Miami-Dade County is located in the southeastern part of Florida and is the state’s most populous county with a population of about 2.7 million. Prostitution and sex trafficking have been reported as serious problems in the county for decades. In addition to city-level efforts to combat prostitution in the communities of Coral Gables, Homestead, Miami, Miami Beach, […]
Miami Shores is a village located in Miami-Dade County, FL, with a population of approximately 11,500 residents. Although prostitution activities in the village are reportedly limited, there have been documented cases, including one case in 2013, where a local pimp/sex trafficker was arrested for sex trafficking a 13-year-old girl. When the victim attempted to escape, […]
Miami Beach is a coastal resort city of approximately 83,000 residents, situated just east of Miami, FL, in Miami-Dade County, FL. Prostitution and sex trafficking have been persistent problems in the area for decades. MBPD officers have also uncovered numerous domestic minor sex trafficking cases in the city. In January 2014, for example, four adults […]
Miami and its surrounding metropolitan area comprise the most populous metropolis in the southeastern United States in Miami-Dade County, FL. The county has a population close to 440,000 residents in the city proper and over 2.5 million in the greater metro area. As a major international trade port and tourist destination, the city has struggled […]
Methuen is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts, and has a population of roughly 53,000. As in the neighboring community of Lawrence, the Methuen Police Department has reported links between prostitution (a misdemeanor) and a wide range of felonies. In the early 1990s, Methuen and Lawrence residents in the Arlington area– a neighborhood straddling both […]
Mesa is a city of approximately 510,000 residents, located 20 miles east of Phoenix in Maricopa County, Arizona. Among the problems associated with local prostitution have been the serial killing and serial rapes targeting trafficked girls and women involved in prostitution. For example, in 2011 a man was found guilty of raping two women offering […]
Meriden is a city in New Haven County, Connecticut, with a population of approximately 61,000. As in the neighboring communities of Berlin, Southington, and New Britain, the city has reported problems with street- and business-based prostitution for many years, with activities frequently concentrated along the Berlin Turnpike. Cases of the forced prostitution of minors have […]
Merced is a city of approximately 86,000 residents, located roughly midway between Fresno and Stockton in Merced County, California. Prostitution and child sex trafficking have been well-documented problems in the city for many years. Some local prostitution is known to have been gang-related, in the form of prostitution rings meant to generate income for gangs. […]
Memphis is the largest city in Tennessee, with approximately 628,000 residents. Prostitution and sex trafficking have been identified by local and national law enforcement agencies as persistent and serious problems in the city. High-profile sex trafficking arrests in Memphis have drawn drawn national attention. While some cases have involved the trafficking of adult women, the […]
Melbourne is a city in Brevard County, with a population of approximately 85,000 residents. It is located near Palm Bay, on the central Atlantic coast of Florida. Prostitution and sex trafficking cases in the county date back decades and have generated many crimes, such as assault, homicide, robbery, weapons and drug offenses, and the production […]
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.
