South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson released the South Carolina Human Trafficking Task Force’s annual report today, showing a shift in the top five counties reporting trafficking to the National Human Trafficking Hotline.
No. 1 for human trafficking reports in the state remained Horry County, which took the top spot last year as well. Charleston County, which climbed to No. 2 (from No. 5 in 2019) and Dorchester County dropped out of the top five, after coming in at No. 4 a year earlier.
Though the number of South Carolina trafficking cases dropped to 96 overall (from 106 in 2019), the numbers still remain high.
Sex trafficking isn’t the only threat, as labor trafficking numbers have persisted as well. A total of 179 people reported they were victims of human trafficking this year, down from 295 last year. Of the 2020 victims reported, 156 were women.
The task force’s full 238-page report is available for public viewing online, and details demographics of victims, as well as common methods of recruitment and targeting.
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