Justice Programs Archives - Page 9 of 20 - Shared Hope International

July 8, 2015 by Guest

OVC TTAC Trafficking Webinar for Service Providers

Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime Training and Technical Assistance Center (OVC TTAC) Offers Human Trafficking Webinar Series for Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Service Providers

Due to the coercive and abusive nature of human trafficking, it is common for victims to experience overlapping forms of victimization, particularly domestic violence and sexual assault. Despite experiencing complex forms of trauma, many survivors of trafficking are unrecognized, criminalized, or do not receive adequate services to address their complex needs.

Culminating September 24, OVC TTAC’s five-part webinar series aims to impart domestic violence and sexual assault service providers with the strategies, practical tips, case studies, and resources necessary to identify and aid survivors of human trafficking.

With topics ranging from Balancing Collaboration, Confidentiality and Privilege on Human Trafficking Cases to Collaborating with Culturally Specific Organizations to End Human Trafficking, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault, the series intends to promote a collaborative approach to victim identification and care.

Shared Hope is dedicated to providing training to increase the identification of those victimized and vulnerable to trafficking and improve the response of service providers and justice systems. Our largest training, the Juvenile Sex Trafficking (JuST) Conference, occurs this November: sharedhope.org/just2015.

To register for an OVC TTAC Trafficking Webinar, click below on the appropriate session title.

Topics, Dates and Registration

Collaborating with Culturally Specific Organizations to End Human Trafficking, Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault — July 9, 2015 @ 2:30 p.m. ET

Working Together Part I: Law Enforcement — August 13, 2015 @ 2:30 p.m. ET

Working Together Part II: The Courts — September 24, 2015 @ 2:30 p.m. ET

Full Agenda

TOPIC: Human Trafficking, Domestic Violence, and Sexual Assault: Strategies to Strengthen Community Collaboration to Respond to Survivors’ Needs

Go here to view webinar recordings and schedule.

January 19, 2015 by SHI Staff

A movement to restore human dignity; this MLK holiday, the work continues to end modern day slavery

In recalling today the incredible work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. we are also reminded of both how far we have come and how far we have to go in the fight to end oppression and restore human dignity to the millions who still suffer under injustice and slavery.

“Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter.”

These words from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. are powerful as we commemorate the life and work of a man who gave his life for justice.

There is a common belief that slavery no longer exists; unfortunately, that is simply not the case. The practice of buying and selling human beings is still intact, just in new forms. Today as you read this, women and children are bought and sold as objects in the sex trade to fulfill grown men’s fantasies. Just like any market, sex trafficking takes various forms and is not consistently defined as depraved or wrong by every individual or nation; but as Nickloas Kristof has proffered, “whatever one thinks of legalizing sexual transactions among adults, we should all be able to agree that children shouldn’t be peddled like pizzas.”

Despite the many heroic efforts by activists, judges, law enforcement, case workers, community groups and others, domestic minor sex trafficking is still rampant in the United States. Of the many ills and underlying acts of depravity in the news today, the scourge of domestic minor sex trafficking rises to the top as a prime example of why we cannot rest; as Dr. King Jr. imparted years ago, “until all are free, none of us are free.” It is with this same principle that Shared Hope is working on the crucial goals of preventing trafficking, restoring hope to victims and finally bringing justice to those who do harm.

Similar to how Dr. King Jr. encouraged activists to take greater and greater action in an effort to spark legislative and social reforms related to civil rights in the 1960s. Today, Shared Hope and others are aiming for similar energy to be put toward bringing greater justice and restoration for those who have been wronged by a developing legal system which allows buyers of sex with children walk free and victims of trafficking to fend for themselves. This MLK day join in us celebrating the efforts of all those who have and continue to fight for equality and justice in this country.

Here are ways to take action on the MLK holiday and continue the work of a man who stood for equality and justice in face of cruelty, hatred and systemic oppression.

Legislative Action:

Campaigns:

Join the fight and help put an end to trafficking in the United States, and as you do remember this work requires all of us and that real change takes collective action; in the words of MLK, “We cannot walk alone.”

December 9, 2014 by SHI Staff

Ninth Circuit: Privacy for buyers of sex with children outweighs protection of children

California Proposition 35 made sweeping changes to California’s child sex trafficking laws. On November 6, 2012, over ten million people in California voted in favor of the act, making it the most successful ballot in California history. Over 80% of voters voted in favor of Prop 35 and it is easy to see why: increased penalties for traffickers, mandatory law enforcement training, designation of fines from convicted traffickers for victims, and requirement of sex traffickers to register as sex offenders are among some of the changes to California law that were enacted.

Proposition 35 was not met without opposition, however. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of anonymous sex offenders to prohibit enforcement of a provision which requires buyers of sex with children to register their online identifiers as part of their sex offender registry requirements. Buyers, under Prop 35, would be forced to disclose their internet identities and activities once convicted for an offense against a child. Information about the buyer’s online presence would then be used by the community and law enforcement to protect children against repeat exploitive behaviors.

