The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) works to prevent and respond to a wide range of public health issues impacting Minnesotans. Many of these issues overlap, including human trafficking and substance use. Responding to these issues requires multidisciplinary collaboration, including with survivors and individuals with lived experience. Many agencies strive to ensure their work is informed by those impacted; MDH prioritizes including individuals with lived experience from the beginning, not as an afterthought or checkbox. They are experts and leaders who bring more to the table than just their story. Join this panel of presenters as they facilitate a discussion with Subject Matter Experts with Lived Experience (SME with LE) who have partnered with MDH on various projects over the last four years to address substance use, overdose, and human trafficking. Projects include establishing a Black Lived Experience Advisory Committee and Survivor Leadership Committee to guide MDH strategic planning, pilot training co-created with survivors and SME with LE, and a Community Advisory Board as a part of participatory action research project funded by the National Institute of Justice to address systems response to substance use and human trafficking. Learn about the approach they take, the values and practices that guide them, and the impact it has had on their work. Hear directly from SME with LE about how you can engage impacted individuals in a safe, ethical, meaningful, and person-centered manner.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Facilitate a panel conversation with SME with LE and MDH Substance Misuse Prevention and Violence Preventions program staff

•  Explore the intention behind and impact of partnering with survivors and SME with LE to address human trafficking and substance use

•  Provide guidance on promising community centered practices and MDH approaches and processes for engaging impacted individuals as experts and leaders in this work

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This presentation introduces a survivor-centered framework that challenges how exploitation, identity, and healing are understood across systems. Using a visual case study, the session examines how exploitation can change form without fully ending and how survival behaviors are often misinterpreted as choice rather than responses to coercion, trauma, and limited options. The presentation argues that visibility within systems does not guarantee healing. Women may encounter services, assessments, and interventions, yet still lack spaces that feel safe enough for truth, identity restoration, and long-term transformation. It highlights how systems can unintentionally mirror cycles of exploitation through judgment, pathologizing, and punishment without addressing underlying causes. Key dynamics often overlooked are explored, including manipulation disguised as opportunity, trauma responses labeled as instability, and the disconnect between being asked questions and feeling safe enough to answer them. The session emphasizes that healing requires more than service access; it requires trust, dignity, mentorship, and consistent support. Drawing from lived experience and practice, this presentation introduces a model for creating spaces that move beyond crisis response toward empowerment and long-term growth. Attendees will be encouraged to critically examine current approaches and consider shifts that better support survivor-centered healing. The presentation concludes with a call to action to create environments where survivors are not only seen, but understood, supported, and able to thrive.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Examine how exploitation can continue even when it appears to change form across different environments

•  Analyze how trauma, coercion, and survival behaviors are often misunderstood within systems

•  Explain the gap between service access and true survivor-centered healing

•  Demonstrate key elements required to create environments that support long-term empowerment and thriving

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Systems that vulnerable youth interact with — including child protective services and juvenile justice — have a critical opportunity to intervene and protect youth who have experienced sex trafficking from further harm. Yet current approaches often penalize traumatized youth rather than support them. When youth experience chronic maltreatment, the resulting dysregulation and survival-driven coping frequently surfaces as externalizing behaviors: running away, truancy, and substance use, which in turn may create a context of risk that a trafficker can exploit. This presentation discusses findings from analyzing over 140,000 child sex trafficking risk screenings collected by Allies Against Slavery from juvenile justice and child protective services partners in Texas, examining how adverse childhood experiences shape trafficking vulnerability. The number of adverse childhood experiences was significantly associated with trafficking risk across both systems, and this relationship was largely mediated by externalizing behaviors. Specifically, the number of externalizing behaviors a youth exhibited accounted for 76% of the maltreatment-trafficking association among child welfare youth and 45% among juvenile justice youth. These findings offer empirical evidence that behaviors often perceived as delinquent are maladaptive trauma responses that heighten exploitation exposure. The presenters will conclude with policy and practice implications centered on cross-system collaboration and data integration, including how shared screening infrastructure can help juvenile justice and child welfare agencies identify at-risk youth earlier, coordinate responses, and shift from siloed penalization toward unified, trauma-informed intervention.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Explain the behavioral pathways through which childhood maltreatment increases sex trafficking vulnerability among youth involved in child welfare and juvenile justice systems

•  Assess how shared screening infrastructure and cross-system data integration can enable child welfare and juvenile justice agencies to shift toward coordinated, trauma-informed responses for youth vulnerable to commercial sexual exploitation

