Merced County is located in the northern San Joaquin Valley section of the Central Valley area of California. It lies about halfway between the Fresno and San Jose metropolitan areas, and Interstate 5 runs through the county. The county’s population is over 281,000 residents, and the county seat is the city of Merced. Both prostitution […]
Mahoning County is located southeast of Cleveland, Ohio near the Pennsylvania border, and is crossed by Interstates 80 and 76. Mahoning County has a population of approximately 230,000. For several decades the area has been economically distressed, faring poorly in response to economic shifts and the reduction in local manufacturing. The county contains unincorporated areas, […]
Fairbanks is a home rule city and the borough seat of the Fairbanks North Star Borough. Fairbanks is the largest and coldest city in the Interior region of Alaska and the second largest city in the state with a population of approximately 31,500 residents. Reports of commercial sex have been well-documented for over a century. […]
Hannibal is a city of about 15,000 residents, located on the Mississippi River in northeast Missouri. Local prostitution has been problematic and has generated complaints to police for decades. Recent examples include several investigations in 2016 and 2017 on a range of charges including soliciting prostitution, promoting prostitution, and related drug offenses. In August 2016, […]
Sheboygan is a city of about 50,000 residents located in Sheboygan County, Wisconsin. It is situated on the Western shore of Lake Michigan, about 40 miles north of Milwaukee. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity have been documented in the city. For example, in 2017 charges were filed against two people who were arrested in Sheboygan […]
Putnam County is in northern Tennessee. Almost half of its population of about 81,000 reside in Cookeville, the county seat. Prostitution and child sex trafficking, both web- and business-based, have been identified as problems and generated numerous complaints from residents to law enforcement. The Putnam County Sheriff’s Office and the Cookeville Police Department have used […]
Rock Springs is a city of approximately 24,000 residents in Southwestern Wyoming. It is the largest city in Sweetwater County, WY. Prostitution and sex trafficking are well-documented in the city, generating complaints to local law enforcement. Among the more serious issues associated with the area’s commercial sex market are child sex trafficking and the targeted […]
Oneida County, Wisconsin has a population of about 38,000 and its county seat is the city of Rhinelander. Prostitution and sex trafficking are well documented problems within the county, and to address them, efforts to hold sex buyers accountable have been pursued. For example, in October 2014, two men were arrested in Oneida County during […]
Harford County is a county of approximately 263,000 residents located in northeast Maryland. Its county seat is Bel Air, MD. Prostitution and sex trafficking are well-documented issues in the county. Among the more serious crimes associated with the county’s prostitution market is child sex trafficking. For example, in November 2013, three people were arrested after […]
Tarrant County is situated in the Dallas–Fort Worth metropolitan area. The county seat is Fort Worth and as of 2023, its population is well over 2 million. It is Texas’ third-most populous county and the 15th-most populous in the United States. Like most large population centers, human trafficking and prostitution activity in the area have […]
Demand Forum is powered by the National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) and directed by Dr. Michael Shively, NCOSE's Senior Advisor on Research and Data Analysis. It was originally developed by Dr. Shively and Abt Associates with grant support from the National Institute of Justice. In January 2020 the website transferred to NCOSE. In January 2021, work began on a new grant from NIJ (#2020-75-CX-0011) to update and expand the content presented on Demand Forum.
