Trends Organ Crim (2011) 14:4755

DOI 10.1007/s12117-010-9107-8

Research note: challenges of identifying female human

trafficking victims using a national 1-800 call center
Andrea Lange

Published online: 31 July 2010

# Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2010

Abstract Human trafficking is a complex global and national crime problem

harming victims physically, psychologically, and financially. The Trafficking
Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA), Pub. La 106386, and subsequent
reauthorizations, provide assistance and benefits to foreign born victims of labor
or sexual human trafficking who are here in the United States. The strategies used to
encourage victims to come forward were modeled on those used in the antidomestic violence (DV) and child protection movements. These include initiatives
alerting the public to domestic violence situations through awareness campaigns to
increase tips as well as calls for service to police. Other public service initiatives
urge victims themselves to self-identify by calling 1-800 numbers. While these
techniques have shown success in reducing incidences of domestic violence and
providing help to victims, their use to combat sex trafficking has not produced the
same level of results. This note explores the challenges for immigrant women
victims to self-identify as trafficking victims and urges that evidence-based research
is needed to determine the efficacy of a national call center approach.
Keywords Human trafficking . Sex trafficking . Female immigrant victimization .
Trafficking enterprises . Anti-trafficking strategies

Introduction
This research note explores reasons why so few immigrant women trafficking
victims self-identified using a national 1-800 service. Since passing the Trafficking
Victims Protection Act in 2000, law enforcement and victim centered services have
used call center technology to boost self-identification, but victims have found it
difficult to self-report and numbers of victim callers remain very low.

A. Lange (*)
Criminology, Washington College, 300 Washington Ave, Chestertown, MD 21620, USA
e-mail: alange2@washcoll.edu

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As happens with other types of crimes, reports are either provided to police and
these counts are compiled through the Uniform Crime Reports or respondents to the
National Victimization Survey (NCVS) provide details of crimes not reported to law
enforcement. The reporting of human trafficking crimes, however, poses a whole
host of different problems making it hard to estimate levels of victimization. Here in
the U.S. currently we do not have sufficient systems to measure the prevalence of
human trafficking when individuals have not been recognized by law enforcement as
trafficking offenders or victims (Farrell et al. 2008: 5). Surveys conducted with
local law enforcement assessing how many human trafficking investigations had
been opened by departments found most officers believe calls for service and
community tips could be a chief source of investigative leads, but there just are not
enough of them. They reported trafficking cases are most frequently initiated as a
corollary to other, ongoing criminal investigations (Farrell et al. 2008).
As a consequence, precise numbers of foreign born victims here in the U.S. are
not available, and many have criticized the lack of rigor utilized to obtain reliable
data about the scope and size of the problem (Bales 2009; Brennan 2008; Weitzer
2005; Zhang 2007). Utilizing research in the domestic violence field on helpseeking behaviors of immigrant battered women holds out some hope of extending
our understanding of patterns for immigrant trafficked women, but, these
ethnographic studies use small samples, and the reporting challenges of trafficked
women are not completely analogous to women in domestic violence situations.
For many reasons then, research attention should be focused on self-identification
patterns of trafficked women as well as specific cultural and practical obstacles that
thwart self-reporting. More evidence based analysis is needed before more public
funding is spent on anti-trafficking strategies that employ 1-800 national call centers
linked with public awareness campaigns.
Aim of the research note
This research note explores 1-800 call center data from the early years of operation of the
U.S. National Human Trafficking Resource Center. The note raises questions about
whether a national call center is in fact the most effective way of reaching these victims
and argues that far more evaluative work is needed to assess their effectiveness to respond
to this complex social and global human problem. Future studies should focus on: What
specific obstacles women who are commercially exploited by traffickers confront when
they decide to contact a third party for help? How do female victims differentiate between
a 1-800 enforcement related complaint line or a 1-800 help service line operated by a
victim provider? What physical barriers exist to self-reporting that might be overcome by
using and promoting alternative technologies besides call centers? How could new
strategies be utilized to increase trust and reduce fears for female victims?

