Research

Current as of:

Research enables us to:

  • Identify evidence-based practices to effectively assist individuals who have experienced trafficking
  • Understand human trafficking victimization to inform targeted prevention and early intervention activities
  • Make data available to those who want to end human trafficking

OTIP partners with multiple federal agencies and research institutions to support research on human trafficking through funding, technical assistance, and consultations.

Learn more about contributions of HHS and OTIP to human trafficking research, data collection, and evaluation.

Access a chart of all U.S. government funded research on human trafficking . To find out more information on a specific research report, please see the research links found in the chart or contact the authors directly.

As part of the Human Trafficking Policy and Research Analyses Project, the OTIP Learning Agenda (PDF) outlines actionable strategies that can advance OTIP’s mission and strengthen its anti-trafficking work.

Current HHS Research Projects

Estimating the Prevalence of Human Trafficking

At the White House Summit on Human Trafficking , the President announced an executive order directing the Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor, Justice, State, and Homeland Security to improve methodologies to estimate the prevalence of human trafficking in the U.S. and beyond.

As part of the federal government’s commitment to estimating the prevalence of human trafficking:

State Requirements for Human Trafficking Data Collection

OTIP is researching the landscape of state legislation requiring assistance to victims and/or human trafficking data collection, with particular attention to privacy, security, and confidentiality policies and practices. The project includes a review of state legislation and interviews with anti-trafficking organizations, state agencies, and coalitions. The project is a partnership with the Office on Women’s Health and the Lovelight Foundation. 

Past HHS Research Projects