Date
11-11-2026
Department
Helms School of Government
Degree
Doctor of Philosophy in Criminal Justice (PhD)
Chair
Marc Philip Weiss
Keywords
North Carolina Human Trafficking
Disciplines
Philosophy
Recommended Citation
Farrar, Pamela Renee, "North Carolina Human Trafficking: Prevalence in Charlotte" (2026). Doctoral Dissertations and Projects. 9041.
https://digitalcommons.liberty.edu/doctoral/9041
Abstract
Trafficking in persons continues to be a problem in Charlotte, North Carolina in both terms of public safety, human rights, and law enforcement. It is difficult to estimate the prevalence of the phenomenon at the local level as it is often not registered, is underreported and is not consistently recognized in official statistics. This quantitative archival study aimed to determine if poverty rates and transient population size/mobility were significant predictors for the reported prevalence of human trafficking in the City of Charlotte between the years 20202024. The prevalence of human trafficking was measured as the reported human trafficking in public archival law enforcement data. Data for the ACS 5-Year ZCTA data included socioeconomic predictors such as poverty, mobility/transience, unemployment, population size, and median household income. Data for CMPD Incidents included the number of reported trafficking cases and occurrences. The analytic data consisted of 120 ZIP/ZCTA-year observations and 20 reported primary human trafficking incidents. The results indicated that the reported incidents were clustered in the period 2020-2022 and reduced during 2023 and 2024. The results of the correlation analyses indicated weak positive correlation between poverty and reported trafficking outcomes and very weak correlation between mobility (transience) and reported trafficking outcomes. The logistic and count regression results did not support either of the null hypotheses, as both poverty and mobility/transience were not significant predictors of reported human trafficking prevalence. The results indicate that the prevalence of trafficking reported is not necessarily parallel to actual prevalence in the population and also indicate the importance of better law enforcement data collection, trauma informed identification and inter-agency collaboration.