Potential obstacles to immigrant trafficked women self-reporting

The current literature on trafficked immigrant women confirms numerous factors
work against self-identification and self-reporting. At a macro-structural level, many
immigrants migrate from countries with historically repressive governments where

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49

seeking help from prosecutors or police would not be considered an optimal choice.
Compounding these circumstances, victims frequently have little or no understanding of their rights here in the U.S., may hear erroneous information about the legal
system or may become confused about the legal protections afforded them. Some
trafficked women may not understand their roles as victims. The research on cultural
biases related to violence against women is replete with examples. Other
constraining factors involve anti-immigrant community sentiment which increases
the anxiety of women who wish to report, but whom also may fear deportation.
Obviously, immigrants fear of their traffickers and concerns about retaliation against
other family members who are either living here in the U.S. or in their home
countries dampens self-reporting (Farrell et al. 2008). One anti-trafficking study
suggested that the situation is further complicated when the victim is fleeing from a
network of traffickers rather than a single offender as would be the case with
domestic violence victims, because the victim has to face so many perils
(Clawson et al. 2007). Incident reports taken from trafficking victims describe
incredible difficulties gaining access to a phone or other forms of outside contact
since their every move is monitored by their traffickers. Shame, cultural biases, and
stigmas also drive down reporting. Some immigrant women are embarrassed that
they are conducting illegal activities such as prostitution and do not wish to report
their victimization (Berns 2004; Bui 2004; Pinn and Chunko 1997; Volpp 1995).
For other victims, deciding whom to turn to for help is an immense challenge. Is a
victim who eventually dials a help line doing so because she has exhausted other
options? If victims or other distressed third parties tried other assistance options
(reports to the police; alerting the media, etc.) but did not get or help or receive it
quickly, are they then further discouraged from making a cold call to an unknown
organization? Is the nature of anonymity available through a 1-800 service, a
detriment or an enticement to this type of reporting? Leone et al. (2007) research
sheds some light on possible tipping points that influence when and to whom a
domestic violence victim turns for help. They found that factors such as severity of
abuse, frequency of abuse, extent of social isolation, and their perceptions of who
can offer help as well as the types of help that are available were determinative in the
decision process to seek help from a domestic violence service provider (Leone et al.
2007). Their study examined two different categories of domestic violence victims.
Victims of intimate terrorism (IT- where the perpetrators main objective is to control
the individual through violence and threats of violence), they found, sought out
assistance from government entities (i.e. police, medical personnel, counselors) at a
higher rate than did victims of situational couple violence (SCV- where the
perpetrator controls a specific event or situation). The SCV group generally sought
help only from family, friends, or neighbors and infrequently from government
agencies. The authors acknowledge far more research with ethnic minorities is
needed to understand help-seeking behaviors, but they do note that help-seeking is
needs driven (Leone et al. 2007: 438). If agencies expect to improve selfreporting, the authors contend, messaging must be very specific. In their view,
social programs and policies must also acknowledge and reflect these differences
between victim groups to more fully understand reporting patterns. (Leone et al.
2007: 438). Trafficked women presumably fit the category of intimate terrorism
victims, and therefore, we might expect to see higher levels of reporting to

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government. Research conducted to understand how battered immigrant Latinas find

help also emphasizes the need to make information more accessible and
understandable for a population that frequently is under educated and has low
literacy rates (Dutton et al. 2000). Also of note here is a 2003 study of trafficking
victims that found foreign victims cases on average take longer to investigate and
prosecute than do domestic victim cases (Clawson et al.). If these negative
perceptions exist in ethnic communities, it may discourage a victim from reaching
out, because they do not see a viable or timely disposition for their plight. With the level
of misunderstanding, confusion, and fear, one of the last places a female immigrant
trafficking victim might turn for assistance is a 1-800 nationally promoted helpline.

