Commentary Archives - Shared Hope International

August 15, 2025 by SHI Staff

The Diddy Verdict Wasn’t the End – Part 2: Could This Happen in Your State?

An anti-trafficking policy expert explains why your state’s laws may not protect survivors— and how you can help strengthen protections for children where you live.

Part 2 of “The Diddy Verdict Wasn’t the End” series

The Diddy verdict was a wake-up call—but not for the reason many think.

For Sarah Roberts, Senior Director of Policy and Legislation at Shared Hope International, the outcome was troubling but familiar.

“Unfortunately, I wasn’t surprised,” she says. “Time and again, we see exploiters walk free while victims receive little justice—or worse, are criminalized for acts they committed as part of their trafficking. The verdict highlights the need for stronger laws that protect survivors and hold exploiters accountable.”

On October 14, 2025, Shared Hope will release its State Report Cards—grading all 50 states on how well their laws support victim-centered responses to child sex trafficking.

Why State Laws Matter More Than You Think

Many people assume federal law governs trafficking cases. In reality, Roberts explains, most cases are prosecuted under state law—and state protections vary widely.

“Most trafficking cases are prosecuted at the state level,” she says. “While strong federal protections exist, they operate under a separate legal framework. Since the majority of cases are charged under state law, it’s critical that states have strong laws and protections in place.”

And many do not.

Twenty states still allow child sex trafficking victims to be prosecuted for prostitution offenses.

Only 18 states shield child survivors from prosecution for other crimes they committed as a result of their trafficking.

Many states have not statutorily required access to specialized services or secured sustainable funding to help survivors rebuild their lives.

“These gaps mean that a child recognized as a victim in one state could face arrest in another for the exact same conduct,” Roberts says.

Inside the 2025 Report Cards

Since 2011, Shared Hope’s State Report Cards have been the nation’s most comprehensive review of state trafficking laws. This year’s edition distills the evaluation to 10 critical protections that Roberts describes as “the bare minimum needed to ensure survivors are met with protective—not punitive—responses.”

These protections include:

Prohibiting the criminalization of all minors for prostitution.

Expanding non-criminalization protections to cover other offenses that child sex trafficking victims may commit as a result of their trafficking.

Ensuring access to specialized community-based services.

The scope of research is vast. “Every year we review over 3,500 bills nationwide for their potential impact on trafficking laws and survivor protections,” Roberts says. “We vet our analysis with attorneys general, governors, state task force supervisors, statewide coordinators, and partners in the field. The Report Cards aren’t just grades—they’re a framework for change.”

A Tool for Mobilizing Change

The Report Cards are designed not to shame, but to mobilize.

“It’s always been our hope that these grades drive both nationwide reform and individual action,” Roberts explains. “And with the toolkit in hand, anyone should feel equipped to talk to their legislators and say: ‘Here are the areas where our laws fall short—here’s how we can strengthen laws.’” For the first time, Shared Hope will release a toolkit that offers a clear breakdown of state laws and their gaps, along with practical strategies to empower individuals to advocate for change.

States like Tennessee and Florida have consistently improved by adopting recommendations year after year. Connecticut recently passed an affirmative defense law expanding protections for survivors after a sustained multi-year effort.

Why It Matters After the Diddy Verdict

For Roberts, the connection between the Diddy trial and the upcoming Report Cards is direct: state laws shape the reality of justice.

“If people want to understand why cases like Diddy’s still fall short, they should look at their own state’s laws,” she says. “Awareness is the first step to change—and that’s what the Report Cards are for.”

She also emphasizes that the goal extends beyond legislation. “The more people understand what their state laws actually says, the more we can drive the cultural shift needed to recognize minors engaged in commercial sex as victims—and traffickers and buyers as the serious offenders they truly are.”

Be the first to see your state’s grade and get the advocacy toolkit.

Get Your State’s 2025 Report Card
👉 Register here

Understand the 10 Key Protections
– Learn what your state’s laws do (and don’t) cover—and how those gaps impact survivors.

