This 2004 assessment reviews U.S. legislative and executive branch government activities designed to improve protections for and assistance to victims trafficked into the United States, intended to increase successful investigations and prosecutions of traffickers, and with the objective of augmenting international activities to combat trafficking. This assessment also reviews the implementation of the recommendations from the 2003 assessment and presents an updated set of recommendations. The U.S. Government estimates that between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked annually into the United States. The scope of this crime is wide and varied, but it typically involves victims entrapped in commercial sexual exploitation such as prostitution, or labor exploitation in "sweatshops," domestic servitude, and construction and agricultural settings. The United States is primarily a destination country for people trafficked from other countries. Under the authority of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 (TVPRA), the United States has put in place programs, training mechanisms, and processes of a comprehensive approach for combating trafficking in persons both domestically and abroad, as well as for assisting victims in recovering from their trafficking ordeal. This 2004 assessment recommends the following: A standard training program for State and local police that focuses on trafficking in persons; a continued increase in State and local involvement in identifying victims; continued attention to public awareness of the problem and the allocation of resources for victims; increased emphasis on demand reduction strategies; development of tools for assessing victims' health needs; improved interagency coordination and planning of programs overseas; expansion of the program to engage embassies in the United States; an examination of why so few victims in the United States seek housing subsidies; the passage of State anti-trafficking laws; and ratification of the United Nations Protocol to Prevent, Suppress, and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children.