Overcoming barriers to services for domestic adult female sex trafficking victims in Georgia

• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2047/D20280803

The crime of sex trafficking is a human rights and public health issue that presents a critical reason for the federal and state legislation to reevaluate laws and statutes to support services and assistance for adult female sex trafficking victims. The victims are susceptible to diseases and traumatic experiences. They are enslaved, brutalized, drugged, and robbed of their autonomy and human dignity. They deserve services and assistance to recover and lead independent lives. The purpose of this research is to identify disparities between available services for adult female sex trafficking victims, their service needs, and the barriers to receiving services in Georgia. This study is a needs assessment for services for human trafficking victims. To evaluate the problem, a mixed-method approach was adopted. The study collected data from survivors and nonprofit agency personnel who assist sex trafficking survivors, and deconstructed federal and Georgia statutes on human trafficking. The study focused on the met and unmet needs of adult female sex trafficking victims in Georgia, the barriers they face when seeking services, and the barriers nonprofit agencies experience in providing services. The study explored and qualitatively described the perceptions of nonprofit agency personnel, and the reality based on the opinions of adult female sex trafficking survivors who received assistance from nonprofit agencies in Georgia. The research explored the benefits of the existing services, ultimately determining that there is a need for additional services and policy provisions in the state of Georgia. This study recommends the state of Georgia implement changes to improve services for sex trafficking victims as well as several new or revised statutes including provisions to enforce and support collaboration of various groups, provisions for allocation of confiscated funds, provisions for allocation of additional convicted traffickers' fines, and an expungement provision for victims of sex trafficking.