Start the Conversation
Share your state’s grade. The more people know, the stronger the push to close the gaps.

The Diddy verdict wasn’t the end—it was a signal. Justice for trafficking survivors depends on the laws where you live.

On October 14, you’ll know if your state is ready to protect survivors—or if it’s leaving them at risk.

August 9, 2025 by SHI Staff

The Diddy Verdict Revealed America’s Dangerous Blind Spot About Trafficking

An anti-trafficking expert explains what the jury missed—and how you can help others learn what to look for

Part 1 of “The Diddy Verdict Wasn’t the End” series

“From the moment I knew Diddy was being accused of sex trafficking, I thought: he won’t go to jail for it.”

Mikayla Simeral’s prediction wasn’t cynicism—it was expertise. As Director of Training Advancement at Shared Hope International, she brings a unique perspective shaped by years of direct field experience working hands-on with survivors of domestic minor sex trafficking. Her background in social work, combined with her MA in Ethnomusicology, gives her a culturally competent lens for understanding how trafficking manifests across different communities—and how to train thousands of law enforcement officers, educators, and social workers to recognize what trafficking actually looks like in America.

Unfortunately, she was right about Diddy. And the verdict reveals exactly why traffickers keep walking free.

The Hollywood Myth

During the trial, Simeral watched people on social media struggling with the charges, observing they “didn’t understand the sex trafficking charges” because trafficking, to them, meant “transporting people across borders.”

“I actually chimed in and said, ‘No, someone does not need to be moved across a border for it to be considered trafficking,'” Simeral recalls. “There was an exchange of goods for sex acts. Whether they could say it was consensual or not consensual—that’s where it got messy.”

This Hollywood-influenced understanding of trafficking—reinforced by films like “Taken” and “Sound of Freedom”—has created a dangerous blind spot. Under federal law, sex trafficking requires only that someone recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide, obtain, or maintain a person for commercial sex through force, fraud, or coercion. No borders need to be crossed. No kidnapping need occur.

“People think trafficking is like, ‘Oh, well, Diddy didn’t bring a bunch of girls across the border on a freighter,'” Simeral explains. “They didn’t understand the intricacies of how simple it can be in our country.”

Power and Control

The Diddy case represented a textbook example of how celebrity status transforms into a trafficking tool. “He’s potentially one of the most powerful hip-hop moguls in our culture,” Simeral notes. “Within the music industry, so many people wanted to be associated with him because they knew that could potentially launch their career.”

This created what trafficking experts call the “power and control wheel.” People came forward describing an impossible choice: comply with Diddy’s demands or lose everything.

“People would say, ‘Of course I would do anything he told me to do. If I crossed him, I’m out. There goes my career. There goes my potential in life,'” she explains. “[In the world of commercial music] When people are so starved for success and fame, a lot of people will do anything.”

The Trauma Bond That Confuses Juries

Perhaps no aspect of trafficking is more misunderstood than why victims defend their abusers. Simeral watched this play out in the Diddy case and has seen it countless times in her work with survivors.

“A lot of jurors missed the intricacies of trauma bonding,” she explains. “Survivors, when they’re trauma bonded, will act “normal” with their offender because they don’t want to get in more trouble. They want to keep the trafficker as calm as possible so they don’t catch any heat.”

This creates a devastating paradox: victims who appear compliant, even protective of their traffickers, are often those who have been most thoroughly controlled. During an interview about the intricacies of trauma-bonding, a survivor once told Simeral: “They can beat the mess out of you, but let them do one nice thing for you, and you melt.”

Traffickers exploit this systematically, painting pictures of future success while isolating victims from other support systems. “They’re told, ‘We just have to push through, do these dates, make this money, then we’ll start a business, then we’ll start our dream life together,'” Simeral explains. For many victims, the trafficking relationship becomes their entire social world by the design of the trafficker.

