We are celebrating! Legislative sessions are wrapping up in states around the country and we have great news. Many of the bills you advocated for have passed: Utah HB 20 comprehensively strengthens the state’s response to child sex trafficking. Utah HB 108 strengthens the state’s existing non-criminalization laws to ensure that youth engaged in commercial sex […]
Child Victims of Sex Trafficking Receive Mixed Messages: If We Aren’t ‘Aggressors’ Then Why are We Arrested?
In February, Kansas Judge Michael Gibbens came under fire in national news for claiming that two girls, ages 13 and 14, acted as “aggressors” in a situation of exploitation in which a 67-year-old male, Eugene Soden, paid them to have sex. While public reaction to Gibbens ruling was appropriately harsh, the reality is that his […]
How to Tweet Your Legislator
On November 16 we released the 2018 Protected Innocence Challenge State Grades. This year, with our new tools, you can be a grassroots hero by sharing your state grade with your legislator! Click the Take Action button to visit our new Advocacy Action Center to tweet your legislator. If you don’t have a Twitter account, you also have the opportunity to share […]
Bipartisan Grassroots Advocacy Drives Change to End Child Sex Trafficking
PRESS RELEASE On the heels of a divisive mid-term election, a new report released today by Shared Hope International reveals an encouraging bi-partisan trend: individuals are coming together to fight child sex trafficking. Shared Hope’s annual Protected Innocence Challenge State Grades analyzes state laws to protect juvenile sex trafficking survivors and hold buyers and traffickers […]
Nonprofit Partnership in South Dakota Leads to Groundbreaking Law
In 2017, South Dakota passed a groundbreaking law to ensure survivors of sex trafficking, ages 16 and under, are protected from criminalization. This effort began two years ago when Becky Rassmussen, Executive Director of Call to Freedom, an awareness-raising and survivor-serving organization, recognized the important perspective she could bring to the legislative process. Seeking to […]
