Federal Efforts and Legislation Combating Sexual Exploitation and Trafficking: The Mann Act of 1910 This act was originally created to combat forced prostitution and debauchery. The Mann act made it a crime to transport women across state lines "for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose." It has since been amended to specify debauchery and any other immoral purpose to mean any sexual activity for which a person can be charged with a criminal offense. This Act, although it is from the turn of the century, is still used to prosecute people today. Thousands of people have been prosecuted under this Act over the past century, including some notable celebrities. Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA) Prior to 2000, no comprehensive federal law existed to protect victims of trafficking or to prosecute their traffickers. In October of that year, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (Public Law 106 386) was enacted. The main goals of the TVPA are to prevent human trafficking overseas through educational and public awareness programs, to protect the victims and give them federal and state support to help them rebuild their lives in the U.S., and to prosecute human traffickers with stiff federal penalties. The new law enforcement tools created by the TVPA strengthen the prosecution and punishment of traffickers by creating more severe penalties including several crimes where the penalty can be life in prison. Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 (TVPRA) In 2003, the Bush Administration authorized more than $200 million to continue the fight against human trafficking through the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 (TVPRA). This act renews the U.S. government s commitment to identify and assist victims exploited through labor and sex trafficking in the United States.
The Adam Walsh Child and Safety Act of 2006 The Act makes it a felony for sex offenders who have moved across state lines to fail to register their address. The measure was signed into law by President Bush in 2006. The law requires states to adopt uniform sex offender registration requirements, preventing offenders from simply relocating to lenient states. The Act sets penalties for noncompliance and offenders who violate the provisions can be charged with both state and federal felonies. The Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website serves as a portal for all state registries and can be assessed at: www.nsopr.gov The Preventing Trafficking and Improving Opportunities for Youth in Foster Care Act of 2014 (H.R. 058) H.R. 4058, or The Preventing Trafficking and Improving Opportunities for Youth In Foster Care Act, was passed by the House on May 20, 2014 and is supported by the American Bar Association (ABA). The bill includes provisions to allow states to determine if youth in foster care have been victims of sex trafficking and the appropriate services for them, document instances of sex trafficking and report the cases to law enforcement, ensure that states do more to quickly move children out of foster care and into permanent homes, and ensure that youth in foster care are better prepared for a successful adulthood. State programs can ensure this by allowing children 14 and older to assist in developing their plan for transitioning out of foster care, train case workers to coordinate services to victims, and strengthening provisions to add safe and stable housing. Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act of 2014 (H.R. 4980) H.R. 4980, or the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act, was passed on September 29, 2014. This new law takes steps to protect and prevent children and youth in foster care from becoming victims of sex trafficking and aims to make improvements to the child welfare system in order to improve outcomes for children and youth in foster care. The Act achieves these goals by identifying, documenting, and determining services for children and youth who are at risk of sex trafficking, requiring child welfare agencies to report instances of sex trafficking, providing data in the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS), and locating and responding to children who run away from Foster Care. The Act also ensures that foster children aging out of care have a birth certificate, social security card, health insurance information, medical records, and a driver s license or state issued identification card. The Act also includes regulations for improving adoption incentives and extending family connection grants.
The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2013 (H.R. 3630) This bill amends the federal criminal code to include a $5,000 fine to any person or entity who is convicted of crimes related to 1) peonage, slavery, or trafficking persons; 2) sexual exploitation and other abuse of children; 3) sexual abuse; 4) transportation for illegal sexual activity; 5)human smuggling in violation of the Immigration and Nationality Act. These new fines will be deposited into the Treasury through the Domestic Trafficking Victims Fund and will be used award grants, provide services to child pornography victims, or enhance victims programming under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005, and the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990. This bill also amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to direct the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make a determination that a covered individual has been a victim of sever sex trafficking. It amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005 to authorize the Attorney General to award block grants for comprehensive domestic child trafficking deterrence programs an directs the Attorney General to ensure that all task forces and working groups within the Innocence Lost National Initiative engage in activities, programs, or operations to increase the investigation capabilities of law enforcement personnel. Finally, the act amends the Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990 to include human trafficking and the production of child pornography within the definition of child abuse for purposes of the Act. The Stop Exploitation Through Sex Trafficking Act of 2014 (H.R. 3610) This Act amends the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to authorize the Attorney General to give preferential consideration in awarding Community Oriented Police Services (COPS) grants to an applicant in a state that has a law in effect that: 1) treats a minor who is engaged in, or has attempted to engage in, a commercial sex act as a victim of severe trafficking in persons; 2) discourages the charging or prosecution of such individual for a prostitution or sex trafficking offense; 3) encourages the diversion of such an individual to appropriate service providers. The Act also amends the Victims of Sex Trafficking Protection Act of 2000 to require the Attorney General s annual report on federal agencies that are implementing provisions related to the Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking to include information on the activities of these agencies. The Act amends the Victims of Sex Trafficking Protection Act of 2000 to also require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to annually make grants for a nation communication system to assist victims of severe forms of trafficking and authorizes the United States Marshals Service to assist state, local, and other federal law enforcement agencies in located and recovering missing children. Finally, this Act amends the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to include victims of a severe form of sex trafficking in persons among those eligible for the Job Corps without having to demonstrate low income eligibility.
Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation (SAVE) Act of 2014 (H.R. 4573) This Act Amends the federal criminal code to prohibit: 1) knowingly selling, commercially promoting, placing, or maintaining an adult advertisement in a medium whose predominant purpose is to facilitate commercial transactions and 2) acting with reckless disregard of the fact that an adult advertisement facilitates and offense of sex trafficking of children or an offense in violation of a state law prohibiting felony offenses related to child pimping, child prostitution, child sexual abuse, assault on children, or the sex trafficking of children. The Act also shields an internet service provider, browser provider, common carrier, telecommunications carrier or other generic search or utility provider from liability solely based on providing generic search or utility services. This Act requires anyone selling, commercially promoting, or placing an adult advertisement to: 1) verify the identity of each person purchasing advertisement space for, and each person shown in, the advertisement; 2) verify that each person whose goods or services are advertised is not under the age of 18; 3) create and maintain individually identifiable records pertaining to each such person for a least seven years; 4) affix to each adult advertisement a statement describing where these records may be located. Finally, the new Act sets increased penalties for failure by an electronic communication service provider or a remote computing service provider to report violations of provisions regarding sexual abuse of children and child pornography. The International Megan s Law to Prevent Demand for Child Sex Trafficking (H.R. 4573) This Act directs the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to establish the Angel Watch Center within the Child Exploitation Investigations Unit of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which shall: 1) receive information on travel by child sex offenders, 2) establish a system to maintain and archive all relevant information, 3) establish a mechanism to receive complaints from child sex offenders affected by notifications of destination countries, 4) establish an annual review process to ensure that the Center is consistent in procedures regarding providing notification to destination countries. The Angel Watch Center is also authorized to transmit notice to a destination country of impending or current international travel of a child sex offender to such country and is required to engage in ongoing consultations with: 1) non governmental organizations that have experience in identifying and preventing child sex tourism and rescuing and rehabilitating minor victims of international sexual exploitation and trafficking; 2) the governments of countries interested in cooperating in the creation of international sex offender travel notification system or that are primary destination or source countries for international sex tourism; 3) internet service and software providers regarding technology to facilitate the implementation of an international sex offender travel notification in the United States and in other countries. The Act also expresses that the President should negotiate bilateral agreements with foreign governments to further the
purposes of this Act and formally request foreign governments to notify the United States when a US citizen has been arrested, convicted, or sentenced or has completed a prison sentence for a child sex offense. Finally, the Act amends the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 to include a country s cooperation with other governments in the investigation and prosecution of such trafficking, including trafficking related to sex tourism. Combating Abuse of Immigrant Women and Children Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 Title IV, Subtitle G Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) This section of the nation s most broad reaching bill on crime control is dedicated to protections for battered immigrant women and children. It allows an immigrant to self petition for immediate relative or second preference status if immigrants can prove that they are living in the U.S., their marriage was entered into with good faith, and during the marriage the immigrants or the children of the immigrants were battered or subjected to extreme cruelty at the hands of their spouses. The U.S. Attorney General must agree that deportation would result in extreme hardship to an immigrant and child. This act also waives the current sevenyear residence requirement to apply for suspension of deportation for immigrant spouses and children who have been battered or subjected to extreme cruelty in the United States by a spouse or parent who is a citizen or lawful permanent resident. This act was later re authorized in 2000 and 2005. Prosecutorial Remedies and Other Tools to End the Exploitation of Children Today (PROTECT) Act of 2003 This act strengthens law enforcement s ability to prevent, investigate, prosecute and punish violent crimes committed against children. It includes such the coordination of local, state, and national AMBER alert programs; the elimination of statutes of limitations for crimes involving the abduction or physical or sexual abuse of a child; the strengthening of laws punishing offenders who travel abroad to sexually prey on children; and the increase of penalties for child abduction, child sexual exploitation, and child pornography. This Act was an important milestone for stronger prosecution of offenders against children.
T Visa T Visas, or T non immigrant status, are available to individuals that are victims of a severe form of trafficking of persons. Applicants for a T Visa are fingerprinted for criminal background checks and may be required to undergo an interview. They are eligible for work permits upon approval. The T Visa is a resource for individuals who are present in the United States due to human trafficking. In order to obtain a T Visa, it must be determined that the individual would suffer extreme hardship (i.e. unusual or severe harm) if they were removed from the United States. Applicants must also comply with any reasonable request for assistance in a trafficking investigation. U Visa This visa allows victims of certain crimes temporary legal status and work eligibility in the United States for up to 4 years as long as they cooperate with police in the investigation and prosecution of crimes. The applicant must have suffered substantial physical or mental abuse due to a criminal activity in at least one of the following categories: rape, torture, trafficking, incest, domestic violence, sexual assault, abusive sexual contact, prostitution, sexual exploitation, female genital mutilation, hostage situations, peonage, false imprisonment, involuntary servitude, slave trade, kidnapping, abduction, unlawful criminal restraint, blackmail, extortion, manslaughter, murder, felonious assault, witness tampering, obstruction of justice, perjury or attempt, conspiracy, or solicitation to commit any of the above mentioned crimes.