The Myth of Choice

American culture’s emphasis on individual responsibility creates another barrier. Juries want to believe that adults engaging in commercial sex have made informed choices.

“Americans want to say, ‘That’s your choice. You want to go have sex with people and party, that’s your choice,'” Simeral observes. But this fundamentally misunderstands trafficking.

Drawing on her field experience, Simeral offers a powerful analogy: “There’s no waiver to get into trafficking. It’s not like they become an escort and there’s a competitive benefits package with a 401K, where they’re signing an employment agreement saying, ‘I consent to being beaten. I consent to having my nose broken, having sex with 20 people a day, and only keeping 10% of my wages.’ No one ever signs a waiver that says that.”

Most adult survivors Simeral worked with entered the commercial sex industry as minors, often aging out of foster care with no other options. “They would say, ‘I want to go be an escort, Miss Mikayla, I want to go work at the club, because that’s all I know how to do. That’s all I know I’m good at.”

What the Jury Missed That Every American Needs to Know

Drawing from her training experience and direct work with trafficking survivors, Simeral emphasizes what juries consistently miss: the ability to see through surface-level compliance to the coercion beneath.

“I knew all the girls I was working with were trafficked,” she concludes. “Even if a 15-year-old was defending her 35-year-old boyfriend, I knew better. I knew to ask the right questions.”

When Simeral worked with young survivors, she didn’t accept explanations at face value. Instead, she asked probing questions: “Tell me more about your boyfriend. Where did you meet him? When was the first time you guys were intimate together? Did you want to be intimate with him?” These questions, informed by understanding trauma bonding and grooming patterns, revealed the truth that surface conversations concealed.

This is the training gap that the Diddy jury exposed—the difference between what trained professionals recognize and what ordinary citizens understand about trafficking dynamics.

The Solution: Education That Changes Outcomes

“Every single person in America needs to be educated on what trafficking looks like in our country,” Simeral insists. “People see it as a distant problem, a foreign thing. Not so much here.”

The reality is different. Digital technology has transformed how traffickers recruit victims. “Kids can meet an older person, they’re being recruited and groomed through a game, through apps. They think they’re in this safe, fun relationship, then they’re meeting up for dates, then they’re being sold to other people.”

Without proper education, even well-intentioned jurors struggle to distinguish between consensual relationships and exploitative ones.

The training programs that Simeral develops—like Shared Hope’s 90-minute “Exploited ” online course—draw from her micro-level experience working directly with survivors in Florida and her macro-level understanding of how to create culturally competent education. “If one day you find yourself on a jury with an abuser or offender, you would be able to recognize the signs and see through things that are presented as consensual,” she explains.

From Verdict to Action

“I felt powerless in the outcomes,” Simeral admits. “It’s very sad that now we’ve come to a point where the general public kind of feels like they can’t make a difference in holding offenders accountable.”

But powerlessness isn’t the answer. The question isn’t whether trafficking is happening in communities across America—it’s whether those communities will be equipped to recognize it when they see it.

“I would challenge people to push into it more and say, ‘What could this look like in my town, my state, my country?’ Do that to better protect young people in this next generation.”

The Diddy verdict wasn’t the end—it was a wake-up call. The same education that could have changed this outcome is available to every American today. The recognition that trained professionals have—that trafficking hides in plain sight, that victims often protect their abusers, and that justice requires more than surface-level judgments—can be learned.

