Sex Trafficking and Substance Use: Identifying High-Priority Needs Within the Criminal Justice System.

Substance use disorder (SUD) is common among victims of sex trafficking. Traffickers may exploit individuals' existing opioid use or other SUDs to coerce them into sex trafficking, or they may facilitate substance use to keep trafficking victims from exiting. Additionally, trafficking victims may use substances to cope with trauma. The intersections of sex trafficking and SUD complicate both legal responses and victim advocate responses to sex trafficking cases. Victim SUD can lead to challenges for law enforcement and prosecutors in developing cases against traffickers. On the provider side, traditional victim services are often insufficient for victims of trafficking with SUDs, who face substantial barriers to accessing services. A better understanding of the nexus between sex trafficking and SUDs is critical for implementing victim-centered and trauma-informed responses to this vulnerable population. In this article, the authors describe an online panel, convened in April 2021 by RTI International and the RAND Corporation on behalf of the National Institute of Justice, in which subject-matter experts and criminal justice practitioners discussed how SUDs and sex trafficking complicate the identification and screening of victims and victims' ability to access treatment and legal remedies. The panel participants identified 21 high-priority needs to support a better understanding of sex trafficking and SUDs and a variety of solutions for addressing these intertwined issues.

The Value and Validity of Self-Reported Survey Data on the Rape Experiences of College Students.

Self-reported survey data on the extent and nature of rape and sexual assault experienced by a population represent an important source of information because these crimes often go unreported, and are thus undercounted in law enforcement or other official statistics. This article compares Campus Climate Survey Validation Study (CCSVS) data to Clery Act data in an effort to (1) assess the validity of the CCSVS data and the Clery Act data based on the extent to which they corroborate one another, and (2) estimate the extent to which Clery Act data potentially underestimate the true incidence of rape. The results help to establish the extent to which self-report surveys on sexual victimization are needed to understand the magnitude of the problem among a given population.

Sensitivity of Sexual Victimization Estimates to Definitional and Measurement Decisions.

Self-report surveys are subject to measurement error associated with variation in the methodology employed. The current analysis uses data from the Campus Climate Survey Validation Study (CCSVS) to examine the impact that measurement decisions have on estimates. The findings demonstrate that asking victims to provide detailed information in an effort to properly place incidents in time and classify incidents by type resulted in relatively minor decreases in estimate magnitude. Ultimately, asking respondents to provide or confirm additional incident-level information for proper classification resulted in more complete information with very little impact on estimates.

Methods for Improving Representativeness in a Web Survey on Sexual Assault Among College Students.

Many colleges and universities conduct web-based campus climate surveys to understand the prevalence and nature of sexual assault among their students. When designing and fielding a web survey to measure a sensitive topic like sexual assault, methodological decisions, including the length of the field period and the use or amount of an incentive, can affect the representativeness of the respondent sample leading to biased or imprecise estimates. This study uses data from the Campus Climate Survey Validation Study (CCSVS) to assess how the interaction between field period length and survey incentive amount affects nonresponse, sample representativeness, and the precision of survey estimates. Research suggests that using robust incentives gives potential survey respondents a reason to complete the survey beyond their intrinsic motivation to do so. Likewise, extending the field period gives more time to people who may be less intrinsically motivated to complete the survey. Both serve to increase sample size and representativeness, minimize bias, and improve estimate precision. Schools, however, sometimes lack the time and/or resources for both a robust incentive and a lengthy field period, and this study examines the extent to which the potential negative impacts of not using one can be mitigated by the presence of the other. Findings indicate that target response rates can be achieved using a smaller incentive if the field period is lengthy but, even with a lengthy field period, the use of a smaller incentive can result in biased estimates due to a lack of representativeness. Conversely, when a robust incentive is used and weights are developed to adjust for nonresponse, a shorter field period will not have a significant impact on point estimates, but the estimates will be less precise due to fewer respondents participating in the survey.