currently collaborating on study to measure the prevalence of sex trafficking among adults in Sacramento County, California.

Bios:
Terri Galvan has a Master of Public Policy degree from the University of Southern California and more than 20 years of experience working with unhoused women, addiction, and commercial sexual exploitation.

Rebecca Pfeffer is a research criminologist in the Victimization and Resilience Research Program in RTI International’s Division of Applied Justice Research. Her research interests include better understanding and addressing the victimization of vulnerable populations, ranging from survivors of human trafficking to people with disabilities.

Kelle Barrick, a senior research criminologist in RTI’s Division for Applied Justice Research, has 20 years of experience in criminal justice and criminological research. She is an expert on human trafficking and has participated in expert working groups on trafficking research by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, among others.