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Digital exploitation has rapidly evolved into a global public safety and child protection crisis, with the FBI and the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children reporting record levels of online enticement and financially motivated sextortion in recent years. Although most teens engage with social media and digital platforms daily, many caregivers and youth-serving professionals remain under-equipped to respond effectively to disclosure and establish practical safety norms. This presentation examines Influenced™, a research-driven prevention program developed by The Exodus Road to close this gap through specialized curricula for students in grades 6–12 and their caregivers. The presenter argues that effective prevention must move beyond fear-based messaging toward skills-building and “digital resilience,” pairing age-appropriate digital literacy with trauma-informed, survivor-advised content and clear pathways for help-seeking and reporting. The session will describe core program components—including student workshops, caregiver education, interactive learning tools, and school-based implementation models—and share key programmatic learnings from more than 122 live workshops delivered across eleven U.S. states and Latin America. Findings include a case example in which 50 students disclosed 105 instances of targeted online predation, underscoring both prevalence and the importance of creating safe, structured environments for disclosure. Attendees will leave with an understanding of The Exodus Road’s scalable model, gaining insight into how its design, delivery, and evaluation approaches can be adapted for digital safety initiatives. Attendees will also learn actionable strategies to strengthen caregiver–youth communication and community response. The presentation concludes with recommendations for applying this tailored approach across education, social service, and community-based sectors.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Analyze current trends in digital exploitation, including the rise of sextortion and social media-based grooming in the U.S. and Latin America

•  Examine Influenced™ as a prevention or intervention tool available to organizations

•  Demonstrate practical tools and "digital resilience" frameworks that practitioners can use to facilitate healthy technology discussions between youth and mentors

•  Identify clear pathways for reporting and intervention, and demonstrate actionable solutions to address digital risks for both families and institutional partners (schools, organizations, agencies) through resources like our Certified Digital Safety Educator program, and evidence-based training that empowers professionals to teach communities how to navigate digital spaces safely

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Despite important legislative advances, significant gaps persist in the effectiveness of the Spanish criminal justice system in addressing human trafficking (HT). This panel presents three empirical studies examining judicial practice, prosecution challenges, and the economic dimension of trafficking. The panel explores: (1) How has Spanish Supreme Court jurisprudence (2011–2021) conceptualized trafficking and its victims, and how does this align with criminological scholarship? (2) What normative, institutional, and attitudinal barriers hinder the prosecution of trafficking for labor exploitation? and (3) To what extent are economic-oriented criminal law mechanisms effectively used to address the profit-driven nature of trafficking? The first study analyzes all Supreme Court trafficking judgments (2011–2021), comparing judicial reasoning with existing literature. The second is based on 33 qualitative interviews with criminal justice and labor professionals, identifying obstacles in labor trafficking cases. The third examines 128 convictions (2012–2022) from Provincial Courts and the National Court, assessing the practical implementation of substantive and procedural tools aimed at confiscation and financial disruption. Findings show growing judicial awareness of victims’ rights but persistent doctrinal ambiguities and a bias toward sexual exploitation. Labor trafficking remains under-prosecuted due to regulatory fragmentation, institutional shortcomings, and professional misconceptions. Economic instruments are underused and limited in impact. The panel calls for clearer jurisprudence, stronger inter-institutional coordination, specialized training, and more robust economic enforcement to enhance a victim-centered and economically disruptive response to trafficking.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Analyze the conceptualization of human trafficking and its victims within Spanish jurisprudence to identify discrepancies between judicial reasoning and scientific literature

•  Evaluate the normative, institutional, and attitudinal barriers that hinder the effective prosecution of labor exploitation cases within the Spanish criminal justice system

•  Examine the practical implementation and effectiveness of economic-oriented criminal law mechanisms, specifically focusing on asset confiscation and financial disruption in trafficking convictions

•  Discuss evidence-based recommendations for legal reforms and inter-institutional coordination to foster a more victim-centered and economically disruptive response to human trafficking

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Human trafficking is often examined through the lenses of labor exploitation, sexual exploitation, and economic vulnerability. However, the intersection between problem gambling and trafficking risk remains largely overlooked in professional training and prevention efforts. This presentation introduces the concept that gambling-related financial distress can create conditions that increase vulnerability to exploitation. Gambling harm may contribute to financial instability, debt pressure, and coercive relationships that traffickers or exploitative actors may leverage. In gaming environments and surrounding communities, these financial vulnerabilities can intersect with other risk factors associated with trafficking and exploitation. Drawing from professional experience in problem gambling treatment, community outreach, and workforce development, this presentation explores how financial stress, addiction dynamics, and coercive control can intersect with trafficking risk. The session introduces a conceptual model referred to as the Gambling–Exploitation Vulnerability Pathway, which helps professionals identify overlapping risk factors and better understand how gambling-related harm may increase vulnerability to exploitation. Participants will also examine the role of behavioral health professionals, victim advocates, and community systems in recognizing early warning signs and strengthening prevention strategies. By expanding awareness of this intersection, professionals can better identify financial vulnerability, improve cross-sector collaboration, and develop more comprehensive responses to exploitation risk. This session contributes to broader social justice discussions by highlighting an often-overlooked pathway to vulnerability and encouraging professionals to incorporate financial harm and addiction dynamics into trafficking prevention and response efforts.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Discuss the relationship between problem gambling, financial distress, and vulnerability to exploitation

•  Describe the conceptual framework of the Gambling–Exploitation Vulnerability Pathway

•  Explain how behavioral health professionals and victim advocates can identify early warning signs of financial vulnerability and exploitation risk

•  Explore strategies for prevention and cross-sector collaboration between addiction treatment providers and anti-trafficking professionals

