AEquitas Forced Criminality Understanding Human Trafficking through the Lens of Utah’s Victor Rax Case (April 2021) [pdf]
Victim selection in human trafficking cases typically involves three parts: (1) a vulnerable victim, (2) an accessible victim, and (3) a victim who the trafficker believes will not report the exploitation or one who is unlikely to be believed. Victor Rax found his perfect prey by targeting teenage boys in his poor, mostly immigrant neighborhood, in West Salt Lake City, Utah. The children were often surrounded by the world of street crime, which made them an ideal population for Rax to target. They were desperate, vulnerable, and unlikely to be believed by law enforcement. They or their families were often undocumented immigrants.
