Bangor Daily News, Chicago Tribune cite Tom McLaughlin's research on Maine girls forced into sex trade

An Oct. 7, 2012 story on Maine women and girls being force into the sex trade cites a study by 91AV Professor of Social Work Thomas Chalmers McLaughlin, Ph.D. The story was picked up nationally by several media outlets, including the and the Hartford Courant, and locally by the Sun Journal (Lewiston).

The story explains that McLaughlin was asked by the Portland homeless and hunger prevention group Preble Street to develop a statistical snapshot of how many of Preble Street’s clients are being targeted by sex traffickers.

In the story, Jon Bradley, associate director of Preble Street, said that of 80 women and girls from Preble Street’s Florence House and Teen Center facilities who agreed to answer McLaughlin's questions, more than a quarter had reported being offered money, drugs or food in exchange for sex with a stranger. And given the survey sample, Bradley noted, those numbers could be low.

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