Sex trafficking is a grossly misconstrued and increasing issue within the United States. The purpose of this study was to extend current knowledge regarding the public’s education on domestic sex trafficking and perceptions of domestic sex trafficking victims. The public’s awareness of domestic sex trafficking and perceptions of domestic sex trafficking victims were examined through the utilization of a 31 closed-ended question survey. The survey included questions about domestic sex trafficking and prostitution myths, domestic sex trafficking victim characteristics, domestic sex trafficking legislation, law enforcement’s involvement in domestic sex trafficking cases, and demographics. The sample consisted of 195 Criminal Justice and Criminology students at East Tennessee State University, located in Northeast Tennessee. The results showed that, despite having a mostly empirical based view on domestic sex trafficking, students misconceived domestic sex trafficking victims when comparing the age of victims, such as child victims versus adult victims.

Master of Science / Family Studies and Human Services / Sandra M. Stith / The purpose of this thesis is to learn from human trafficking survivors about how service providers can better help female victims of human trafficking. The paper is guided by two theories, i.e., Attention Restoration Theory (Hartig, Evans, Jamner, Davis, & Galing, 2003) and The Holistic Process Theory of Healing (Ventegodt, Andersen, & Merrick, 2003). In this paper, I refer to the participants in my research as survivors and individuals who have been or currently are victims of human trafficking as victims. To utilize the common language used by the participants of this study, sex trafficking will be referred to as the “sex industry”. The purpose of the study was to gain the perspectives of women in the process of exiting from the sex industry to answer the overarching questions of how service providers can better help women who are on the path to restoration and recovery, as well as to help service providers better identify female victims and their needs. A combined approach of Braun and Clarke’s (2006) thematic analysis and Gilligan, Spencer, Weinberg and Bertsch’s (n.d.) Listening Guide was used to analyze the transcribed interviews for a better understanding of the narratives of the participants and the themes that emerged from their narratives.