Camryn Peterson, Author at Shared Hope International

September 29, 2021 by Camryn Peterson

Advanced Legislative Framework: Issue Area #4 & #5

As we continue to highlight the six Issue Areas within the Advanced Legislative Framework, we are excited to, once again, draw attention to more victim-centered and trauma-informed responses to ensure survivors receive the support they need following proper identification.

Issue Area #4 focuses on survivors’ access to justice, including creating a pathway to pursuing civil remedies, victim-witness protections, and crime victims’ compensation.

When survivors are not appropriately recognized in statute, they are often prevented from receiving the services and protections they need to pursue justice and, consequently, experience further harm in trying to move beyond there victimization.

Many survivors face financial difficulties because of high legal fees, face obstacles in accessing employment, housing, and more because of crimes they committed as a result of their own victimization (learn more in our Victim-Offender Intersectionality report). Therefore, victims are unable to access justice against their exploiter because of statute of limitations.

Conversely, it is clear that access to justice for trafficking survivors is not only feasible, it is the heart of strong anti-trafficking responses. For example, survivors can receive financial support through restitution, civil claims, and crime victims’ compensation to offset the monetary and non-monetary costs incurred as a result of their victimization, such as health care fees, lost income, and emotional harm. Without financial assistance, survivors will continue to lack access to vital programs to help them heal.

Survivors can also access justice through several additional measures. States should expand current civil orders of protections to trafficking victims, ensuring they have access to vital victim protections commonly limited to victims of intimate partner violence and sexual assault. Further, eliminating the statute of limitations for trafficking and CSEC offenses acknowledges the complexity of trafficking victimization and resulting civil and criminal cases. Lastly, survivors’ own criminal convictions and adjudications should be vacated, recognizing the injustice of criminalizing survivors for crimes committed as a result of their victimization.

To create a stronger path to justice for survivors, Issue Area #5 highlights victim-witness protections that seek to protect and support survivors during criminal justice processes.

For many survivors of child and youth sex trafficking, trauma continues far beyond the exploitation itself and often throughout the resulting criminal justice response. To build a case against exploiters, survivors are often asked to reshare their experience, often in front of others, without an advocate to support them. To create a more survivor-centered and trauma-centered environment, state laws should provide several alternative mechanisms for survivors to be protected when serving as a victim-witness, ensuring they feel as comfortable and safe as possible when participating in criminal justice processes.

For example, states should contemplate creating a hearsay exception for child and youth sex trafficking victims, allowing certain out-of-court statements to be included as evidence. Victims should also be given the opportunity to share their testimony through closed circuit television, helping shield the victim from the traumatizing impact of physically testifying before many people, including their offenders.

Further, survivors should have access to victim advocates throughout the criminal justice process who can provide key support and protection for the victim, both in and out of the courtroom.

Learn more about Issue Areas #4 and #5 in our Advanced Legislative Framework.

What do to next

Sign up to become a Grassroots Hero and receive monthly newsletters focused on policy initiatives, legislative wins, and urgent calls-to-action to help victims.
Contact your state and federal legislators about important bills or issues related to sex trafficking on our Advocacy Action Center.
Share this blog on social media so others can learn more about how Shared Hope is taking action against child and youth sex trafficking across the United States!
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Sign up to receive the Report Cards for Child & Youth Sex Trafficking to be the first to know when your state’s grade is released!

August 26, 2021 by Camryn Peterson

Advanced Legislative Framework: Issue Areas #2 & #3 – Expanding Victim Protections and Care

Advanced Legislative Framework: Issue Area #2 (Identification and Response to Victims) and Issue Area #3 (Continuum of Care)

This fall, we will release state Report Cards based on our Advanced Legislative Framework, pushing states towards a victim-centered response to child and youth sex trafficking.

The framework is based on six issue areas that review state’s policies in addressing this injustice. Last month, we reviewed issue area one—Criminal Provisions.

This month, we want to highlight two issue areas aimed at supporting victims of child sex trafficking and ending the cycle of exploitation—Identification of and Response to Victims and Continuum of Care.

Issue area #2 focuses on the importance of proper identification and response to victims of child and youth sex trafficking. All too often, child sex trafficking victims are misidentified as offenders and are directed into systems where their exploitation and trauma is overlooked. It is vital that all commercially sexually exploited children and youth are recognized as victims of trafficking and receive a protective, not punitive response from child serving systems and law enforcement so they receive appropriate care. This is true even if a third party controller wasn’t involved.