Take Action: Be Part of the Solution

🎓 Take the FREE Exploited Training
Shared Hope International’s 90-minute training teaches you to recognize trafficking in your community and understand what juries are missing. Perfect for parents, educators, community leaders, and anyone who wants to make a difference. https://store.sharedhope.org/product/exploited/

📚 Bring Resources to Your Community
Schools, libraries, and community centers need trafficking education materials. Contact Shared Hope International to learn how to introduce these life-saving resources to your local institutions. https://sharedhope.org/resources/

🎙️ Learn from the Experts
Watch Shared Hope’s Invading the Darkness podcast to hear directly from survivors and professionals, like Mikayla, who have trained thousands of individuals to recognize the signs of trafficking. These insights provide the context that transforms statistics into understanding.
https://invadingthedarkness.buzzsprout.com/1784950/episodes

📊 Know Your State’s Progress
Get your state’s 2025 report card to see how your community measures up and where advocacy is needed most.
https://go.sharedhope.org/reportcards-facebook

June 25, 2025 by Guest

Sean (P Diddy) Combs Arrest: Response from a Survivor Leader

Rev. Dr. Marian Hatcher
Shared Hope Policy Consultant

First, I must state as a retired civilian member of law enforcement, Mr. Combs is of course innocent until proven guilty in a court of law.

The charges are grave and pierce my soul as a survivor of sex trafficking and substance use disorder. They include racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution (the Mann Act). All for the pleasure of an organized crime boss. Living above the law. What is alleged is horrific and triggering for those of us who suffered atrocities such as those outlined in the unsealed indictment.

Unfortunately, in the age of the internet many instances of what is alleged to have taken place is seen in video and pictures. While horrible to watch, they have yet to be proven as criminal acts, and many are obviously manipulated to implicate others.

Criminal enterprises are built on the backs of willing and unwilling participants. Many are victims of sexual and labor abuses. They can also be ordered to procure and dispense illegal items such as weapons, narcotics and more.

I was discussing Sean Combs’ arrest with a good friend, Doug Gilmer, President of Resolved Strategies LLC, and retired federal law enforcement leader at Homeland Security Investigations. We commiserated that as we focus on the carnage of the Sean Combs case, there is always more. Doug said,

“Homeland Security Investigations is leading the Sean Combs case, just as they did with R. Kelly. Big name cases, right? But they aren’t the only cases. In fact, during this past year, HSI has also identified and provided services to well over 700 other HT victims, initiated about 1400 new cases, made over 3600 human trafficking arrests, seen over 1000 indictments, and about 630 human trafficking convictions. This is just one federal law agency; it doesn’t include the work being done by state and local agencies across the country. HSI’s numbers are just a fraction of what is really out there. Meanwhile, everyone is focused on Sean Combs. It’s sensational. But guess what? The suspects are not all R Kelly’s and P Diddy’s. Some are gang members, but many others are schoolteachers, community leaders, and family members engaged in trafficking. The victims are young and old, are from every socio-economic class, every ethnicity, both foreign and U.S. citizens.” [Stats from the Homeland Security Investigations and the DHS Center for Countering Human Trafficking.]

Spanning decades, men and women alike are alleged to have endured prolonged abuse. The testimony by Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura, was four days of heart wrenching details of violence, manipulation and coercion. She bravely shared her dehumanization, aware of the victim blaming to come. In the later stages of her third pregnancy, she did for herself and others what was necessary and held Sean Combs accountable.

The common thread of all of this is societal numbness, the normality of this lifestyle. The pervasiveness. There are ecosystems of criminal and exploitive threads in our society that do not protect minors or adults. We must strive to address the willingness to ignore or accept, depending on which way you look at it, the lifestyle described above which exists in hiding and/or glaringly in our face. No one should have the opportunity or privilege to act with impunity, stripping victims of their dignity, respect and liberty. We must continue to bring all manner of bad actors to justice.

October 5, 2023 by stephen

A whole lot more than rescues: Our sound approach to sex trafficking

Shared Hope International’s Founder and President, Linda Smith, speaks about our work as restoration-focused in the U.S., not in overseas rescues.

Thanks once again to Hollywood, America added a new character this summer to the pantheon of action superheroes it has created: the swashbuckling man who sweeps into corrupt foreign countries to rescue children from the clutches of sex trafficking. Americans love the archetype of an outside savior boldly setting things right and exacting justice on those who deserve it.

