At least 260 minor victims were reported The number of minor victims reported per case ranged from 1 to 73 Only 19 cases had reported outcomes for victims Of these, 63% were generally positive outcomes (referred to services, returned home, ); while 37% were negative (death,
Tony Talbott, head researcher
Aidan Mornhinweg, assistant researcher
Chia-yu Wu GIS lead researcher
Layla Saqibuddin
Erin Grealis
Ahmi’ Moore
Sofia Zunt
Megan Garrison, graphic designer
These data represent an analysis of a subset of all existing human trafficking that took place in the state of Ohio from 2012-2022 Only cases that were identified correctly and reported in the news outlets covered by this report were studied
It is likely that the high proportion of child sex trafficking cases and the very low number of labor trafficking cases reported reflect the biases of law enforcement, reporters, and the public rather than the actual reality of human trafficking across the state Additionally there were a low number of articles that reported on outcomes for victims These facts demonstrate the need for better training and procedures relating to reporting and investigating of human trafficking Labor trafficking should receive the same amount of attention as sex trafficking and a victim-centered approach should be adopted by all involved parties
A search of Ohio-based media reports for human trafficking -related stories was conducted in Spring of 2023 to cover the period from January 1 2012December 31, 2022 Nexus Uni database was used with the search term: ohio w/p ("law enforcement" or "police") and (“human traffic!” or “sex traffic!” or “labor traffic!” or “minor prostitut!” or "child prostitut!” or “ forced labor”)
Sources used: States News Service, Fox News, Targeted News Service, Impact News Service, Dayton Daily News (Ohio), Associated Press State and Local, MailOnline, The Associated Press, US Official News, ABC News Transcripts, The Lima News (Ohio), Norwalk Reflector (Ohio), The Bismarck Tribune Gallipolis Daily Tribune (Ohio) The Ironton Tribune (Ohio) The Leader-Post (Regina), The Daily Sentinel (Pomeroy, Ohio), The News-Herald (Willoughby Ohio)
The search yielded an initial 1 600 results Researchers reviewed these and eliminated all irrelevant, incomplete, or duplicate articles Multiple articles dealing with the same case (e g a story about an arrest followed by a later story about a conviction) were consolidated and earlier stories were removed This resulted in 178 total cases The cases were coded by a team of researchers (two separate times to ensure reliability) and then analyzed using ARCGIS, Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, and SPSS software
Abolition Ohio is a project of the University of Dayton Human Rights Center We were founded in March 2010 and held our first public meeting in March 2011 We work in partnership with concerned community members and partner organizations in the Miami Valley and across the state and the country in a holistic approach aimed at preventing human trafficking, protecting victims and survivors, and helping to prosecute the criminals responsible Abolition Ohio leads the Miami Valley s anti-human trafficking coalition with over 30 member organizations and 200 individual members from across Southwest Ohio