Justice Programs Archives - Page 4 of 20 - Shared Hope International

July 12, 2017 by Susanna Bean

Critical Human Trafficking Legislation Passes the House

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) Today the House of Representatives passed HR 2200 the Frederick Douglass Trafficking Victims Prevention and Protection Reauthorization Act of 2017 (TVPRA). This important legislation was sponsored by Representative Chris Smith—author of the original Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 and the 2016 recipient of Shared Hope’s Lifetime Pathbreaker Award—along with lead co-sponsor Karen Bass. The bill also passed with strong bipartisan support from 27 co-sponsors, including Representatives Ted Poe, Anne Wagner and Susan Davis.

HR 2200 continues the protections established in the Landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, with a particular focus on preventing trafficking through educating children and other at-risk populations on how to avoid trafficking victimization, promoting trauma-informed services and access to housing for homeless and foster youth, and encouraging credible and effective use of the trafficking tier ranking system by the U.S. Department of State in the annual Trafficking in Persons Report.

As an endorser of this bill, Shared Hope International is pleased to see the authorization of $520 million dollars in funds being allocated to enhance the fight against human trafficking over the next four years.

“This vote in the House today is a strong sign the US is committed to addressing the crime of juvenile sex trafficking with substantial investment,” commented Linda Smith, President and Founder of Shared Hope. “Shared Hope is committed to continuing advocacy at the federal and state level to ensure our laws reflect our societal commitment to prevent trafficking and to treat these children as survivors of a crime and ensuring their protection while punishing any actor involved in their exploitation.”

[easy-tweet tweet=”This is a strong sign the US is committed to addressing juvenile sex trafficking. – Linda Smith” user=”SharedHope”]

The House also passed HR 2480, the Empowering Law Enforcement to Fight Sex Trafficking Demand Act. This critical legislation addresses the fuel that keeps trafficking markets alive: demand for commercial sex. Under HR 2480, law enforcement could compete for federal funding specifically to develop and execute sex trafficking demand reduction programs. These additional resources empower local law enforcement agencies to invest in demand reduction efforts to prevent and end the exploitation of sex trafficking victims.

Both of these important bills now move to the Senate for consideration. To follow the latest developments on the TVPRA and HR 2480, follow Shared Hope on Facebook and Twitter.

July 10, 2017 by Susanna Bean

Pathbreaker Awardee Leads Human Rights Efforts

In his unabated championship for marginalized people, Representative Chris Smith last week led a human rights effort to highlight human trafficking at the 2017 Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly in Minsk, underscoring why Shared Hope International awarded him our Lifetime Pathbreaker Award in 2016.

Congressman Smith is only the 2^nd individual to earn the Lifetime designation of the award (Congressman Frank Wolf, 2013), and he truly has spent his entire career in the pursuit of justice for the downtrodden. Chris was one of the first voices to speak up about human trafficking and the major thrust behind the landmark Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000; he has been instrumental in reauthorizations of that act up to and including the present re-authorization efforts.

During 1995-1999 Shared Hope’s founder, Linda Smith, was his colleague as they served in Congress together. After leaving Congress, and in the early days of Shared Hope’s history, Linda Smith initiated regional and international efforts to further the goals of the TVPA and has continued to collaborate with Chris on anti-sex trafficking legislation.

The Pathbreaker Award is a prestigious award to honor individuals who made an outstanding contribution to the movement against commercial sexual exploitation. These leaders broke the trend of inaction and initiated proactive responses to prevent sex trafficking.

April 28, 2017 by Susanna Bean

Campaign Goal Surpassed!

Help us advocate in the 24 remaining states and finish strong!

On January 20^th, the Center for Law and Policy launched “Stop the inJuSTice Campaign” to mobilize state legislatures to pass laws that holder buyers accountable and increase victim protections. We set an initial goal of supporting the passage of 6 bills in 6 months.

We are thrilled to report that in just 3 months, we have reached and surpassed our goal! Since the launch of Stop the inJuSTice, 11 states have enacted laws that further the policy objectives of this campaign.

Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Maryland and New York now have laws acknowledging child sex trafficking as a form of child abuse for purposes of permitting child welfare intervention and care.
Indiana now recognizes children engaged in commercial sex as victims, not criminals, and prohibits minors from facing criminal liability under the prostitution statute.
Oklahoma and Washington prohibit buyers of sex with children from raising a mistake of age defense.
South Dakota no longer requires the use of force, fraud, or coercion to traffic a child.
Utah requires child sex trafficking perpetrators, including buyers, to register as sex offenders.
West Virginia passed a comprehensive anti-trafficking bill which prohibits commercially sexually exploited minors from being prosecuted for prostitution offenses, acknowledges the occurrence of sex trafficking regardless of the number of victims involved, increases accountability for buyers of sex with children, and permits sex trafficking victims to seek restitution from their offenders.
Washington: permits child sex trafficking victims to vacate juvenile records obtained as a result of the trafficking victimization.

We celebrate these state’s monumental accomplishments on behalf of children. However, our work is not finished. Shared Hope’s Policy Team is actively supporting Campaign bills in 24 other states. With your help, we can ensure that children in these states receive the protections and justice that they deserve.

Please join us in advocating for the passage of the following bills which remove criminal liability for child sex trafficking victims:

Louisiana: Senate Bill 54
Maine: Legislative Draft 512
Massachusetts: House Bill 3499
Missouri: Senate Bill 341
Pennsylvania: House Bill 525
Rhode Island: House Bill 5857
Wisconsin: Assembly Bill 186

Your support makes this campaign possible. Together we are creating a safer, more just world for our children. Thank you!

March 21, 2017 by Sarah Bendtsen

Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking is a Form of Child Abuse

Nine states are working on laws this year to ensure that the definition of child abuse includes the crime of child sex trafficking. You can take action to support these bills! See the list of those 9 states below.

Why does this definition matter?

As a nation, comprised of both federal and autonomously-acting state law, we have collectively acknowledged through legislation that domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) is a horrendous sexual crime in and of itself. Yet, at the heart of child sex trafficking is the recurrent rape and molestation of a child.

Subtracting the monetary exchange, we would label the crime as child sexual abuse, sexual assault, and rape. Yet, only 23 states define child sex trafficking, in all its forms, as child abuse. This fails to fully identify the dynamics of the crime. Most importantly, however, failing to identify DMST as a form of child abuse interferes with a systematic and consistent child protective response.

[easy-tweet tweet=”Only 23 states define child sex trafficking, in all its forms, as child abuse.” user=”SharedHope” hashtags=”StoptheinJuSTice”]

Providing a systematic response to survivors

Following extensive legal research and gathering of field guidance, Shared Hope’s JuST Response Council released the Protective Response Model, a composition of emerging best practices for responding to child sex trafficking. Amongst the numerous practices that have proven successful and victim-centered is equipping child welfare systems with the tools, knowledge, and structure to provide coordinated screenings, protection, and services to child victims of sex trafficking.

However, without amending the definition of child abuse to include all forms of child sex trafficking, child welfare agencies are unable to respond in such cases. The alternative scenario is local and state stakeholders are forced to piecemeal together a service response for victims. At best, this response will vary child-to-child. At worst, and most realistic, most children are not afforded a response at all.

[easy-tweet tweet=”When the definition of child abuse doesn’t include child sex trafficking, child welfare is unable to respond.”]

Further, amending the definition of child abuse to include all forms of child sex trafficking, including trafficking that occurs at the hands of a non-familial perpetrator, aligns state law with the federally-enacted Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act. As a result, the federal Act and state-led responses have served as goalposts for the remaining 27 states that have yet to acknowledge this form of violence as child abuse.

