Wilmington is the largest city in Delaware, with a population of roughly 73,000. Prostitution and sex trafficking activity have been documented to occur in the city for decades. A recent example includes operations conducted cases from February, 2022: two illicit massage establishments in Wilmington were shut down during an investigation by the new DOJ Human […]
Wichita is the largest city in Kansas, with a population of approximately 390,000 residents. Situated in Sedgwick County at the junction of Interstate 35 and U.S. Route 54, the city has struggled since at least the late 1970s with numerous problems associated with commercial sex occurring along major roadways. The south and north corridors of […]
Vallejo is a city of approximately 121,000 residents, situated west of Sacramento in northern California’s Solano County, near Fairfield and Benicia. The city has been known for its robust commercial sex trade for decades. A wide range of local problems and ancillary crimes associated with prostitution have been documented, such as kidnapping, murder, rape, sex […]
Tacoma is a city in Washington state of approximately 220,000 residents, located in Southern Puget Sound, near Seattle, WA in Pierce County, WA. The city has been known to have prevalent prostitution, sex trafficking, and related crimes such as drug trafficking and assault. Tacoma police reported that they had received about 2,000 prostitution-related calls for […]
Suffolk County has approximately 1.53 million residents, and occupies the central and eastern portion of Long Island, New York. Prostitution and sex trafficking have been identified as substantial and longstanding crimes in many areas of Long Island, generating complaints to local law enforcement agencies and a wide range of serious felonies, including sex trafficking and […]
Stockton is a city with an approximate population of 322,000, located in central California, just south of Sacramento. Prostitution activity has been well-documented in the city, surrounding communities, and in other areas of the county. This activity, and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates result in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents and […]
St. Petersburg is a city of over 260,000 residents, located along Florida’s western coast in Pinellas County. Prostitution and sex trafficking have been well-documented problems in the city for over 50 years. In addition, local law enforcement agencies have reported several cases of targeted assaults on – and murders of – individuals engaged in prostitution. […]
St. Louis, Missouri, a city of about 305,000 along the Mississippi River, has had longstanding, widespread prostitution and sex trafficking problems, since the 1800s if not before. In 1870 the city passed an ordinance legalizing prostitution, requiring brothels and women who were exploited within them to register with the city. The experiment was declared a […]
Spokane is a city of approximately 230,000 residents, located in Eastern Washington, near Idaho, and is the second largest city in the state. It is the largest city and the county seat of Spokane County. Prostitution has been a persistent and visible problem in the area for decades. Among the more serious negative outcomes of […]
South Bend is a city of approximately 100,000 residents, located in north-central Indiana. Prostitution has been identified as a substantial problem in the city since the 1980s. Business owners and residents have reported an increase in commercial sex sales in recent years, with activities centered in the northwest part of the city. Sex trafficking cases […]
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.
