Ocean Township is a community of about 27,000 residents, located in Monmouth County, New Jersey. It is situated near the Jersey Shore, just north of Asbury Park. Prostitution has been identified as a substantial local problem for years, and the local market appears to be centered indoors in storefront brothels (e.g., spas) and motels. For […]
Thousand Oaks is a city of approximately 126,000 residents, located near Simi Valley in southeastern Ventura County, California. Residents and local law enforcement have reported substantial problems related to commercial sex activity in the city, particularly surrounding indoor prostitution. For example, in 2001, a Ventura County couple was charged with felony pimping and pandering after […]
Aberdeen is a village of about 1,500 residents within Huntington Township in Brown County, located along the Ohio River approximately 50 miles southeast of Cincinnati. The village has had multiple cases of both prostitution and domestic minor sex trafficking. Police responses to these problems have been driven in part by complaints from residents. The Aberdeen […]
Weldon is a small town of less than 1,700 residents, situated near Roanoke Rapids in Halifax County, North Carolina. The Halifax County Sheriff’s Office and the Weldon Police Department have received numerous complaints about street prostitution, particularly in the area of Elm and Green streets. In an October 2013 operation dubbed “Operation Trick or Treat,” the […]
Lawton is a city of about 91,000 residents located in southwestern Oklahoma along Interstate 44. The city serves as the government seat of Comanche County. The local prostitution market has produced a number of documented problems, including child sex trafficking and prostitution-related homicides, and has generated ongoing community complaints to police. Between 1999 and 2002, […]
Janesville is a city of about 64,000 residents situated along Interstate 34, south of Madison, Wisconsin. Certain areas of the city have been known to experience prostitution activity. In recent years, local law enforcement agencies have reported substantial commercial sex activity with an increased use of web advertising to solicit prostitution. In September, 2022, a […]
Pensacola is a city of approximately 54,000 residents in Escambia County in western Florida. Prostitution and child sex trafficking have been well-documented problems in the city for many decades. Other crimes associated with commercial sex have also occurred locally, including the assault and murder of prostituted women and a serial killer who targeted prostituted persons […]
Troutdale is a city of approximately 17,000 residents in Northwestern Oregon. It is located in Multnomah County, OR, and is a suburb of Portland, OR. It is located just east of the city along the Columbia River and Interstate 84. Instances of prostitution and sex trafficking have been documented in the city. For example, residents […]
Superior is a city of approximately 27,000 residents, located along Lake Superior in northern Wisconsin’s Douglas County. Situated across the bay from Duluth, Minnesota, the cities comprise the Twin Ports metropolitan area. Prostitution has been documented in Superior and Duluth dating back to the early 1900s. For example, between 1951 and 1956, there was a federal campaign […]
Keene is a city of about 23,000 residents, located about an hour’s drive west of Nashua in southern New Hampshire’s Cheshire County. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity have been documented in the city, and among the responses have been efforts to apprehend sex buyers and hold them accountable for motivating these crimes. In December 2013, […]
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.
