MIAMI VALLEY ONLINE COMMERCIAL SEX MARKETPLACE ANALYSIS

August 2015

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Acknowledgements

Principal Investigator

Tony Talbott

Research Assistance

Rachel Bernardo Meghan Carrol Rebecca Judeh Adrianne Lewis William Steele

Project Coordination

Youssef Farhat

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Introduction

This report presents a picture of the online commercial sex marketplace for the Greater- Dayton region for a seven week period in the Fall of 2014. Advertisements for commercial sex (or highly suggestive of commercial sex) from Backpage.com were recorded and analyzed. Backpage.com is the largest online commercial sex market in the US. Commercial sex is increasingly being facilitated by online transactions across the nation. In some cases, the people providing this commercial sex are compelled or are minors. According to Federal law, compelled prostitution or prostitution involving minors is defined as human trafficking.

Method

We used a modified version of the Imagine Foundation methodology (www.imaginefreedom.org) for analyzing online commercial sex advertisements.

A team of University of Dayton undergraduate student researchers was assembled from participants in Professor Tony Talbott’s semester-long human trafficking class during the Fall of 2014. Researchers performed a content analysis of online advertisements from the “Escorts” (female) link under the “adult” section of Backpage.com, Dayton, Ohio website.

Two students were assigned to each day of the week as coders to check for inter-coder reliability. An additional undergraduate and graduate student were assigned as coordinators. Student coders entered data from all ads on their assigned day of the week. Students worked independently of each other (i.e., each day’s ads were entered twice). Coordinators then reviewed the data and resolved any discrepancies between each coder’s data.

Data were entered into a Google spreadsheet, cleaned, and entered into IBM’s SPSS 19 program for analysis. Information gathered on each ad included: coder initials, day of week posted, date posted, poster age, locations, time, post ID, phone number, race, face shown, price in-call, price out-call, and number of people per ad. In addition, coders were asked to “flag” ads that appeared suspicious or seemed to possess indicators of human trafficking. By the start of this project, all coders had completed eight weeks of a sixteen week course on human trafficking and were very familiar with common indicators.

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Online Commercial Sex and

Backpage.com

“The widespread availability and rapid expansion of the Internet has redefined the spatial and social limitations of the sex market by introducing new markets for both recruitment and advertisement.”1

Recruitment and advertisement for prostitution is increasingly moving to the internet. This enables commercial sex to go “underground”—out of the public eye. Currently, the largest venue in the US for commercial sex ads is the adult services section of Backpage.com’s online classifieds website.2

Although these ads, ostensibly, are for escorts and related Online classifieds like services, many are, in fact, for “ commercial sex. A 2012 study Backpage.com are now a primary venue by Arizona State University found that nearly eighty for traffickers to sell sex with percent of ads in the Phoenix minors and for buyers to purchase sex Backpage “adult services” section were for prostitution.3 with these children .” -Shared Hope International

Shared Hope International, a leading anti-child sex trafficking advocacy organization, views internet technology and Backpage in particular, as being responsible for an “explosion in sex trafficking in the United States.” They report an 800% increase over a two year period in minors being sex trafficked using the internet and cite several social service providers who claim a majority of their minor sex trafficked clients were exploited via Backpage.com.4

1 Urban Institute. “Estimating the Size and Structure of the Underground Commercial Sex Economy in Eight Major US Cities.” Research Report, March 2014. P. 286. 2 AIM Group. “Online prostitution-ad revenue crosses Craigslist benchmark.” July 2013. URL: http://aimgroup.com/2013/07/10/online-prostitution-ad-revenue-crosses-craigslist-benchmark/ (accessed 7/10/2015). 3 ASU News. “Study finds extensive prostitution ads on Backpage.com.” September, 2012. URL: https://asunews.asu.edu/20120924_backpage_study (accessed 7/10/15). 4 Shared Hope International. “Online Facilitation of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking.” White Paper, August 2014.

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Commercial sex advertisements are very lucrative for Backpage.com. The AIM Group reports the site earned over $37 Million in a twelve-month period ending May, 2013.

