HUMAN TRAFFICKING PREVALENCE IN ILLINOIS

January is National Human Trafficking Prevention Month. Continued efforts are made by Illinois law enforcement agencies and service providers to identify human trafficking victims across the state. According to the National Incident-Based Reporting System, 30 sex trafficking offenses and 17 labor trafficking offenses were reported to Illinois law enforcement agencies between January 1, 2021, and June 30, 2023. The Illinois State Police defines human sex trafficking as “inducing a person by force, fraud, or coercion to participate in commercial sex acts, or in which the person is induced to perform such acts has not attained 18 years of age; attempts are included,” and labor trafficking as “the obtaining of a person(s) through recruitment, harboring, transportation, or provision, and subjecting persons by force, fraud, or coercion into involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery; attempts are included.”

Additionally, InfoNet data show 767 trafficking victims received services from an Illinois domestic violence or sexual assault agency between July 2019 and December 2022. Of those clients, a small percentage (5.9%) were minors under age 18. Regarding race/ethnicity, the highest percentage of clients identified as White (43.2%), followed by Black/African American (26.1%), and Hispanic/Latino (13.8%). Also, nearly a third of clients (31.9%) resided in Central Illinois, followed by Northern Illinois (30.1%), and the Collar Counties (24.3%).

For state fiscal year 2023 (July 2022 – June 2023), Illinois domestic violence and sexual assault agencies using InfoNet served 321 human trafficking victims. This number reflects a 31% increase in human trafficking victims served compared to the previous year.