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Although Indigenous women are disproportionately affected by sex trafficking globally and in Latin America, there is limited research on mechanisms of exploitation in specific contexts. This presentation shares a collaborative research investigation of the coercive mechanisms used to sexually exploit Indigenous women in El Alto, Bolivia. Through participatory, community-based research, the presenters explore how colonial legacies, structural discrimination, and intersecting inequalities create vulnerability and assess how Indigenous knowledge and traditions can contribute to prevention and coping strategies. They conducted focus groups with 12 Indigenous Bolivian women with lived experience of sexual exploitation, primarily single mothers of Aymara descent. This presentation includes a detailed description of their participatory approach to thematic analysis of transcripts, in which seven participants joined as co-authors to contextualize the interpretation of findings, shape the next stage of the research, and identify priorities for action. The results identified three interconnected themes: (1) Gendered Expectations and Abuse Drive Economic Need for Countryside Girls and Women; (2) Misleading Offers Facilitate Incremental Desensitization to Sexual Contact; and (3) Structural Preventive Action Needed in (Countryside) Communities and Schools. The findings reveal how traffickers exploit intersecting forms of marginalization associated with being Aymara, female, impoverished, single mothers. The findings underscore the importance of culturally-informed, multi-level prevention strategies that center Indigenous knowledge and community resilience while addressing structural inequalities. The presenters will discuss critical implications for state obligations to provide systemic and policy support for proactive prevention, victim protection, and reparation to Aymara women who have experienced sexual exploitation.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Provide an overview of the research questions, methodology, and findings

•  Share processes and recommendations for effective partnerships between university researchers, community organizations, and participant co-researchers with lived experience of exploitation

•  Evaluate the implications for anti-trafficking policy and practice in Bolivia

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Human trafficking courts have been implemented across the United States to address the unique needs of minor victims, emerging from the broader movement of problem-solving courts. These specialized courts serve youth primarily involved in commercial sex, yet vary widely in their structure and approach. This study seeks to identify and examine human trafficking courts serving minors, with a focus on understanding how eligibility criteria, implementation practices, and benchmarks differ across jurisdictions. Existing literature highlights the growth of problem-solving courts but reveals limited standardization in human trafficking court models for minors. To address this gap, this project employs a mixed-methods approach, including surveys, interviews, focus groups, and site visits with court staff and key stakeholders. Findings from this multi-year study identify key variations in court structure, eligibility requirements, and operational benchmarks, underscoring the lack of consistency across jurisdictions. These differences have important implications for how courts identify, serve, and support trafficked youth. This presentation will discuss how these findings can inform the development of a more standardized court model and highlight opportunities to strengthen court responses. Recommendations will focus on improving alignment between court practices and the needs of trafficked youth, with the goal of enhancing service delivery and supporting more effective, trauma-informed approaches. This research is supported by the U.S. Office for Victims of Crime.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Provide an overview of human trafficking courts serving minors, including their purpose, structure, and variation across jurisdictions

•  Examine eligibility criteria, implementation practices, and operational benchmarks across jurisdictions

•  Examine findings from a mixed-methods, multi-year study, including insights gathered from surveys, interviews, focus groups, and site visits

•  Propose a conceptual framework for a standardized court model to support future evaluation and improve outcomes for trafficked youth

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This presentation examines how knowledge of human trafficking shapes attitudes toward sex trafficking victims and the psychological processes that drive these effects. Despite widespread awareness campaigns, misconceptions and victim-blaming persist, limiting public support for survivors and effective interventions. Drawing on a study of 1,248 Canadian undergraduate students, the research explores whether empathy and acceptance of sexual aggression mediate the link between trafficking knowledge and victim attitudes. Results from parallel mediation analyses, controlling for gender and ethnicity, show that higher knowledge is associated with more supportive attitudes primarily by increasing empathy for victims and decreasing acceptance of sexual aggression. The direct effect of knowledge alone is modest, emphasizing that attitudinal change relies on engaging both emotional and cognitive pathways rather than simply providing information. Gender differences emerged, with women reporting higher empathy and lower acceptance of sexual aggression, while ethnic differences were minor. These findings underscore the importance of interventions that combine factual education with empathy-building exercises and explicit challenges to beliefs that normalize sexual violence. The presentation will highlight implications for campus-based programs, policy development, and public awareness initiatives aimed at fostering survivor-centered perspectives. By demonstrating the mechanisms through which knowledge translates into compassionate attitudes, this research offers practical guidance for educators, policymakers, and advocates seeking to reduce victim-blaming, enhance empathy, and strengthen societal support for survivors of sex trafficking. Attendees will gain evidence-based strategies for designing educational and prevention programs that move beyond awareness toward meaningful social change.

 

Presentation Objectives:

•  Provide an overview of the study, including research questions, methodology, and key findings regarding knowledge, empathy, and attitudes toward sex trafficking victims

•  Explain the psychological mechanisms (empathy and acceptance of sexual aggression) that mediate the relationship between knowledge and supportive attitudes

•  Describe the implications of the findings for designing educational programs, interventions, and public awareness strategies to promote victim-centered responses

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