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in California upheld a lower court’s decision to enjoin the provision regarding registration of buyer’s online identifiers, holding that the provision is an unconstitutional burden on free speech for the sex offender. In making this decision, the court gave greater constitutional weight to the privacy of sex offenders than the protection of children. Complete online privacy and anonymity, in the holding of the court, is a right which even convicted child predators deserve. How did privacy become a more compelling societal interest than protection of children?

Convicted child predators often have their rights taken away by courts. In many states, a buyer on the sex offender registry is forbidden from living within a specified distance from a school or child care agency. Society chooses to establish these restrictions in order to reduce the availability and access to children for child predators. The internet should not be an exception. In an age where nearly everyone has a digital identity, including children, shouldn’t predators be restricted from access to children online? The Ninth Circuit says no, despite inconsistency with federal law.

Convicted criminals forfeit privileges in society because of the decisions they made to exploit the vulnerable in our society. Sex offenders should not be allowed to retain privacy privileges at the cost of the reality of the re-offenders among them using that privacy to contact and exploit more children. Many buyer cases involve a digital interaction using social media or classified websites. If buyers remain anonymous on the internet, they will continue to use these websites to target and approach children.

Protection of the vulnerable in society is among the fundamental roles of government. Privacy cannot be given to convicted criminals at the cost of protecting vulnerable youth from child predators. Upon appeal of this decision, the Supreme Court will have an opportunity to hear this case and undo the damage being done by the injunction from the Ninth Circuit. The urgency and magnitude of the outcome of this battle cannot be overstated.

National change is happening on the state level and buyers are subject to sex offender registration in many states. Increasing pressure on buyers and making sure that they are restricted from access to places where children can be contacted, including the internet, must be a part of a state’s response to child sex trafficking. Learn about how putting buyers on the sex offender registry addresses demand and see how your state stacks up against other states in the fight against demand so you can take action.

September 10, 2014 by Linda Smith

Shared Hope Files Joint Amicus Brief to Support Justice for Victims

On July 30, 2012, J.S., S.L., and L.C., three juvenile sex trafficking victims, filed a lawsuit against Backpage.com, LLC alleging that the website participated in their exploitation by creating an online marketplace of escort ads where children are sold and bought for sex. Backpage.com claims it is immune from civil liability under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA), 18 U.S.C. § 230. The trial court denied Backpage.com’s request to dismiss the case and on July 26, 2014, the Supreme Court of the State of Washington granted review of the decision.

Backpage.com is a primary venue for buyers of commercial sex, including with minors who are exploited through trafficking. Just as buyers will continue to seek commercial sex acts with juveniles until we take seriously criminal deterrence efforts, Backpage.com will continue to facilitate these buyers until we stop them.

Shared Hope International joined National Crime Victim Law Institute, Covenant House New York and Human Rights Project for Girls in filing an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief urging the court to allow the case to proceed, giving the child victims in this case the right to seek justice and have their day in court. Other advocacy organizations and the Washington State Attorney General’s Office have filed briefs in support of these children also.

The Washington State Supreme Court will hear arguments in the case on October 21, 2014.

Amicus Briefs in Support of Child Respondents

Case Filings

Federal Legislation

Communications Decency Act – 47 U.S.C. § 230

August 22, 2014 by webdesigner

#DemandingJustice – Help us Share the News

On August 25, Shared Hope International is releasing the Demanding Justice Project Report and an interactive website featuring our research on demand. The Demanding Justice Project is a research and advocacy initiative designed to promote deterrence of demand for commercial sex with children through increased attention and advocacy on demand enforcement. The research report documents the outcomes of federal and state arrests, charges and prosecutions of buyers of sex acts with children.

The findings of this research will inform advocacy efforts to strengthen anti-demand legislation and enforcement and will be featured on our new website at www.demandingjustice.org. The Demanding Justice Project website will allow you to read this groundbreaking research, see who is buying sex with children in your state, and exposes high profile buyers who are celebrities, athletes, and politicians, among others. This is where you come in. Please consider announcing the release of www.demandingjustice.org with us. This page contains a press kit and social media badges so you can join us in a show of overwhelming solidarity against demand for commercial sex with youth in the United States. Please join us to Demand Justice! Here’s what you can do:

Display a #DemandingJustice badge on your Facebook/Twitter/Instagram profiles for a day on August 25.
Use your social media to announce the Demanding Justice Project and join hundreds of other voices across the anti-trafficking movement by supporting our Thunderclap, a social media crowd-speaking platform that helps us proclaim in a unified voice that demand must be stopped.
Forward our press release to your news contacts.
Share www.demandingjustice.org when we go live on August 25^th!

Thank you for being an ally in the effort to eradicate the market force that fuels sex trafficking and victimizes the vulnerable. Together we can defeat demand. We are #DemandingJustice. Are you?
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Display #demandingjustice badges & suggested text for social media on August 25[clear-line]

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[clear-line][one-third-first]Who is buying sex with children in your state? Are we doing enough to stop them? Are we #DemandingJustice?[/one-third-first][one-third]Make the buyers known! They can no longer remain anonymous. Bring their crimes into the light and end sex trafficking. #DemandingJustice[/one-third][one-third]Should someone who paid for sex with a trafficked child be in the NFL Hall of Fame? Isn’t @LT_56 a criminal? #DemandingJustice[/one-third][clear-line]

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