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Renewal Forum Releases Analysis of State Anti-Trafficking Laws

November 6th, 2007

Groundbreaking State Law Analysis Released Today
 

 The Renewal Forum today released what we think is an unprecedented analysis of state laws on human trafficking.  The good news is that 36 states have addressed in law the phenomenon of modern-day slavery.  (PDF copy of Report available on “Reports” tab above).

 
The bad news is that the best of these state laws (Illinois) received a grade of B-. Only four others received a C- or better. The balance scored a “D” or “F.”
 
The proliferation of state anti-trafficking statutes is an important advancement in the anti-trafficking movement, but a state having an anti-trafficking law is not as important as having a good law.
 
The major categories of deficiencies in state anti-trafficking laws are:
 
  • failure to define both labor and commercial sexual exploitation as human trafficking; or failure to recognize the full range of psychological bondage techniques employed by traffickers;
  • inadequate support for the restoration of victims, and failure to provide for restitution, civil rights of action, and other support for care provision;
  • failure to shield victims of trafficking from acts committed while in the trafficked condition;
  • failure to do more than merely criminalize human trafficking.

 

A broader, pro-active community response is needed to abolish this practice. The states with the best laws are:  Illinois (B-); New Jersey (C+);Indiana (C); North Carolina (C); Idaho (C-). The states with the worst laws are:  Colorado (F+);Louisiana (F+); Hawaii (F); South Carolina (F); Virginia (F).
 
Fourteen states and the District of Columbia lack any anti-trafficking law, and received an “F.” Full-text of the Renewal Forum report is linked above, and we encourage you to read it and share with us your feelback. 
 
We are convinced that the abolition of human trafficking will occur as the result of state and community action.  Part of our goal is to start a dialogue about how best to create an enviornment in which human trafficking withers.    
 
Human trafficking is modern-day slavery. The crime of human trafficking is at root the exploitation of the person – compelling them to do something against their will – for the purpose of profiting from their labor or sex acts. The federal government estimates that 14,500 – 17,500 victims are arriving from other countries each year, but the Renewal Forum finds that the number of U.S. citizen victims – mostly juveniles trapped in commercial sexual exploitation – exceeds 200,000 per year.
 
  


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Reports

November 5th, 2007

November 2007

Why The Trafficking Protect Act Re-Authorization 2007 (HR 3887) Won’t Protect Children

Renewal Forum Senior Fellow Margaret MacDonnell examines the provisions of HR3887 concerning the treatment of juvenile victims of human trafficking, and finds the bill will not achieve it’s purposes.

Renewal Forum Releases Ground Breaking 50 State Survey of Human Trafficking Laws

 This unprecedented research project (in PDF format)identifies the specific legislative impact on reducing or addressing the problem.  More details are posted on our blog.


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Response To The Washington Post Human Trafficking Story

September 24th, 2007

Below is the text of the Forum’s formal response to the Washington Post A-1 story, “Human Trafficking Evokes Outrage, Little Evidence.”

_________________ 

Renewal Forum’s President Steven Wagner DisputesWashington Post Lowball Estimates of Human Trafficking
 

Renewal Forum President Steven Wagner, responding to the September 23, 2007 A-1 Washington Post story on human trafficking, “Human Trafficking Evokes Outrage, Little Evidence,” said today “Unfortunately, instead of holding the federal government accountable for results, the Post inappropriately gives it a pass by suggesting the phenomenon is overstated.”The Post article focuses on the disparity between the number of federally certified victims of human trafficking (1,362) and estimates of the annual number of new foreign victims (14,500 – 17,500).

The Post article goes on to suggest the estimates are overblown. At no time does the Post explore why efforts to identify and rescue victims have been ineffective.”This story’s conclusion might be justified if we could say that the federal government has made every effort to find victims of trafficking,” Wagner said, “but this is not the case.”According to Renewal Forum analyses, several factors ignored by the Post explain the lagging pace of victim identification and rescue:The paucity of federal law enforcement resources devoted to enforcement;The routine deportation of victims, contrary to their status as victims of crime under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA);The lack of systematic intelligence-gathering, targeting foreign criminal trafficking syndicates;A de facto cooperation standard for minor victims, insisted upon by the U.S. Department of Justice in defiance of the TVPA; andVictims not being made known to federal authorities by NGO service organizations, out of concern for their clients’ potential deportation, among other factors.  

(more…)


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