Phoenix is the largest commercial hub of and most populous city in Arizona, with approximately 1.625 million residents. It is the sixth largest city in the country, and serves as the county seat of Maricopa County. Situated within a day’s drive from the Mexican border and at the crossroads of several interstate highways, the Phoenix […]
Petersburg is located in southeast Virginia, about 25 miles south of Richmond, and has a population of approximately 33,000. Prostitution has been identified as a substantial problem in the city, generating complaints and collateral crimes. Its location along major interstate highways 85 and 95 have contributed to the city serving as a stop on domestic […]
Palatka is a city of roughly 11,000 residents, located in Florida’s Putnam County, southwest of St. Augustine. Law enforcement and local residents have noted problems with street prostitution in the city for decades years; individuals attempting to purchase sex in Palatka have also reported being robbed. Sex trafficking has also been well documented locally. For […]
Orlando is located in Orange County in central Florida, with a population of approximately 307,000. City officials and residents have identified prostitution and sex trafficking as substantial problems locally. For example, prostituted women have been murdered in Orlando, and men have been arrested for child endangerment for having toddlers present in their vehicles while they […]
Oklahoma City is located in central Oklahoma and has a population of approximately 650,000 residents. Prostitution has been a well-documented problem in Oklahoma City dating back at least to the 1970s, and sex trafficking cases have occurred since at least the 1980s and continue through the present. Some cases of local sex trade activity have […]
Oceanside is a city of approximately 176,000 residents, located near Carlsbad and Vista in San Diego County, California. Prostitution activity has been well-documented in the city and surrounding communities, and in other areas of San Diego County. This activity and the problems and ancillary crimes it generates results in complaints to law enforcement agencies from residents […]
Oakland is a city of approximately 434,000 residents, located just east of San Francisco on the San Francisco Bay. While there are areas of affluence, most of the city can be described as working class to poor; in 2007, 17% of city residents lived below the poverty line. The city’s economy has been particularly hard […]
Newport News is a mid-sized city with about 180,000 residents situated on a peninsula near the mouth of Chesapeake Bay, in southeastern Virginia in Matthews County. Among the distinguishing features of the area including Newport News, Hampton, and Norfolk are the seaports, shipyards, and military presence (Army, Air Force, and Navy). Prostitution and sex trafficking […]
New York City is the largest city in the United States, with approximately 8.8 million residents. It is comprised of five boroughs, including Manhattan as the center of the metropolis. New York has a long history of prostitution and sex trafficking, and the wide range of crimes associated with commercial sex markets in the city […]
National City, a city of about 56,000 residents near San Diego, has long been known for having a substantial problem with prostitution, particularly along a “strip” that crosses into San Diego. The National City Police Department (NCPD) began focusing on combating demand in the 1980s by conducting reverse stings. Knowing that the strip and its […]
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.