Data collected by the National Human Trafficking Resource Center (NHRTC)1

Background
Shortly after the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000, the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) provided grant and contract
funding to support a 1-800 call center which would assist government in the process
of identifying and certifying potential human trafficking victims. The center was
staffed 247, and calls were handled in multiple languages. Calls were received
from potential victims, distressed third parties (friend, relative who had knowledge
of a victim), the general public, victim advocates, and law enforcers. The Center was
promoted as the only national resource to receive calls from foreign-born victims of
human trafficking who found themselves here in the states, but the U.S. Department
of Justice (DOJ) promoted an anti-trafficking tip line at the same time which might
help to account for the siphoning of some calls from the Centers line.
Incoming NHRTC calls were screened using an interview protocol to determine
the callers role and the specific assistance types that were being requested. When a
potential victim or distressed third party needed help, then the call center staff
would identify an appropriate service provider located in the callers area, and a
conference call was initiated with all parties. Law enforcement related tips were
forwarded to staff at DHHS and at US DOJ.
Starting out, the federal government modeled its anti-trafficking strategy for the
call center on past successes using 1-800 lines to respond to domestic violence and
child protection. Similar to these other campaigns, a public awareness project
entitled, Rescue and Restore was launched to promote the 1-800 anti-human
trafficking services. Multiple language print and electronic information were
distributed to promote the call center. Look Beneath the Surface was primarily
an appeal to the public encouraging citizens to take more careful notice of what they
saw and heard in their neighborhoods and call the 1-800 number. Other messages
specifically alerted potential victims how to call. A third prong of the awareness
1

From June 2004 through early June 2005, the anti-trafficking hotline was operated by a non-profit victim
service provider, Covenant House, located in New York City. After 2005, the federal government
converted the service to a contract vehicle. Aspen Systems/Lockheed Martin with expertise in commercial
contact center management then partnered with Covenant House to expand the call services.

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51

strategy involved federal financial support to local victim service provider

organizations. It was logical that through their everyday contacts with victims
seeking other types of social service and crime services, they could encourage
trafficking victims to report and could educate them about benefits under TVPA.
The overall anti-trafficking efforts presumed that call volume would increase
monthly as potential victims and others began to recognize the characteristics and
symptoms of human trafficking. At that point, mistaken or not, the build it and
they will come perspective formed the basis of the strategy. Unfortunately, these
expectations were not met. NHTRC calls per month actually decreased. Very few
immigrant female sex trafficking victims called to self-identify. Victim advocates
callers were more numerous. Most of these callers acknowledged they had
uncovered potential trafficking victims as part of their social service work and not
because the victim had come forward as a trafficking victim. The Center received
very few public tips that would help to identify female victims.

Low call volumes to the national resource center

While the call center concept was never formally evaluated, monthly tallies and
incident reports were compiled for the operational timeframe of early June 2005 to
mid- November 2007.2 For this period, the Center received a little over 6,000 calls
related to various aspects of trafficking. The highest monthly call volumes occurred
early in 2005 and dropped off precipitously in the out years. Average monthly call
volumes for the 6 months of contract year 2005 were around 239. In the following
contract year, the number dropped to 186, and for the months of June to December
2007, the average declined to 174.3
When sex trafficking related calls were separated out from labor and other
trafficking inquiries, for the entire time contract period, these calls accounted for only
1% of the total volume. Very few of these calls were from victims themselves. Of all
the public tips received, only 45 were related to female immigrant sex trafficking.

Other victim related information collected by the center

Some descriptive and socio-demographic information was collected over the 2 years.
All initial calls were recorded by date and time and location of the call. Center staff
also recorded the language of the caller; the callers gender, his/her age range i.e.
under 18; 1923; older than 24. When possible, the specific role of the caller (victim;
2

Monthly call and email data tallies were reported to DHHS-ORR and other federal agencies involved
with anti-trafficking programs. In 2008, DHHS-ORR and Lockheed Martin, the federal contractor for the
project granted this author permission to examine the data.
3
The contract start date was early in June 2005. During 2006, the Rescue and Restore awareness
campaign was suspended for contract re-procurement which may explain drops in call volume during
some months. During 2007, DHHS authorized billboard PSA ads be placed in strategic cities to increase
awareness beyond distribution of just printed and web-based materials which may have increased call
volumes during the months that the ads were introduced. The final contract year ran from June to mid
November.

