Seattle is the largest city in the Pacific Northwest, with approximately 734,000 residents. It is the largest city and county seat of King County, WA. The city has struggled with persistent and widespread prostitution and sex trafficking problems for many years, with frontier brothels established in the community in the 1850s, decades before Washington statehood. […]
SeaTac is a city of approximately 31,000 residents in Washington state, located in the southern suburbs of Seattle, WA in King County, WA. Not formally incorporated as a city until February 1990, SeaTac comprises the areas in and around the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Prostitution and sex trafficking continue to pose formidable problems for local law […]
Sarasota is located on the southwestern coast of Florida in Sarasota County near Bradenton, and has a population of approximately 58,000 residents. Prostitution and sex trafficking have been identified by law enforcement as substantial problems in the city, and residents have complained to police about prostitution in multiple neighborhoods. At least five cases of homicide […]
Santa Monica is a beachfront city located directly West of Los Angeles, within Los Angeles County, CA, and has a population of approximately 91,000 residents. Prostitution and sex trafficking have been identified by law enforcement as substantial problems in the city, and generated residential complaints to police. The city has also faced significant issues regarding […]
San Jose is the county seat of Santa Clara County, which is located at the southern end of the San Francisco Bay area. It is the third-largest city in California, with a population of just under one million. Sex trafficking and prostitution have been identified by law enforcement and residents as substantial problems in the […]
San Francisco is the leading population center of Northern California and the Bay Area, with a population of approximately 815,000. Prostitution and sex trafficking in the city are well documented, long-standing problems locally, and have been linked to cases of serial killers targeting individuals selling sex, numerous additional murders, and assaults on sex buyers as […]
San Diego, a city of 1.4 million residents in Southern California, has had well-documented and serious problems associated prostitution and sex trafficking for many decades. A large military presence has helped to boost the demand for commercial sex in the city, and in addition to the large supply of domestic victims, the proximity to Mexico […]
Rochester is a city of approximately 200,000 residents, located east of Buffalo in Monroe County, New York. The city has experienced chronic and well-documented issues related to prostitution and sex trafficking for many decades. A recent example includes a case in which a Rochester man pled guilty to sex trafficking by coercion, admitting to using […]
Roanoke is a city in the state of Virginia with a population of approximately 100,000. 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 businesses. Some of […]
Richmond is a city of approximately 116,000 residents, located in the East Bay portion of the San Francisco Metropolitan Area in Contra Costa County, California. Local law enforcement have reported problems related to prostitution (sex trafficking of minors, targeted sexual assault and murder of prostituted women) in the city, and residents and businesses have complained […]
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.