This revenue was generated by escort and body rub ads on the site. Backpage’s monthly revenue from these ads is steadily increasing, due primarily to rate increases for the ads.5

Figure 1 | Source: http://aimgroup.com/wp- content/uploads/2013/08/BPMonthlyRevenueMay2013.jpeg The daily rate for Dayton escort ads is $7.00, which places it in the second most expensive location category for Ohio ads. Non-“adult” classifieds on Backpage are generally free.6

Daily Rate Daily Rate Location Location for Ad for Ad Akron/Canton $7.00 Huntington/Ashland $2.00 Ashtabula $2.00 Lima/Findlay $3.00 Athens $2.00 Mansfield $2.00 Chillicothe $2.00 Sandusky $2.00 $10.00 Toledo $7.00 $10.00 Tuscarawas County $3.00 Columbus $10.00 Youngstown $5.00 Dayton $7.00 Zanesville/Cambridge $2.00 Table 1

5 AIM Group. “Online prostitution-ad revenue crosses Craigslist benchmark.” July 2013. URL: http://aimgroup.com/2013/07/10/online-prostitution-ad-revenue-crosses-craigslist-benchmark/ (accessed 7/10/2015). 6 http://posting.dayton.backpage.com/online/classifieds/PostAdPPI.html/day/dayton.backpage.com/

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Timeframe

The study ran for 52 days from 10/16/2014 to 12/7/2014. A total of 846 ads were analyzed and coded. This yielded an average of 16 ads per day.

Figure 2

Dates with 20 or more posts

Sixteen dates had 20 or more posts. There did not seem to be an event-specific pattern to the post frequency data (see table 2).

Number Day of Date Number Day of Week Date of Posts Week of Posts 33 Thursday 16-Oct-2014 22 Wednesday 05-Nov-2014 26 Friday 17-Oct-2014 22 Tuesday 11-Nov-2014 26 Sunday 19-Oct-2014 22 Sunday 07-Dec-2014 25 Saturday 22-Nov-2014 21 Tuesday 21-Oct-2014 24 Wednesday 29-Oct-2014 21 Thursday 06-Nov-2014 24 Friday 21-Nov-2014 21 Wednesday 12-Nov-2014 23 Wednesday 03-Dec-2014 20 Friday 07-Nov-2014 22 Friday 24-Oct-2014 20 Sunday 21-Nov-2014 Table 2

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Fridays were the most common day of the week to post, while Tuesdays were the least common.

137 139 133 118 109 115

NUMBER OF POSTS POSTS OF NUMBER 95

MONDAY T U E S D A Y WEDNESDAY THURSDAY FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY WEEKDAY POSTED

Figure 3

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Locations Number of Fifty-two separate locations were Times Top Ten Locations mentioned in the text of the ads. These Mentioned locations covered urban, suburban, and rural areas of the Miami Valley and more 1. Dayton 807 distant urban areas spanning four states. 2. Dayton Area/Surrounding 64 Map 1 displays all locations specifically Areas mentioned in the ads. Dayton was by far 3. Miamisburg 61 the most prevalent location (78% of total), 4. North Dayton 55 followed by Miamisburg, Centerville, 5. South Dayton 47 Cincinnati, Englewood, and Troy. Most 6. Various cities/Anywhere 42 Miami Valley locations were clustered 7. Centerville 30 along the I-75 corridor (see Map 2). 8. Cincinnati 16 Full list of locations in appendix 1. 9. Englewood 15 9. Troy 15 Table 3

Map 1: All Locations Mentioned in Ads

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Map 2: Miami Valley Locations Mentioned in Ads

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Area Codes of Advertised Phone

Numbers

Most ads (781 of 846) mentioned a telephone number to be used to contact the poster. Seventy percent of area codes were from Ohio and 21% were from other US states (see figure 4) Full list in appendix 2.

These locations spanned the continental US (see Map 3).

Figure 4

Map 3

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Six different Ohio area codes appeared in the ads. Unsurprisingly, 937 was the most common comprising 82% of OH area codes.

All regions of the state were represented by area codes except for Southeast Ohio.

Code 614 Codes 567 Code 419 3% & 234 6% 1% Code 513 8%

Map 4

Code 937 82%

Figure 5

There were a total of 215 unique telephone numbers across the 846 ads. Many ads were posted by the same posters multiple times during the study period. Twenty different phone numbers were recorded 10 or more times. The most frequently used number showed up 35 times and appeared to be placed by the same provider. Twenty-nine telephone numbers appeared to be linked to multiple providers. This is a potential indicator of human trafficking: a service, agency, manager, or pimp/trafficker who is advertising multiple women using the same telephone number.