What is a third party controller? A third party controller is someone who is managing the exchange of sex with the child and the buyer, otherwise known as the trafficker. In some cases of sex trafficking, there isn’t a third party controller, but a buyer directly exploiting a child who is in need of money, a safe place to stay, or is exploiting other vulnerabilities of the victim. That buyer scenario is still considered child sex trafficking.

Not only are victims misidentified, but many are treated as perpetrators of crimes. Victims of child sex trafficking may commit offenses in response to their own status as a victim, which should be acknowledged when they interact with law enforcement and welfare agencies. This includes ending the criminalization of children and youth for prostitution. Under federal law, any child involved with commercial sex is a victim of sex trafficking, but some states still penalize minors for this crime. When their status as a victim is ignored, they are further traumatized by the punishments they receive, prolonging their healing process and denying access to vital services and legal defenses.

To further help prevent or accurately identify sex trafficking, issue area #2 calls for increased trauma-informed screening of vulnerable children and youth in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems. With increased screening, policies must also be put in place to ensure that these systems are able to respond with appropriate services.

With proper identification and movement away from punitive responses to victimization, we lean into our third issue area.

Issue area #3, Continuum of Care, addresses the need of more services for victims of child and youth sex trafficking and vulnerable populations.

It is essential that the specialized services victims receive are through non-punitive means to avoid further traumatization or re-exploitation. This can be achieved through a coordinated effort amongst law enforcement, service providers, and other advocates by establishing state-wide multi-disciplinary teams working together to create a victim-centered response to child sex trafficking.

The continuation of care should also extend to youth between 18 and 24 years old. This age group is additionally vulnerable to sex trafficking because of the lack of services available to them as they transition out of child welfare programs and lose the support systems they previously had. Services should continue to support youth in this age range as they cross the bridge from adolescence to adulthood.

To reach these vital goals, it is imperative to appropriate state funding towards supporting agencies and services providing essential support to vulnerable children and victims. Funding continues to be one of the largest hurdles in providing support to victims, but by prioritizing child serving agencies, vulnerable children and victims will receive the care and protection they need.

With legislation in place that focuses on these issue areas, vital protections for child and youth victims of sex trafficking will be expanded, leading to a more trauma-informed response.

What do to next

Sign up to become a Grassroots Hero and receive monthly newsletters focused on policy initiatives, legislative wins, and urgent calls-to-action to help victims.
Contact your state and federal legislators about important bills or issues related to sex trafficking on our Advocacy Action Center.
Share this blog on social media so others can learn more about how Shared Hope is taking action against child and youth sex trafficking across the United States!
Sign up to receive the Report Cards for Child & Youth Sex Trafficking to be the first to know when your state’s grade is released!

July 23, 2021 by Camryn Peterson

Advanced Legislative Framework: Issue Area #1 — Criminal Provisions

In November 2020, Shared Hope released an advanced legislative framework that will take our annual state report cards to the next level, urging states to focus more deeply and more effectively on victim protections and services.

This fall we will release the inaugural Report Cards on Child & Youth Sex Trafficking, grading all 50 states and the District of Columbia on the six issue areas that make up the advanced framework.

The first issue area, Criminal Provisions, focuses on creating clear criminal laws to hold sex trafficking offenders accountable, especially those who purchase sex with minors. Of particular importance is ensuring that any buyer of sex with a minor can be held accountable as a sex trafficker, as this directly impacts victim identification and ensures those who exploit children by purchasing them for sex are held accountable for the fundamental role they play in the crime of child sex trafficking. Unfortunately, many states do not recognize exploiters who purchase children for sex as sex trafficking offenders.

Why must states continue to improve their criminal laws?

As Shared Hope has seen over the years through its Protected Innocence Challenge Project which analyzed states’ laws from 2011 to 2019 with a particular focus on state criminal laws, states have made considerable progress in improving their criminal laws.

And yet, the demand for commercial sex with child victims remains high. Indeed, it is the main motivator behind child and youth sex trafficking, and without properly acknowledging these exploiters’ role in the crime of child sex trafficking and penalizing them accordingly, demand will continue to exist. Without legislation focused on criminal provisions for exploiters who purchase children for sex, they won’t be afraid to take the risk of engaging in commercial sex with minors.

