Dr. Young’s research focuses on sex trafficking within the Black community, specifically victim experiences with the criminal legal system as victims and/or offenders. Her current scholarship examines how racist and sexist biases create multiplicative forms of victimization for Black sex trafficking survivors in criminal court; specifically how the designation of "trafficking victim" is often denied to survivors of human trafficking due to social stratification. Broadly, Dr. Young's research explores barriers for help-seeking behavior and how victims understand "justice" due to their experiences. Dr. Young’s expertise is in Black feminist criminology, intersectional criminology, gender-based violence, race and justice, victimology, and human trafficking. She is currently writing a book on chattel enslavement and contemporary sex trafficking of Black women and girls.