This is the plotline that the film industry has created for us with children and sex trafficking. Although Hollywood has programmed us into believing that ending trafficking can be accomplished with brave rescues, it’s more complicated than that. Disrupting and dismantling what is a developed and multi-faceted industry involves a lot more than what can be shown in a dramatic and suspense-filled story that’s neatly wrapped up in two hours.

Let’s unpack what a rescue is, why it’s problematic, and why Shared Hope International takes a different approach.

Shared Hope does not carry out rescues

Mention “rescue,” and most people will think of a forceful snatching-back of children who have been kidnapped and exploited. By their nature, rescues are dramatic and attention-grabbing.

Shared Hope takes an approach to the sex trafficking industry that is broader and wholistic and that includes more proactive responses. Our work is in three major areas:

Prevention: Through highly developed training for both laypersons and professionals, guidance on internet dangers, and with Ambassadors of Hope (volunteer representatives) across the country, we work on prevention strategies.
Restoration: Our strategic guidance and funding helps local organizations expand shelter and services for survivors.
Bringing justice: Our recommendations through our Report Cards on Child and Youth Sex Trafficking are changing the legislative and policy landscape in every state.

Working in these areas is sometimes slow and requires involvement in activities on a smaller scale. Changing large systems from within takes a lot of time. Reforms to whole industries do not happen overnight. Healing and recovery for survivors often takes place over many years.

We acknowledge that making a difference in a slow, often low-key way is sometimes frustrating and not as thrilling as a dramatic movie-type rescue. Yes, we work with urgency, knowing that especially children are at risk, but we pace ourselves to run not a sprint but a marathon. We believe the only way to create long-term, permanent change is to be in the work for the long haul. We’ve been at it for 25 years and have developed a good understanding and expertise to tackle the complexity and multiple facets of this issue.

Restoration is the real rescue

People who are able to escape trafficking situations need to be treated with a high level of care and connected immediately to services and supports. Lacking that, a trafficked person is likely to return to his or her former life by choice or by force. A very real danger then is re-exploitation by the original conditions that brought about the vulnerability to trafficking in the first place.

In addition, survivors need time on the long road of recovery. They are often afraid of or feel victimized by law enforcement. They have to learn to trust other people who want to care for them after living for years as enslaved property, being coerced and threatened, forced to live in dependent and abusive situations.

Shared Hope focuses on restoration with two strategic programs. One is through the amazing efforts of our restoration grant partners who do the immediate work that includes providing safe shelter, medical and mental health care, spiritual renewal, education, life skills, job training and vocational skills. The other restoration program is at the core of our long-term strategy. It involves our efforts in every state to promote legislation that requires restoration services to be provided for survivors of sex trafficking.

Rescues are paternalistic

The idea of a rescue is inherently tied to having a savior character. And with that, the person being rescued is viewed as helpless and powerless. That attitude is in and of itself re-victimizing. Shared Hope, in its assistance to and support of survivors, recognizes their agency, their own will and desire to be restored and to recover from their trauma. We strive to acknowledge their autonomy and empower them by giving them a voice. A survivor-centered approach requires that we do not carry out actions intended to burnish our own image or demonstrate our own strength.

Shared Hope’s approach is not designed to create or focus on a single hero. Thankfully, the anti-sex trafficking movement has many heroes, and each year we recognize some of them through our restoration grants program and our Pathbreaker Awards. These individuals and organizations are the real heroes. Our daily work is in outreach to creators of policies and average people who can be part of combatting trafficking as part of their professional and personal day-to-day lives.

Focused and steady wins the race

In the measured, deliberate approach that Shared Hope takes, we work to disrupt the sex trafficking industry from various angles. Our philosophy is that each person has a role to play in preventing and ending commercial sexual exploitation and that a collaborative, community-wide response is necessary. It takes the different parts of our society — the institutions and systems of law enforcement, governments at all levels, and the justice system, as well as the smaller, social units of families, parents, churches and other communities, healthcare professionals and teachers playing a part to undo what commercial sexual exploitation has built.

