Harvey is a census-designated place in Jefferson Parish, Louisiana. Harvey is located on the south side of the Mississippi River, within the New Orleans–Metairie–Kenner metropolitan statistical area, and its population is approximately 21,000. Prostitution activity has been well-documented within the city of Harvey and throughout Jefferson Parish, and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates results in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and businesses.  Among the more serious crimes associated with the local commercial sex market are sex trafficking and a wide range of violent crimes.

Consumer level demand provides the revenue stream for all prostitution and sex trafficking, and demand reduction tactics have been employed in Harvey. For example, in December 2022 a male sex buyer was arrested and his identity was publicly circulated. The man had been shot in the neck after trying to rob a prostituted woman he met at a motel in Harvey, according to the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office. The 24-year-old man was charged with armed robbery after he was released from the hospital. Investigators said the man met a 21-year-old woman at the motel at the 2200 block of Westbank Expressway in Harvey for an alleged prostitution date. When he arrived at the motel the woman was already in the room with another 26-year-old man who was hiding in the bathroom. When the sex buyer arrived he allegedly pulled out a gun, demanded the woman’s belongings, and forced her into the bathroom at gunpoint. At that point, the unidentified man in the bathroom, who was also armed with a gun, confronted the sex buyer and shot him in the neck. The sex buyer’s identity was included in news reports.