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Faces Shown or Obscured?

836 of 846 ads contained photographs of the providers. Face Of these, 32% obscured or Obscured did not show their faces. 32% Obscuring faces is generally related to privacy concerns. However, it has also been linked to concealment of identity of underage or coerced Face Shown victims. 68%

Figure 6

Who Posted?

All ads in the study were for female providers. The race of the providers was determined by self-reported information within the advertisement or was designated by the researcher coding the ad (see figure 7). 223 of the ads were classified as “unknown race.” This indicated that insufficient information was available to determine race (e.g., missing or unclear photograph).

Figure 7 Of those ads able to be classified, 47% were white, 19% black, 5% Hispanic, 1.5% Asian, and 1% reported as multiracial or biracial.

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Ages of the posters was determined by self-reported data. Ages varied greatly from 18 years to 69 years, with an average of 27 years. 836 of the ads contained age information.

Table 4 shows poster age by race. Blacks had both the largest spread (19 to 69 years) and were the youngest on average (26 years), while Asians were the oldest (average of 32 years).

Provider’s Total Number Average Minimum Maximum Recorded Race Identified Age Age Age Asian 13 31.62 19 36 Black 160 25.91 19 69 Hispanic 44 31.23 19 36 Multiracial 8 29.63 23 36 Unknown 214 27.73 18 50 White 397 27.13 18 53 Total 836 27.36 18 69 Table 4

Pricing

Posters advertised both in-call and out-call services. In-call means that the customer must come in to the location of the provider, while out-call means that the provider will come out to the location of the customer. Many posts did not specifically mention a price. 174 posts included in-call pricing and 129 included out-call prices. In-call prices ranged from $50 to $300. The mean (average) price was $130.43 with a median value of $100. Prices were slightly higher for out-call services. The price range was the same, but mean was slightly higher at $142.91, and median was a full $50 higher at $150 (see table 5).

Pricing Mean Median Minimum Maximum In-Call Price $130.43 $100.00 $50.00 $300.00 Out-Call Price $142.91 $150.00 $50.00 $300.00 Table 5

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Flagged Posts

Coders were asked to “flag” any posts that they considered to be suspicious or that contained indicators of human trafficking. Indicators of trafficking include: posts written in third person, posters “just visiting,” visible “brands” (tattoos), evidence of a pimp/manager, and so on. Coders consistently flagged posts throughout the study period, although posts were flagged slightly more frequently at the beginning of the period than near the end. While this is a completely subjective measure, it is interesting to note that well-informed, educated students flagged 236 out of 846 ads. In other words, they found something suspicious about 27.9% of all ads posted during the study period.

HUMAN TRAFFICKING SUSPICIOUS POSTS

Flagged Posts 28%

Non-flagged Posts 72%

Figure 8 Conclusion

While it is unclear how many of these commercial sex ads actually are advertisements for the sex trafficking of adults and minors, it is clear that many potential indicators of trafficking were uncovered during this study. It makes sense that online advertisements are used to facilitate the “hidden” exploitation of human beings. The “anonymity” of the internet allows these crimes to remain hidden from public view and take place literally anywhere. These data also show how widespread commercial sex networks are across the United States and throughout Ohio. Commercial sex, including human trafficking, is present in urban, suburban, and rural neighborhoods. It is a lucrative financial “business” for the criminal actors and for the noncriminal facilitators involved. This report highlights several important gaps in our response. We must: 1) better recognize the link between commercial sex and human trafficking, 2) increase our understanding of the human trafficking process, and 3) develop more effective tools to police online facilitation of human trafficking. Awareness of the issue is the first step in combatting it.