In many states, sex trafficking offenders can also assert a “mistake of age” defense if law enforcement went undercover as a minor to investigate and arrest them for soliciting or recruiting a child into sex trafficking. It is imperative that trafficking exploiters are held responsible for their roles in child sex trafficking and not given this opportunity to lessen their penalties and shift the weight of their mistake to the child victims they exploit.

Lastly, financial penalties imposed on convicted perpetrators can be directed to support victim services that will help survivors overcome their trauma. In this way, programs such as cognitive therapy, case management, and job skills development can be paid in part by the exploiters who caused the harm in the first place.

What do to next

Sign up to receive the Report Cards for Child & Youth Sex Trafficking to be the first to know when your state’s grade is released!
Sign up to become a Grassroots Hero and receive monthly newsletters focused on policy initiatives, legislative wins, and urgent calls-to-action to help victims.
Contact your state and federal legislators about important bills or issues related to sex trafficking on our Advocacy Action Center.
Share this blog on social media so they can learn more about the importance of criminal provisions against sex traffickers.

January 8, 2021 by Camryn Peterson

Charges against Zephi Trevino must be dropped

Zephi Trevino was 16 years old when she was first trafficked by a young adult, Philip Baldenegro, who originally posed and acted as her boyfriend. Just prior to meeting Baldenegro online, Zephi had been abused and introduced to drugs by another boyfriend, resulting in trauma that manifested in depression and anxiety, a significant departure from the happy, healthy and engaged child she had always been. Exploiting her trauma, Baldenegro gave Zephi drugs, threatened her and her family, and sold her for sex to adult men. Zephi’s exploitation and trafficking ended the night that Baldenegro shot and killed a man he had arranged to buy and rape Zephi; however, her horrific experiences of injustice, misidentification, and unanswered calls for help did not cease.

Miscarriage of justice.

The night of the murder, Zephi should have been identified by law enforcement as a victim of sex trafficking. Instead, she was arrested as an accomplice in the murder of the very man who had paid to rape her. Upon further investigation, prosecutors and detectives on the case, who were immediately presented with evidence of her exploitation, should have identified her victimization, dropped charges, and referred her to specialized service providers. Instead, Zephi was held in detention for over a year on capital murder and aggravated robbery charges. Only after public outcry and the retention of new counsel was she released on bond and house arrest. Texas state law and federal law clearly define Zephi as a victim of child sex trafficking, yet her victimization is continuously denied by her trafficker’s defense team, whose perceptions of child sex trafficking and sexual violence victimization are both inaccurate and self-serving.

Realities of sex trafficking .

The blatant denial of Zephi’s victimization reflects the persistent misunderstanding of sex trafficking victims’ behavior. Despite concerted efforts by survivors and anti-trafficking allies to decry the “perfect victim” myth and shed light on the realities of victimization and resulting trauma behaviors, we continue to see survivors being denied the rights and protections afforded to victims of sex trafficking due to misidentification of their experiences. Rather than looking at the legal definition, prosecutors and even defense attorneys struggle to see victimization even when the facts spell it out, just as they do in Zephi’s case. Survivors of sex trafficking have endured and survived horrific sexual violence, in addition to often-present physical, psychological and emotional abuse, substance use, stigmatization, commodification, and isolation from healthy and safe support. These experiences, often result in trauma, mental health challenges, and substance dependency linked to self-blame and shame. For these reasons, child sex trafficking survivors almost never self-identify or report their victimization. They don’t seek help from law enforcement, service providers, or even family and friends. Indeed, their traffickers often train them on how to hide their victimization, as Zephi’s trafficker did in this case.

One of the greatest challenges we face in combatting child sex trafficking is the lack of awareness that survivors’ trauma manifests in behaviors and decisions they see as necessary to survive their abuse. However, these are often behaviors and decisions that our systems then use to punish or discredit the survivor. This is the exact injustice Zephi is being subjected to; a history of substance use, running from home, and seeming indifference to violence are red flags of exploitation and abuse, not behaviors that discredit her experiences of trafficking victimization. Failing to fit within the fabricated box of “perfect victim” has not only resulted in additional trauma, it has her facing capital murder charges for a crime committed by her trafficker, deepening her involvement in a punitive system and isolating her from family and systems of support.