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advocate, law enforcement, etc.) was noted as was the general nature of the call.
Records were kept on whether any referrals were made to service providers or law
enforcement agencies as well as whether a multi-party conference call was
conducted with the victim on the line.
A review of where calls originated indicated most were placed from a variety of
cities and states with no distinctive regional or local groupings. In only one instance
were several calls received about the same brothel in New York City. Relative to the
age of callers, most were over 24 years old. The majority of callers spoke Spanish,
identifying their home countries as Mexico, Honduras, or El Salvador. The next most
commonly spoken language was Mandarin Chinese. Most of the distressed third
party calls (friends, relatives) were initiated by females who knew the potential
victims or were sheltering the victims, themselves. Most advocates who called spoke
English but reported on potential victims from Mexico, Thailand, Russian, Kenya,
China, and Vietnam. Tip calls were fairly evenly divided between male and female
callers, but almost all of these calls required translation services with Spanish being
the most frequently requested language.

Anecdotal accounts from incident reports

Some qualitative information was also available from incident reports. (For privacy
considerations, specific names, addresses, and other investigative details are deleted
from the following incident report samples.)
Potential victim
A 16 year old Mexican girl speaking in Spanish explained that she had been
recruited in her home town with a promise of work cleaning houses in the U.S.
After arriving, she was forced into prostitution, was beaten, and threatened. She
was driven to various cities, warned by her captors if she was ever contacted by
police she should lie about her age. She escaped her captor and was receiving
help from a friend. She commented that she had read something about human
trafficking and realized she had been a victim. She was not sure she wanted to
get help from a victim service provider (NGO), because she feared deportation
but a service provider referral was given to her by the NHRTC.
Potential victim
A young Spanish woman said she had been brought from her home country
to the U.S. to work. She and other women were taken to a major city where they
were forced to work as prostitutes. The caller explained she was using a pay
phone at a mall to call for help but had no idea of where the mall was located.
During the call she panicked and hung up. The victim never called back.
Potential victim
A young Spanish woman reported being brought to the U.S. where she was
forced to work in a bar and work as a prostitute. Her traffickers controlled her
by making threats to her children in her home country. She reported being paid
very little, and her captors took her earnings. She had seen the 1-800 phone

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53

number in a newspaper. She was willing to accept contact information for a

victim service provider in her immediate area and said she would call them the
next day when she could.
Potential victim
An older Spanish speaking woman called to explain that she had recently
arrived in the U.S. with her children on the promise from someone in her home
country that she would be offered a job once here. As soon as she arrived, she
was forced to work in a massage parlor and have sex with the customers. She
was held in captivity, told not to talk to others, and was not paid for her work.
She expressed feelings of shame and guilt about being forced to prostitute
herself and said she would have to pay off a sizeable debt to her captor before
she could leave. She described sleeping on a cot along with others. After
15 days, she escaped and was befriended by a woman who was providing her
shelter. A conference call among the victim, the NHTRC worker, and a victim
service provider was initiated.
Advocate call
An advocate who assists immigrant men and women called to report a
possible victim of sex trafficking living at a local shelter. The victim was fearful
of being deported and therefore had not sought help. The advocate was referred
to a specific provider who works with trafficking victims who would meet face
to face with the woman.
Advocate call
A legal services advocate came in contact with a woman indicted for
prostitution. However, having listened to the womans story, the advocate now
believed she is a trafficking victim brought to the U.S. with a promise of a job,
but who ended up in a massage parlor and was forced into prostitution.
General public tipster
A male caller speaking Mandarin Chinese indicated he was frightened but
wanted to provide information about a brothel where young girls (1618) were
brought into the U.S. and forced into prostitution. He indicated that he had seen
and heard violent acts perpetrated against the women.
General public tipster
A male caller speaking English indicated that he had seen the 1-800 number
on the news, and wanted to report what he thought was trafficking/prostitution.
He mentioned kids were being prostituted and said one of them had confided
in him.
General public tipster
A male caller indicated he knew of a trafficking situation in another state. He
seemed to know a lot about the trafficking operation including information
about the girls being brought to the U.S. These girls were forced to work in a
strip club to pay off debts incurred when they were brought into the U.S.

