Cracking Down on Human Trafficking

Over the last five years, 876 human-trafficking offenses were charged statewide.

Human Trafficking is a type of human rights abuse where people profit from the exploitation of others – mainly using force, fraud or coercion to manipulate victims into engaging in sex acts or labor/services in exchange for something of value.

January is human trafficking awareness month and this month's infographic highlights key court data related to human trafficking including the total number of human-trafficking cases and offenses over the last five years, defendant demographics and the top 10 counties with the highest number human trafficking offenses.

In an article published in the Herald at the beginning of December 2021, Ashley Owens, Director of the Children's Advocacy Center in Altoona, said that human trafficking is "a business model that is roughly a $150 billion business with labor and sex trafficking."