A new study recommends state agencies change their methods to address child labor trafficking.

Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Social Work surveyed child welfare and juvenile justice professionals, and found that 20% reported they have worked with people under 18 who were coerced or controlled by another person or entity for their labor -- and over 40% expect to do so in the future.

Trafficked children are typically forced to do things like domestic service, childcare, food industry and retail work - as well as forced criminal activity such as stealing or selling drugs.

Lead study author Neil Mallon -- a senior research specialist with the Prevention of Adolescent Risks Initiative at the University of Maryland School of Social Work -- said finding hard data to estimate the scale of the problem is difficult.

"Unlike sex trafficking, which is defined as a form of child sexual abuse, labor trafficking is not defined in that sort of way within our child abuse laws," said Mallon. "So, it makes the enforcement of which agency is responsible for investigating, identifying, and providing services to those children a little unclear."

Researchers recommend the state update child abuse laws to define labor trafficking as 'maltreatment,' and forced criminal behavior as 'labor trafficking.'

Study authors also call on Maryland's human and juvenile service agencies to improve screening, reporting, and investigation of at-risk or victimized youth.

Amelia Rubenstein, director of the University's PARI effort and an adjunct professor, said accurately identifying someone in an exploitative labor circumstance is critical - but complicated.

"There's a lot of different information you need to know," said Rubenstein, "about how they're paid, if they're paid, if they're allowed to work, what their working conditions are - in order to determine if it's exploitative, or if it's labor trafficking. "

The report shows how child labor trafficking can include 'debt bondage,' where a person has pledged their labor as payment or collateral on a debt - often as compensation for having been smuggled into the U.S.

These arrangements can be extended indefinitely as smugglers may continue to arbitrarily add interest and fees so the debt can never be repaid.

Children caught in labor trafficking may be subjected to forced criminal activity which can involve being compelled to cultivate, sell or transport drugs, being forced to steal, and transport weapons or stolen goods.

Mallon said when children in these situations enter the juvenile justice system, professionals need to recognize the signs.

"Do we need to kind of shift our lens, the way that we look at juvenile delinquency, to understand that maybe not all of these children are complicit in the labor of crime?" Mallon asked. "And that in some cases, these are kids that are being used and exploited into doing this type of work by the very same elements of force, fraud and coercion that are seen in sex trafficking cases."

The report also calls on the state to provide young people access to meaningful employment opportunities including well-paid internships to build vocational skills.



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Nearly 2,000 South Dakota juveniles were successfully diverted from the state's court system this year, according to a new report.

A 2024 law has added fiscal incentive for counties to continue these diversion efforts.

When low-risk youth are diverted from the court system, they are 45% less likely to reoffend, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Diversion can take many forms, from mural-painting to skateboarding programs.

State's Attorney Lara Roetzel in Pennington County, where diversion programs have been used for about 25 years, said they can help unveil the root cause of a child's misbehavior.

"Diversion gives you a chance to really get to know that young person, and get them the help that they need," said Roetzel, "because it's not always obvious."

For example, she said, a child caught stealing may be doing so to support a drug habit - and would be best served through addiction counseling.

The Department of Social Services has also expanded community-based treatment options for youth, including functional family therapy and aggression replacement therapy, according to a draft 2024 report from the state's Juvenile Justice Oversight Council.

When a child avoids court or incarceration, the state saves money - so the state compensates counties for the cost per child of successful diversions.

South Dakota Senate Bill 47, passed this year, increased the amount paid from $250 to $750 per child. Roetzel said that allows the diversion programming to continue.

"It meant that I just wrote a check this week," said Roetzel, "that will allow me to pay for classes for almost all of the young people that will go through my juvenile diversion programs next year."

This is particularly helpful, she said, because otherwise the outstanding costs land on parents - who often can't afford to pay them.




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When a 6-year-old girl in Florida had a temper tantrum in class, it seemed like a typical childhood moment.

But instead of calming the situation, a school resource officer placed her in a squad car, fingerprinted her and took a mug shot, which left lasting emotional scars.

Delvin Davis, senior policy analyst at the Southern Poverty Law Center, said the case highlights a troubling ongoing concern: disparities in how discipline is enforced, particularly for Black and brown children. This case and others are highlighted in his report, "Only Young Once: The Systemic Harm of Florida's School-to-Prison Pipeline and Youth Legal System."

"As you can imagine, it was a very traumatic experience for her," Davis explained. "She's older now, but still it has lingering on ongoing effects for her -- mentally and how she does well in school and how she interacts with other people, things like that -- and how she interacts with authority figures as well."

Following the case, in 2021, the Florida Legislature passed the "Kaia Rolle Act," which prohibits the arrest of children under age 7, except in cases involving a forcible felony. However, children as young as 7 can still be arrested and prosecuted in the state.

Davis' report examined how school discipline policies, combined with a significant increase in law enforcement presence in schools, have exacerbated the problem, particularly in the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas school shooting. Davis noted it led to a sharp rise in school-based policing.

"Once you expel or suspend a kid from school, there's a higher correlation for dropout rates," Davis pointed out. "And pretty much the first step into the school to prison pipeline is a downward spiral, where you're more likely to see that kid detained later on, arrested later on and further on into the penal system."

At the heart of Davis's findings is a call for systemic change to ensure schools are places of support and growth, not gateways to the juvenile justice system. The report also pointed to solutions, emphasizing community-based programs as more effective alternatives to punitive discipline.


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Wyoming has the nation's highest rate of juvenile incarceration, and is one of only two states refusing federal funds to help.

In 2021, nearly 270 Wyoming juveniles were in placement facilities per every 100,000 youths, according to The Sentencing Project, nearly four times the national rate. Data show diversion programs such as therapy, tutoring, job-readiness programs and arts programming help keep youths out of the system.

Darya Larizadeh, director of California policy and capacity building at the National Center for Youth Law, said good diversion programs are community-based and in partnership with stakeholders such as law enforcement and probation officers.

"Good programs are narrowly tailored," Larizadeh stressed. "They're supporting youths where they are in terms of their strengths and needs. They're culturally relevant. And then meeting the needs of kids of all genders and different sexual orientations."

She acknowledged funding is a key piece, too. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention within the U.S. Department of Justice in 2023 gave out $47 million to support prevention and intervention programs. Wyoming and Texas were the only two states not participating this year.

One barrier in Wyoming is data. A state bill passed in 2022 charged the Department of Family Services with standardizing the collection of statewide juvenile justice information.

Damon DeBernardi, Sublette County deputy county attorney and member of the Wyoming State Advisory Council of Juvenile Justice, explained the challenges.

"Wyoming has 23 counties, but every county was doing things different regarding data collection, to even know what necessarily the problem was," DeBernardi observed. "Once that statewide data collection begins, it'll be interesting to see what comes from that."

Gov. Mark Gordon in a speech last week requested nearly $500,000 in supplemental budget funding to "continue providing behavioral health services to prisoners nearing release."


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