Terms and Definitions

3P’s | The three levels of the U.S. government’s response to human trafficking as described in the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000. The 3P’s are protection of victims, prevention of trafficking, and prosecution of perpetrators.

Child | A person under the age of 18 unless, under the law applicable to the child, majority is attained earlier. A child may be referred to as a juvenile or minor.

Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) | Refers to a range of crimes and activities involving the sexual abuse or exploitation of a child for financial benefit or in exchange for something of value. CSEC is often used interchangeably with child sex trafficking, although some instances of CSEC might not meet the federal legal definition of sex trafficking.

Labor trafficking | The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion, for the purpose of subjection to involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery (22 USC § 7102).

Safe harbor laws | State legislation designed to decrease or eliminate punitive measures for minors involved in commercial sex and improve their access to therapeutic services.

Sex trafficking | The recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, obtaining, patronizing, or soliciting of a person for the purposes of a commercial sex act, in which that act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age (22 USC § 7102).

Trafficking victim | An individual currently experiencing trafficking.

Trafficking survivor | An individual in the process of recovering from the trauma of trafficking.