Exploring racial disparities in sex trafficking special docket court programs

The United States criminal legal system has a long-standing and well-documented history of perpetuating racial disparities in health and well-being through inequitable policing, sentencing, and incarceration practices. In the last decade, the criminal legal system has re-considered their response to women arrested for solicitation via sex trafficking specialty courts.

The current study leverages publicly available data from one large Midwestern county to explore the presence of racial disparities within women's referral to, election to participate in, and success within one specialty court program for women in the sex trade.

Between 1990 and 2022, approximately 27,790 women were arrested or cited for solicitation (about 2.5 per day). Among them, 67.0% were White, 31.4% were Black, 0.9% reported another racial identity; and 0.7% had racial identity missing from their record; which aligns with county demographics. Rates of referral to sex trafficking specialty court programs were similar for White and Black women arrested for solicitation (11.6% vs 13.1%, p = 0.28). However, racial disparities were observed within rates of women who elected to participate in these programs (83.1% - White; 56.9% - Black, p < 0.001). Although not statistically significant within the small sample of program graduates, White women who participated in the program were more likely to graduate compared to their Black peers (20% vs 9.1%; p = 0.07).

Much greater attention is needed to establish equitable practices and access within this unique branch of specialty court programming. Specifically, these programs should seek to cultivate better reputations as trusted providers among Black women in the sex trade.