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Appendix 1

Number of Number of Times Times Locations Locations Mentioned Mentioned

Dayton 807 Indy 2 Dayton Area/Surrounding 64 Dayton Mall 2 Areas/Local Areas/"Area"/All of Dayton Miamisburg 61 Ridge Ave., Cincinnati 2 North Dayton 55 Independent 2 South Dayton 47 Michigan 2 Various 42 WPAFB/WSU 2 Cities/Anywhere/All of Ohio/All Major Cities/Rest of Ohio/ Multiple Cities/ "Anywhere you want me"/"Out All Over" Centerville 30 Columbus 2 Cincy 16 Interstate 2 Troy 15 Cleveland 1 Englewood 15 Richmond, IN 1 Akron/Canton 9 Fairfield 1 Kettering 9 Moraine 1 North Dixie/Dixie 8 Jamestown 1 Ashtabula 7 Lima/Findlay 1 Athens 7 Poe Avenue 1 Beavercreek 5 North Kentucky 1 Downtown Dayton 5 Private Apt. N. Main St. 1 Middletown 4 Vandalia 1 Dayton Airport/Near 4 Miamisburg-Centerville 1 Airport Road Linden Avenue 4 West Dayton 1 Fairborn 4 Jeffersonville 1 Trotwood 3 NW Ohio 1 Miller Lane 3 East Dublin 1 Springfield 3 Toledo 1 Huber Heights 3 Downtown Cincinnati 1 Off 35 3

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Appendix 2

Area Codes State Location Used in Ad Details 205 AL Alabaster, Bessemer, Birmingham 209 CA Atwater, Ceres, Lodi 210 TX San Antonio 214 TX Allen, Arlington, Carrollton 217 IL Champaign, Charleston, Danville 218 MN Andover, Duluth, Moorhead 234 OH Akron, Alliance, Austintown 240 MD Aspen Hill, Bethesda, Bowie 248 MI Bloomfield, Farmington Hills, Ferndale 256 AL Anniston, Decatur, Florence 262 WI Brookfield, Caledonia, Kenosha 269 MI Battle Creek, Kalamazoo, Portage 276 VA Richmond 281 TX Alvin, Atascocita, Baytown 305 FL Aventura, Carol City, Coral Gables 307 WY Casper, Cheyenne, Gilettte 313 MI Allen Park, Dearborn, Dearborn Heights 317 IN Carmel Fishers, Greenwood 323 CA Bell, Bell Gardens, Cudahy 347 NY Bronx, Brooklyn, New York City 360 WA Bellingham, Bremerton, Lacey 412 PA Bethel Park, Mccandless, Mckeesport 419 OH Ashland, Bowling Green, Findlay 470 GA 480 AZ Apache Junction, Chandler, Fountain Hills 501 AR Benton, Conway, Hot Springs 502 KY Frankfort, Louisville 510 CA Alameda, Berkeley, Castro Valley 513 OH Cincinnati, Fairfield, Hamliton 515 IA Ames, Ankeny, Des Moines 520 AZ Casa Adobes, Casa Grande, Catalina Foothills 567 OH Ashland, Bowling Green, Findlay 608 WI Beloit, Fitchburg, Janesville 614 OH Columbus, Dublin, Gahanna 646 NY Manhattan, New York City 651 MN Apple Valley, Cottage grove, Eagan 702 NV Henderson, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas

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Area Codes State Location

Used in Ad Details

704 NC Charlotte, Concord, Gastonia

707 CA Benicia, Eureka, Fairfield

717 PA Harrisburg, Lancaster, Lebanon 724 PA Mccandless, Monroeville, New Castle 765 IN Anderson, Kokomo, Lafayette 773 IL Chicago 800 804 VA Hopewell, Mechanicsville, Petersburg 818 CA Agoura Hills, Burbank, Calabasas 828 NC Asheville, Hickory 859 KY Covington, Florence, Lexington 865 TN Knoxville, Maryville, Oak Ridge 904 FL Jacksonville, Jacksonville Beach, Lakeside 914 NY Harrison, Mount Vernon, New Rochelle 916 CA Arden-arcade, Carmichael, Citrus Heights 918 OK Bartlesville, Broken Arrow, Muskogee 919 NC Apex, Cary, Chapel Hill 928 AZ Bullhead City, Flagstaff, Fortuna Foothills 931 TN Clarksville, Columbia, Cookeville 937 OH Beavercreek, Centerville, Dayton 941 FL Bradenton, North Port, Port Charlotte

Human Rights Center University of Dayton Fitz Hall, Suite 665 300 College Park Dayton, Ohio 45469-2964

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