I have seen evil in the world, and it does not go away because we as a society would prefer it to. It needs to be fought energetically.

Human trafficking sounds like a Hollywood crime carried out by mafiosi and transnational cartels, but the reality is up close, life-destroying and pernicious.

After 33 years as a prosecutor in Denver, I have seen the worst of it in case after horrifying case. It happens on the 16th Street Mall and on Colfax, next to our coffee shops and in plain sight. Human trafficking is organized, and it is preying on our most vulnerable children and young adults every day.

The accumulated trauma in these courtroom hearings over the years is gut-wrenching and heartbreaking. In my position as prosecutor, I’ve had to hear things nobody should have to hear, let alone actually experience.

The sheer magnitude of these kinds of crimes and their horrifying lack of humanity can be shocking. My first case years ago involved an elderly grandmother offering her 4-year-old granddaughter for sex on Larimer Street in Denver. I witnessed the testimony of minors who were simply kept in a room with a figurative revolving door of sex customers for 12 straight hours, only to do the same thing the next day and the day after.

In my career, I did what I could to make sure new stories like the above happened less. In 2012, we formed the Denver Anti-Trafficking Alliance which brought together more than 40 multi-disciplinary agencies in the Denver metro area to combat human sex trafficking. 

Despite these efforts, the data confirms what law enforcement has been seeing for years. Human trafficking is an especially insidious crime as its product is born every day and its demand depressingly steady. Colorado’s human trafficking problem has been worsening, particularly the last three years.

In 2023, Colorado witnessed a then-record year for human trafficking, with 113 statewide cases. This was the nation’s 10th highest number of human trafficking cases and its 10th-highest rate.

According to the Common Sense Institute’s latest statewide analysis, which I authored in my role as the Owens Early Criminal Justice Fellow, Colorado recorded 88 human trafficking offenses in 2024, the second-highest year on record, ranking 13th in the nation for total cases and 15th per capita.

While it appears human trafficking was reduced from 2023 to 2024, preliminary data indicates it grew in 2025. The number of human trafficking crimes in the Colorado Bureau of Investigation’s database shows 110 trafficking crimes — only three below the record year of 2023.

Because of reporting lags, that number may climb even higher. Simply put, Colorado may be on track for another record year of people’s sons and daughters being bought, sold and rented like property.

Human trafficking is chilling and destructive on its face, but most vile is the youth it steals.

According to our analysis at CSI, nearly two-thirds of Colorado’s trafficking victims are minors. Between 2008 and 2025, 60% of the state’s human trafficking victims were children, some under the age of 10.

That statistic becomes more appalling when you consider the nature of this crime. About 79% of trafficking cases in Colorado involve commercial sex exploitation.

When we consider human trafficking in Colorado, we are mainly discussing minors being sold for sex. Statistically speaking, the category of crime “human trafficking” is mainly child rape for profit.

This can be an easy reality to overlook and a difficult one to face, but bloody language can be important to understand a bloody reality. When policymakers debate these issues in abstract terms, it’s easy to lose sight of that reality. But every case file I ever read had the same core truth: a young person was treated like stock.

These crimes prey on youthful innocence at every level.

When I was district attorney, I sat across the table from runaways, kids from unstable homes, foster youth, and teens groomed online who were manipulated, threatened, coerced, and sold. Traffickers are predators who study vulnerability. They look for kids who feel invisible. Then they promise protection, money, affection, drugs, and turn that promise into control. It is the exploitation of what should be childhood’s most cherished attribute: trust.

This exploitation is concentrated and organized, which shows in how these trafficking charges are clustered. Though these crimes happen all over the state, they happen most in places in which their product — people — are in greatest abundance.

According to the data, Adams County alone accounts for 27% of Colorado’s victims since 2008, with El Paso and Denver counties close behind. In 2025, Adams County again led the state.

That pattern tells us something important. Human trafficking is organized within networks, not by random single actors. Trafficking follows highways, hotels, online platforms, and organized criminal groups. It follows opportunity. Criminals operate where they think enforcement is weakest and risk is lowest, and the market grows when traffickers believe they won’t be caught or prosecuted aggressively.

This last bit is arguably the most important. Good intentions do not protect victims. Policy does. There are concrete steps Colorado should take immediately to confront human trafficking:

First, lawmakers and elected leaders should prioritize enforcement. Human trafficking units need staffing, training, and coordination across agencies. Local law enforcement, state investigators, and federal partners must share intelligence in real time.

Second, district attorneys should prosecute offenders aggressively. Trafficking isn’t a minor offense. It is organized exploitation. These cases should be charged and sentenced accordingly. Repeat offenders should not cycle back onto the street.

Recently, a bill that would increase penalties for human traffickers was introduced in Colorado’s General Assembly. SB26-015 has passed the state Senate Judiciary Committee and is now awaiting appropriations. This bipartisan legislation, sponsored by Sen. Dylan Roberts and Sen. Byron Pelton, represents an effective deterrent.

The bill would also move toward the third step the state should take: target demand. As long as buyers exist, traffickers will supply victims. That means enforcing laws against those who purchase sex from trafficked individuals, especially minors.

Finally, the state should use data. Law enforcement cannot fix what it does not measure. Detailed reporting from both federal and Colorado Bureau of Investigation sources provides policymakers valuable clarity. This information can be used to deploy resources where trafficking is concentrated.

This would be an appropriate year to take more aggressive action in curbing these crimes. Colorado is near record highs for human trafficking offenses. We rank among the worst states in the country, and 2025 may be worse than any year we’ve seen yet.

Those facts demand action including strengthening law enforcement, increasing or enforcing penalties and supporting community services for victims. As someone who spent a career putting violent criminals behind bars, I can tell you this: traffickers don’t stop just because we hope they will.

They stop when the cost of doing business becomes too high. Considering what “doing business” means to traffickers — buying, renting and selling children and teenagers for personal profit — it behooves the state to consider how to make that cost higher.

Mitch Morrissey is the former Denver district attorney and Common Sense Institute Owens Early Criminal Justice Fellow.