Towards the Discreet Identification of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) Victims and Individualized Interventions: Science to Practice

The purpose of the present study was to build on the extant Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) screening options available for use in the juvenile justice system, where screenings must be brief, objective, and nonintrusive. Our goal was not to develop a system to identify CSEC victims, but instead to objectively discern CSEC risk in youth to be further examined through a referral process. Risk factors or indicators of risk for CSEC victimization have been proposed, and used to develop semistructured interviews intended to inform clinical judgments. We propose an objective, quantitative decision-making system for determining CSEC risk called the Sex-Trafficking Assessment Review (STAR © 2015 District of Columbia Courts). Participants included 901 youth (95.34% African American; 45.17% female; Mean age = 15.44, SD = 1.50) arrested in Washington, DC. A codebook was developed to aid scoring of STAR items, and kappa interrater reliability coefficients were developed to assure adequate agreement in STAR scores among screeners. An Item Response Theory (IRT) model was applied to STAR scores, and 3 CSEC risk statuses were identified: (a) High Risk, (b) Moderate Risk, and (c) Low Risk. Consistent with the CSEC literature, STAR statuses were associated with depression and other clinical symptoms as well as perceptions and attributions known to be common in sexual abuse victims. Also in keeping with theory, STAR statuses were associated with gender, but not age. Results are discussed in the context of service provision in a juvenile court system, including the implementation of the STAR.