Shared Hope’s work is in building relationships and making connections between advocates and organizations. Our focus is educating school counselors, changing attitudes of judges and building the grooming-detection skills of youth. This all takes time, but we are` making progress.

We’ll leave the dramatic rescues to Hollywood. A real rescue is only one part of a much larger picture, and Shared Hope is applying its years of experience and expertise to all parts of the scene.

August 25, 2023 by Sidney McCoy

Unjust Criminalization: Zephi Trevino’s Story

Zephaniah “Zephi” Trevino has pleaded guilty and has been sentenced to 12 years for murder and five years for aggravated robbery. The Dallas County District Attorney alleged Zephi —along with two men— had taken part in a robbery that left one man dead from a gunshot wound and another injured. Although Zephi was not responsible for pulling the trigger, she was charged as an accomplice. What has been left out of the DA’s narrative, however, is that Zephi is a victim of sex trafficking. The two men who were “lured” by Zephi to the apartment where they were ultimately robbed, were there to purchase sex from 16-year-old Zephi. Zephi was charged as an adult and was facing a capital murder conviction. She took a plea deal, citing the risk of a life sentence was “too grave.”

While discouraging, this result is unsurprising as Texas has refused to see those who have been trafficked as victims, rather than criminals. Indeed, Texas remains one of the few¹ states that still criminalizes minors for prostitution—the very crime that is synonymous with their exploitation. In 2019, Governor Greg Abbot vetoed a bill that would protect minors from criminalization for prostitution and would instead direct them to receive assessment and services through child welfare and community-based services. That same year, after passing unanimously through the House and Senate, Governor Abbot vetoed a bill that would establish a clemency review panel for certain offenses committed by victims of domestic violence and human trafficking.

As it stands in Texas, a human trafficking survivor who has been unjustly charged with a crime has just one remedy: a “nondisclosure petition²,” a form of post-conviction relief that is limited to prostitution, marijuana, and certain theft offenses if the offense was committed “solely” as a trafficking victim.³ The relief is further limited because survivors are ineligible for the relief if they have additional convictions, and it requires survivors to provide assistance to law enforcement and prosecutors.⁴

Legal protections for victims of human trafficking are imperative given deeply pervasive forced criminality that exists in trafficking situations. In a 2016 survey, the National Survivor Network found that 90% of trafficking survivors reported being arrested and 60% reported being arrested for crimes other than prostitution or drug possession.⁵ Perhaps most significantly, the survey demonstrated that over half of all respondents believed that 100% of their criminal-legal involvement was directly related to their trafficking experience.⁶ These victim-offenders⁷ are retraumatized by their detention and prosecution. They are also left with a criminal record that hinders their ability to secure safe housing, employment, education, and other services. Contrary to the TVPA’s decree those trafficking victims not be criminalized as a result of their victimization,⁸ survivors continue to be charged with crimes related to their trafficking and states such as Texas fail to provide adequate legal protections to prevent criminalization.

What’s worse, the criminal-legal system itself can often mimic the power and control dynamics that exist in a trafficking situation. Justin Moore, one of Zephi’s defense attorneys, alluded to this in his comments to the press, stressing an “urgent need for a legal system that is trauma-informed . . . and that also calls into question the unchecked power that [prosecutors] have in this country and how they can bully defendants who are victims into taking plea deals.”⁹ This “bullying,” the pressure and coercion that is often applied on victims who are charged alongside their traffickers and co-conspirators, is a tactic used all too often. Indeed, the same youth who are charged as defendants alongside their trafficker may also be called to testify against their trafficker, and that testimony could be central to their successful prosecution.¹⁰ Although it does not appear that the Dallas District Attorney is pursuing trafficking charges against Zephi’s co-defendants, studies have shown that conditions of the juvenile/criminal justice process, secure confinement, and the stigma of criminal records alone further harm and traumatize child sex trafficking victims.¹¹ Prosecutors must weigh considerations of the harm to victim-offenders and the injustice of coercive charging tactics, and further, should be trained on victim-centered investigations and prosecutions to ensure positive identification of survivors and prevent unjust criminalization. Texas does not currently mandate such training.