While the secondary, service-oriented responses vary largely state-to-state, amending the definition is a vital first step in opening the door for a coordinated, child welfare response. This statutory foundation is the building block for developing a victim-centered, individualized service plan for any and all children who are victims of sex trafficking. Ensuring that all 50 states and D.C. include DMST as a form of child abuse will close national legal holes and prevent some child victims from falling through the cracks.

Take Action!

This legislative session, Shared Hope is excited to be supporting nine states with pending legislation that would remove barriers to child welfare involvement. Please join us in taking action to ensure child sex trafficking victims in the following states can be identified as victims of child abuse, regardless of the offender’s familial status to the child:

Arizona, House Bill 2238
Arkansas, Senate Bill 271– PASSED!
Hawaii, House Bill 1099/Senate Bill 965
Idaho, Senate Bill 1005– PASSED!
Maryland, SB 308/HB 632
Maryland, SB 912/ HB 1219
Missouri, HB 1112
New Jersey, Assembly Bill 2906
Tennessee, Senate Bill 553/House Bill 615

[easy-tweet tweet=”9 states states are working to amend the definition of child abuse to include child sex trafficking.” user=”SharedHope”]

March 3, 2017 by Guest

Bringing Students to the Table

Texas State Senator Zaffirini’s proposed Senate Bill seeks to require the Texas State Board of Education to develop a training program and curriculum on sex trafficking prevention to be included as part of a school district’s health curriculum. The creation of this curriculum not only creates vital information-access points for children, it requires educators and administrators to acknowledge their role in protecting children and responding to vulnerabilities that are inherent to the population that they serve. Equipping children with information related to the realities of sex trafficking, avoiding high-risk activities or harmful relationships, and strategies for recognizing and reporting suspected sex trafficking, recognizes that empowered children are less vulnerable to the manipulation and coercion that offenders may employ. Additionally, children are oftentimes the best “eyes” and “ears” for identifying vulnerable or at-risk friends or peers; armed with the right information, educated and aware children can play a vital role in preventing child sex trafficking in their communities, schools, and homes.

[easy-tweet tweet=”Empowered children are less vulnerable to manipulation and coercion.” user=”SharedHope”]

Shared Hope supports Senator Zaffirini’s bill, as it statutorily builds on the practices that Shared Hope has engaged in over the last 15 years. Working closely with schools and educators across the country and internationally, Shared Hope’s Senior Director, Nancy Winston, Director of Training, Elizabeth Scaife, and hundreds of Ambassadors of Hope have presented Chosen, a training for students, teachers, and administrators. At its crux, Shared Hope’s school trainings build awareness as to what domestic child sex trafficking looks like, how teachers, parents, and students can prevent it. Perhaps most importantly, however, Shared Hope’s training seeks to equip children with information so that they will be informed adult citizens who ideally work to ensure future generations are not facing the same plights of violence and exploitation that our current children face.

To date, Chosen has been shown to 15, 525 students across the U.S. and countless teachers have continued the conversation on child sex trafficking, building it into their own curriculum. This has not only increase national understanding and prevention efforts, it has also aided in the identification of children who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation, sexual violence, or recognize such victimization in their peers. One of Chosen’s major themes is the importance of telling some “if something seems wrong.” Following the presentation in one Midwestern school, an eighth grade student revealed a child trafficking situation occurring at her neighbor’s house. In another school, following an Ambassador presentation, a teacher from that school contacted the Ambassador several weeks after the Chosen viewing to alert the Ambassador that one of her students had revealed that she had been raped by her father but that Chosen had allowed her to feel safe enough to talk about it and seek help.

[easy-tweet tweet=”Chosen has been shown to 15, 525 students across the U.S., helping to prevent child sex trafficking. “]

Curriculum and trainings such a Chosen are crucial for connecting our front line folks– our children, educators, and parents– with important information for responding to and, ultimately, preventing children sex trafficking in our communities. Please join Shared Hope in supporting Senator Zaffirini’s efforts in requiring Texas public schools to provide sex trafficking education as part of the health curriculum. If you are interested in scheduling a showing of Chosen in your local school or community, you can find more information here.