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Distressed third party

A female caller indicated that she knew of a potential victim, who had been
brought to the U.S. as a catalog bride, but she was thrown out on the street.
She was now working for a motel operator who was soliciting sex. She feared
for the potential victims mental health since she was in a remote area and
was being watched constantly. Caller said she saw the 1-800 number on a
billboard.
Distressed third party
A woman speaking Mandarin Chinese called on behalf of a relative who had
been trafficked by a snakehead. The caller insisted on anonymity. She
indicated that she was forced to work in a brothel to pay off her trafficker which
she eventually did. Caller indicated her sister was scarred emotionally and fears
reporting what happened. Caller indicated that she never called law enforcement
because of language barrier.

What can be learned from these reports

These accounts help explain various obstacles faced by female victims to selfidentify such as: personal threats; debt obligations; no opportunities to make phone
calls; confusion as to their location or surroundings because they were constantly
being moved by their traffickers; fears of deportation; language barriers; and their
own guilt and shame. None of the callers discussed a specific point at which they
had decided to reveal their circumstances, but the descriptions suggest that personal
resourcefulness coupled with timing, some element of luck, and just plain guts
figured in their decisions. While extrapolating from such a small sample of reports
presents methodological problems, it is worth noting that victims who had actually
escaped their traffickers seemed less fearful about seeking help through the call
center than those that did not.
The reports from victim advocates stress the need to provide victim service
providers, legal aid attorneys, and health care professionals with frequent training on
signs and symptoms of trafficking so they can work empower victims to report.
While tips are just that, uninvestigated allegations, a number of male callers were
willing to supply information about sex trafficking (regardless of their roles as
innocent bystanders, co-conspirators or consumers of illicit services) perhaps
suggesting that more public awareness messaging should be targeted to immigrant
males as a way to reach female victims.
It was somewhat encouraging that at least a few callers had seen the 1-800 public
awareness messages i.e. newspaper; poster; billboard- but these few references are
certainly not adequate to judge the efficacy of the campaign. The socio-demographic
data captured through the calls suggests that anti-trafficking public campaigns must
increase messaging in multiple languages, (even though most NHTRC calls were
from Spanish or Chinese speakers), but more importantly, that messaging must
simplify complex rules so women can decide for themselves whether they are
victims and whether they wish to seek protection under the TVPA.

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Policy implications
The low numbers of calls overall to the Center and the limited numbers from victims
should raise questions about the efficacy of a national call center approach. The
barriers for foreign female trafficking victims who want to seek help may be so high
as to argue against use of a national call center strategy. Some in the victim service
provider network contend that local call centers receive more calls from trafficking
victims, because women find it easier to communicate their needs within their local
surroundings (faith based assistance; service providers to ethnic communities,
neighbors, friends, etc.) or because they appear in populations that are already
receiving services from these groups. But no national study has been conducted to
date that compares national and local help line call volumes. Less reliance on generic
awareness campaigns and more use of customized, less formal messaging such as
indicating a help line number on personal hygiene product boxes may provide
promise for empowering victims. However, we have no empirical method to
examine these comparisons. Susan Deweys ethnographic research with female
trafficking victims reminds us we must understand victims before we can assist
them. Otherwise, we find ourselves having lamented the inefficacy of efforts to
assist victims of trafficking and yet continued to pursue strategies that were clearly
ineffective (2008:164). Unfortunately, we do not know what works and what does
not to empower victims to come forward to call resource centers. Before more funds
are expended on national call center initiatives and public awareness campaigns,
more evidence-based research is required.

References
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Berns N (2004) Framing the victim: domestic violence, media and social problems. W. de Gruyter, Berlin
Brennan D (2008) Competing classes of victimhood? foreign and domestic victims of trafficking in the
United States. Sex Res Soc Policy 5(4):4561
Bui HN (2004) In the adopted land: abused immigrant women and the criminal justice system. Praeger,
Westport
Clawson H, Solomon A, Goldblatt LG (2007) Treating the hidden wounds: Trauma treatment and mental
health recovery for victims of human trafficking (N.d.) Issue Brief prepared for the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation http:///aspe.hhs.
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Dewey S (2008) Hollow bodies institutional responses to sex trafficking in Armenia, Bosnia and India.
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Dutton MA, Orloff LE, Hass GA (2000) Characteristics of help-seeking behaviors, resources and service needs
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