Cohort 2022

Polaris

Advancing Data-Driven Policies That Center Sex Trafficking Survivors

New Orleans, LA

Criminalizing the sex trade can make those involved vulnerable to interpersonal violence and leave trafficking survivors with criminal records and a distrust of the criminal legal system. In New Orleans, people arrested and charged with prostitution, including potential sex trafficking victims, are predominantly people of color; Black women and girls make up the majority of prostitution arrests in the city each year. Establishing more just and equitable policies that center survivors of sex trafficking will better serve impacted residents of New Orleans.

With Catalyst Grant funding, Polaris will work with the New Orleans Family Justice Center and other local partners to analyze publicly accessible data on prostitution arrests and charges in New Orleans. Through sources like the FBI Unified Crime Reporting database, it will seek to understand the demographics of sex buyers, traffickers, and prostituted people. It will develop the results of the data analysis into educational materials to inform policymaking. Polaris’s effort will focus on advancing advocacy and education to encourage data-driven policy change and establishing funding mechanisms to support a network of partners who provide services for people who have experienced sexual exploitation.