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The commercialized sexual exploitation of children (CSEC), specifically child trafficking, prostitution, pornography, and enticement, has become a burgeoning topic over the past several decades. The purpose of this paper is to determine the characteristics of those victims who were at risk for sex trafficking, prostitution, pornography, and traveling/enticement.

This observational, survey design includes a records review of 18 victims who were identified by the FBI Miami Field Office. Case illustrations are provided for a more in-depth analysis of CSEC victims.

The results of this paper indicated that hands-on sexual abuse and child prostitution were the most common CSEC offenses that victims experienced. Additionally, Caucasian females, between 13 and 18 years of age, were often victimized. Victims more frequently experienced web forms of sexual abuse and engaged in risky sexual behaviors outside of the victimization. Further, the majority of victims in the sample came from a low socioeconomic background and lived in a single-parent home.

The current results, combined with prior research, may aid law enforcement, mental health, and medical professionals in understanding potential characteristics correlated with various forms of CSEC offenses.

To the authors’ knowledge, this is one of the first descriptive studies involving case illustrations of CSEC victims.

Police officers are increasingly interacting with individuals with mental illnesses. Officers who encounter these persons have three choices: detain, arrest and transport to a correctional facility; resolve the situation informally; or initiate an involuntary psychiatric admission. The decision to place someone under an involuntary psychiatric admission is based on a variety of factors. This paper aims to collaborate with two metropolitan Police Departments in South Florida to explore individual and departmental factors that contribute to involuntary psychiatric admissions initiated by their officers.

This investigation examined 1,625 police reports of involuntary psychiatric admissions in 2013, 2014 and 2015. Descriptive statistics for the entire sample were computed, and percentages of Crisis Intervention Team (CIT)-trained officers for both departments in each year were determined.

Results highlighted differences in rates of involuntary commitments, CIT-trained officers and associated variables (e.g. mental health diagnoses, substance use) between the two cities.

Implications of the findings, and directions that future research in this area might take, are discussed.

There is a dearth of literature pertaining to involuntary psychiatric admissions in general and factors specific to involuntary psychiatric admissions initiated by police. This paper adds preliminary findings and implications to this body of research.