Your voice.

Your support matters! Using our collective voice to signal support for Zephi will encourage DA Creuzot to stand with sex trafficking survivors and bring justice to the plights they have experienced by dropping unjust charges against Zephi. Sign the petition today!

January 23, 2020 by Camryn Peterson

Shared Hope International Launches Institute for Justice & Advocacy in Washington, D.C.

New center is a home for education, research and training of advocates and stakeholders in the fight to end sex trafficking and eliminate bias against victims.

WASHINGTON, Jan. 23, 2020 – Shared Hope International, a non-profit leader in the fight to eradicate domestic minor sex trafficking, today announced the opening of the Shared Hope Institute for Justice & Advocacy in Washington, D.C. Located just blocks from the White House, the Institute concentrates the power of Shared Hope’s collective resources under one roof and amplifies the voice of sex trafficking survivors from across the country. It offers education, research and training for advocates and stakeholders – including law enforcement, social workers, lawyers, first responders, doctors, legislators and judges – working to eliminate bias against victims in the ways laws are both written and applied.

Founded in 1998 by then-U.S. Congresswoman Linda Smith, Shared Hope has a two-decade history working to prevent domestic minor sex trafficking, supporting restoration for trafficking victims and bringing justice to the vulnerable people it impacts. The organization also ensures the buyers who create the demand for commercial sex with a child are brought to justice. In 2011, Shared Hope introduced the Protected Innocence Challenge, an annual state-by-state report card that identifies gaps in laws and provides a blueprint for legislative action.

“Opening the doors of the Institute for Justice & Advocacy marks a seminal event in our nation’s battle against sexual exploitation of minors,” said Smith, Shared Hope’s president and a member of the President’s Public-Private Advisory Council to End Human Trafficking. “In this space, advocates from across the country will come together to dig deeper, tackling current and emerging challenges and influencing federal legislation to better protect vulnerable women and children.”

The Institute for Justice & Advocacy became a reality after Shared Hope raised $3 million in five months to purchase the entire second floor of 1016 16th Street NW. It provides an on-the-ground presence and close proximity to the nation’s seat of power, giving Shared Hope a platform to influence the government and reach the entire nation.

American girls and boys are sold and bought for sex by men in the U.S. every day. It’s a heinous crime and an epidemic that exploits countless victims each year.

Shared Hope believes trafficked young girls and boys are victims who need to be protected, not treated as criminals or delinquent youth. The bias in our laws allows 20 states to label a child victim of trafficking as a prostitute and lets a buyer walk without legal consequence while their victim is charged with a crime.

“The word ‘justice’ in the Institute’s name is critical, as both buyers and sellers continue to escape justice and survivors are denied justice,” said Smith. “This fight starts with bridging the knowledge gap. If you care about protecting vulnerable children in communities across the country, we urge you to educate yourself and other people in your life.”

Today, Shared Hope International’s JuST Response Council will also release the report, “Responding to Sex Trafficking Victim-Offender Intersectionality: A Guide for Criminal Justice Stakeholders” in partnership with the Institute to Address Commercial Sexual Exploitation at Villanova Law. The report explores the phenomenon of victims facing criminal consequences for offenses that result from their trafficking, and provides tools criminal justice stakeholders can use to deal with cases in a just and trauma-informed manner.

To learn more about the Shared Hope Institute for Justice & Advocacy, visit https://sharedhope.org/what-we-do/bring-justice/

ABOUT SHARED HOPE INTERNATIONAL

Founded in 1998 by then U.S. Congresswoman Linda Smith, Shared Hope International strives to prevent the conditions that foster sex trafficking, restore victims of sex slavery, and bring justice to vulnerable women and children. A non-profit Christian organization, Shared Hope engages in diverse activities that confront sex trafficking in communities throughout America. Our efforts include training first responders and community members to identify warning signs of trafficking and employ intervention techniques to rescue child trafficking victims; providing restorative services to affected children and women; and offering legislative support to those focused on strengthening laws that fight child sex trafficking. Our vision is to coordinate a national U.S. network of protection to improve the response to victims of trafficking. We believe we can create a world where every survivor is surrounded by trained professionals, an alert community, just law and policy, knowledgeable service providers and appropriate shelter options.