Sex trafficking victimization and forced criminality are intrinsically linked. Arresting and prosecuting sex trafficking victims for criminal offenses, even violent ones, is in direct conflict with a victim-centered criminal justice approach and reflects a limited understanding of the complex nature of victim-offender intersectionality. Prohibiting the criminalization of sex trafficking victims for offenses related to victimization accounts for the nature and extent of control exerted by sex traffickers, and the influence of trauma on the decision-making process and behavior of survivors. Accordingly, states must enact non-criminalization laws, including an affirmative defense law, that don’t draw a “hard line” on the qualifying offenses and should extend to accomplice and co-conspirator liability.

Successful implementation of this change in law and practice will require training as well as active participation from criminal justice stakeholders, including law enforcement, victim advocates, prosecutors, and judges. To improve identification of sex trafficking victim-offenders, criminal justice stakeholders should take proactive steps throughout the criminal justice process to assess whether a person that is suspected of trafficking had also experienced trafficking victimization.

Finally, non-criminalization and post-conviction relief laws are two sides of the same coin. It is inevitable that survivors will “slip through the cracks” or go unidentified, resulting in unjust convictions. These survivors must be afforded an opportunity to vacate convictions they’ve received as a result of their victimization. States must not limit the types of crimes or charges for which a sex trafficking survivor can seek post-conviction relief to prostitution offenses. States limiting post-conviction relief to trafficking survivors who are convicted of prostitution or other sex offenses leave many sex trafficking survivors without any avenue for relief.

1 As of August 2023, twenty-nine (29) states plus Washington D.C. have passed laws preventing minors from being criminalized for prostitution-related offenses. Eighteen (18) states go on to expand non-criminalization laws to protect child sex trafficking survivors from being prosecuted for other crimes committed as a result of their victimization. Nine (9) states prohibit criminalization for, or provide an affirmative defense to, violent felonies. See Safe Harbor page.

2 See Texas Government Code § 411.0728. Juveniles in Texas are afforded additional opportunities to vacate delinquency adjudications under certain circumstances. However, this relief is not afforded to juveniles convicted of criminal offenses. See generally Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 58.253, Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 58.255, and Tex. Fam. Code Ann. § 58.256.

3 Freedom Network USA Texas – Freedom Network USA

4 Id.

5 National Survivor Network Member Survey: Impact of Arrest and Detention on Survivors of Human Trafficking, August 2016. Microsoft Word – VacateSurveyFinal (nationalsurvivornetwork.org)

6 Id.

7 Victim-offender is used to refer to an individual who has experienced, or is currently experiencing, sex trafficking victimization and is alleged to have engaged in conduct that violates the law. See generally Shared Hope Int’l, Responding to Sex Trafficking: Victim-Offender Intersectionality (2020) https://sharedhope.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/SH_Responding-to-Sex-Trafficking-Victim-Offender-Intersectionality2020_FINAL.pdf.

8 22 U.S.C. § 7102(17) (2000) (“The term ‘victim of trafficking’ means a person subjected to an act or practice described in paragraph (9) or (10).”); Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015, Pub. L. No. 114-22, § 109, 129 Stat. 239 (“[S]ection 108 of this title amends section 1591 of title 18, United States Code, to add the words ‘solicits or patronizes’ to the sex trafficking statute making absolutely clear for judges, juries, prosecutors, and law enforcement officials that criminals who purchase sexual acts from human trafficking victims may be arrested, prosecuted, and convicted as sex trafficking offenders when this is merited by the facts of a particular case.”).

9 “Grand Prairie’s Zephi Trevino sentenced to 12 years in prison in fatal 2019 robbery” Jamie Landers and Kelli Smith Aug. 21 2023

10 Supra note 7.

11 Id.

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