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The Criminal Justice System, 2nd Edition

Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015

Definition: Comprehensive federal legislation that expands criminal sanctions for trafficking and improves programming and funding for investigating trafficking and related crimes.

Criminal justice issues: Crime statistics; investigation; law codes; prosecution; sex offenses; victims

Significance: Creates comprehensive protections for trafficking victims and improves tools available to those who investigate and prosecute trafficking charges.

Human trafficking, sexual exploitation of children, coerced human sex trade, and “e-commerce” in trafficking are significant problems within the United States and around the world. As a comprehensive response to a growing awareness of these issues, Congress passed the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act to establish broad protections and services for victims of sex trafficking and related crimes. The legislation endured a protracted battle in the Senate over whether funds could be used to pay for abortions for victims. The Senate was able to resolve the debate and voted 99-0 for passage of the Act. The House of Representatives previously had voted in support of the Act, and President Obama signed the law on May 27, 2015. Consistent with existing federal law, this Act recognizes pornography, child sex trafficking, adult sex trafficking, coerced prostitution, and advertising of sex with trafficked victims as violent crimes that fall within the definition of trafficking. It also amends the Victims of Child Abuse Act to include human trafficking and child pornography within the definition of child abuse. This law expands the rights of victims, improves resources for investigating and prosecuting trafficking crimes, promotes empirical data collection on trafficking and victimization, and increases penalties for persons convicted of trafficking offenses.

First, the law contains provisions related to victims. It makes it easier for trafficking victims to obtain services and treatment. It removes the requirement that trafficking victims must be certified before they can receive benefits or services from the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). To mitigate frustrations that may arise during protracted prosecutions of abusers, the Act requires that trafficking victims must be notified of any plea bargains or deferred prosecution agreement made with defendants. It also extends the statute of limitations for civil actions against defendants to ten years from the date that victims reach the age of majority. Victims also must be told about resources available through the Victims’ Rights and Restitution Act of 1990. Finally, the legislation creates the Council on Human Trafficking comprised of eight to fourteen victims of human trafficking to advise policymakers as they develop initiatives pursuant to this Act.

Next, the Act contains provisions related to prosecution and data collection. The Act creates several new programs to expand agencies’ investigative and prosecutorial capacities. First, it creates a Computer Forensics Unit and a Child Exploitation Investigation Unit within Immigration and Customs Enforcement. These units enhance government’s digital forensic capabilities to pursue trafficking activities on the Internet, investigate money laundering, and pursue other illicit activities that often are related to human trafficking operations.

The Act promotes inclusion of veterans in this work. Several contemporaneous Congressional initiatives incorporate veterans into criminal justice initiatives, and this Act continues that tradition by creating the Human Exploitation Rescue Operative (HERO) Child Rescue Corps. In the HERO Corps, recently returned veterans are “hired to investigate crimes of child exploitation in order to target predators and rescue children from sexual abuse and slavery.” They often liaise with the investigative units described above.

The Act also establishes several critical funding streams for antitrafficking programs and services for trafficking victims. These funds are used to finance data collection efforts, investigations, and prosecutions. They also are used to provide grants for training and technical assistance for law enforcement personnel and first responders. Training topics include identification of trafficking; response to and rescue of trafficking victims; social service interventions for trafficking and victims; eradication of child pornography; therapeutic interventions among victims of child pornography; problem-solving court programs for trafficking and related crimes; and assistance to homeless and runaway youth. All grants awarded under this Act are subject to stringent reporting requirements, including accountings and periodic, empirical program evaluations. This legislation further requires that all grant recipients take specific measures to ensure against waste, fraud, and abuse.

The Department of Justice must maintain a database for trafficking victim advocates, crisis hotline personnel, foster parents, law enforcement personnel, and crime survivors. The database contains information on counseling, housing, and legal resources. Additionally, mandatory state reports on missing children must include a recent photograph of missing children in reports when available; states must update their databases every thirty days; and states must notify the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children of all missing children reports received from foster care and childcare institutions.

Finally, the Act contains provisions related to defendants. This legislation received wide media attention because it expands the federal criminal code definition of “sex trafficking” to include solicitation of sex. This change elevates the seriousness of solicitation to make it comparable to trafficking itself, regardless of whether the defendant knew that the victim was either underage and/or coerced. It also classifies people who produce child pornography as traffickers. Relatedly, the Act increases defendants’ burden of proof if they try to claim that they “reasonably believed” that a minor was over the age of eighteen. They now must provide “clear and convincing evidence” of the reasonableness of this belief.

Persons convicted of trafficking (who are not indi-gent) must pay a $5,000 fine, which is deposited with the Domestic Trafficking Victims’ Fund. That fund provides grants to states and localities to combat trafficking and provide assistance to victims. The law imposes additional potential financial penalties on traffickers by expanding forfeiture laws to include all real or personal property that was involved in the commission of human trafficking crimes in any fashion, not just to commit the crime. Assets obtained through these forfeiture proceedings are used to satisfy victim restitution orders.

Anne S. Douds

Further Reading

1 

Atkinson, H. G., K. J. Curnin, and N. C. Hanson. “US State Laws Addressing Human Trafficking: Education of and Mandatory Reporting by Health Care Providers and Other Professionals.”Journal of Human Trafficking 2, no. 2 (2016): 111-38.

2 

Congress.gov. 2015. https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/178/text.

3 

Muraya, D. N., and D. Fry. “Aftercare Services for Child Victims of Sex Trafficking: A Systematic Review of Policy and Practice.”Trauma, Violence, & Abuse. 2015. doi:1524838015584356.

4 

Shields, R. T., and E. J. Letourneau. “Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and the Emergence of Safe Harbor Legislation: Implications for Policy and Practice.”Current Psychiatry Reports 17, no. 3 (2015): 1-7.

5 

Sneed, Tierney. “Senate Comes Together on Trafficking Bill, but Not Without One Last Fight.” US News & World Report. April 22, 2015. http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2015/04/22/ anti-human-trafficking-bill-passes-senate-after-weeks-of-partisan-bickering.

See also Abortion; Child abduction by parents; Contributing to delinquency of minors; Criminals; Human trafficking; Kidnapping; National Organization for Victim Assistance; National Crime Victimization Survey; National Organization for Victim Assistance; Rape and sex offenses; Victim assistance programs; Victim and Witness Protection Act; Victim-offender mediation; Victimology; Victims of Crime Act; Crime victimization: Primary and secondary; Human trafficking; Post-traumatic stress disorder; Victims services; Victim recovery stages; Victimization theories; Victims of Child Abuse Act Reauthorization (2013); Victim impact statements.

Citation Types

Type
Format
MLA 9th
"Victims Of Trafficking Act Of 2015." The Criminal Justice System, 2nd Edition, edited by Hooper Michael K., Salem Press, 2017. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=CJ2E_0543.
APA 7th
Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015. The Criminal Justice System, 2nd Edition, In H. Michael K. (Ed.), Salem Press, 2017. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=CJ2E_0543.
CMOS 17th
"Victims Of Trafficking Act Of 2015." The Criminal Justice System, 2nd Edition, Edited by Hooper Michael K.. Salem Press, 2017. Salem Online, online.salempress.com/articleDetails.do?articleName=CJ2E_0543.