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Abstract:
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Reports from field workers in the fight against human trafficking indicate a spike due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This research explores the intersection between human trafficking and COVID-19. Meta-analysis identifying risk factors for human trafficking in the United States provides a pre-COVID baseline. Re-calculating the risk resulting from changes to those key drivers impacted by the pandemic allows estimation of changes in human trafficking due to COVID-19 and identify likely hotspots. Correlations to other social pathologies exacerbated by the pandemic are explored, including domestic violence, accidental drug overdose deaths, and suicide. While domestic violence continues to be under-reported, it is less so than human trafficking; emerging spikes in domestic violence reports can provide guidance on pandemic-driven increases in human trafficking. The emerging post-COVID “new normal” of human trafficking operations is described, an increasingly digital environment where social media analytics will be become even more important.
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