Slide1 :
Look Beneath the Surface:
Role of Law Enforcement Officers in Identifying and Helping
Victims of Human Trafficking
Presentation Overview : Presentation Overview Understanding human trafficking
Identifying crime of human trafficking
Communicating with victims of human trafficking
Role of local law enforcement
Evidence of success
Human Trafficking: What Is It? : Human Trafficking: What Is It? Human trafficking is a form of modern-day slavery
Victims of trafficking exploited for commercial sex or labor purposes
Traffickers use force, fraud or coercion to achieve exploitation
After drug dealing, human trafficking is tied with the illegal arms trade as the second largest criminal industry in the world, and it is the fastest growing.
Human Trafficking: What Is It? : Human Trafficking: What Is It? Sex Trafficking: Commercial sex act induced by force, fraud or coercion, or in which person performing the act is under age 18.
Victims can be found working in massage parlors, brothels, strip clubs, escort services
Labor Trafficking: Using force, fraud or coercion to recruit, harbor, transport, obtain or employ a person for labor or services in involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage or slavery
Victims can be found in domestic situations as nannies or maids, sweatshop factories, janitorial jobs, construction sites, farm work, restaurants, panhandling
Crime of trafficking occurs with the exploitation of the victim.
The physical movement of the victim is not a requisite.
The TVPA protects both U.S. citizens and non-citizens.
Who Are Victims of Human Trafficking? : Who Are Victims of Human Trafficking? Approximately 800,000 to 900,000 victims annually trafficked across international borders worldwide; between 18,000 and 20,000 victims trafficked into United States annually.
More than half of victims trafficked into United States are children; victims are probably about equally women and men.
Victims can be trafficked into the U.S. from anywhere in the world. Victims have come from, among other places, Africa, Asia, India, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Russia and Canada.
Many victims in the U.S. do not speak English and are unable to communicate with service providers, police, or others who might be able to help them.
Within the U.S., both citizens and non-citizens fall prey to traffickers.
Mindset of Trafficking Victims : Mindset of Trafficking Victims Frequently victims:
Do not speak English and are unfamiliar with U.S. culture
Distrust outsiders, especially law enforcement – fear of deportation
Do not self-identify as victims; often blame themselves for predicaments
Although many victims have been beaten and/or raped, current situation may still be better than where they came from
May be unaware of rights or may have been intentionally misinformed about rights in this country
Fear for safety of families in their home countries, who are often threatened by traffickers
How Are Victims Trafficked? : How Are Victims Trafficked?
Force, fraud and coercion are methods used by traffickers to press victims
into lives of servitude, abuse
Force: Rape, beatings, confinement
Fraud: Includes false and deceptive offers of employment, marriage, better life
Coercion: Threats of serious harm to, or physical restraint of, any person; any scheme, plan or pattern intended to cause victims to believe that failure to perform an act would result in restraint against them; or the abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process.
Myths Associated with Human Trafficking : Myths Associated with Human Trafficking
Myth #1:
All Prostitutes
Are Willing Participants
Myths Associated with Human Trafficking : Myths Associated with Human Trafficking
Myth #2:
All Immigrants Smuggled into the United States Enter Willingly
Myths Associated with Human Trafficking : Myths Associated with Human Trafficking
Myth #3:
Human Trafficking Is Crime
Prosecuted Only at Federal Level
Myths Associated with Human Trafficking : Myths Associated with Human Trafficking
Myth #4:
All Participants Involved in
Human Trafficking Are Criminals
Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) : Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) Signed into law October 2000
Prior to 2000, no comprehensive law to protect victims of trafficking or to prosecute traffickers
Made human trafficking Federal crime
Goals of law:
Prevent human trafficking overseas
Increase prosecution of human traffickers in United States
Protect victims, provide Federal and state assistance to victims
Trafficking Victims Protection Act : Trafficking Victims Protection Act Law addresses three key areas:
Prevention
Public awareness and education
Protection
T visa, certification, benefits and services to help victims rebuild their lives
Prosecution
New law enforcement tools and efforts
How TVPA Affects What You Do : How TVPA Affects What You Do Creates new laws that criminalize trafficking regarding slavery, involuntary servitude, peonage or forced labor
Permits prosecution where non-violent coercion used to force victims to work in belief they would be subject to serious harm
Permits prosecution where victim's service compelled by confiscation of documents such as passports or birth certificates
Increases prison terms for all slavery violations from 10 years to 20 years; adds life imprisonment where violation involves death, kidnapping, or sexual abuse of victim
Requires courts to order restitution, forfeiture of assets upon conviction
Enables victims to seek witness protection, other types of assistance
Gives prosecutors and agents new tools to get legal immigration status for victims of trafficking during investigation, prosecution
How TVPA Affects What You Do : How TVPA Affects What You Do Often traffickers break state laws such as:
Murder
Kidnapping
Battery
Assault
Sexual battery
False imprisonment
Prostitution
Promoting prostitution
TVPA Reauthorized in 2003 : TVPA Reauthorized in 2003 Federal government authorized more than $200 million to continue domestic fight against human trafficking
New law strengthens legal elements of TVPA
Sex and labor trafficking now considered offenses under RICO statute
Encourages nation’s 21,000 law enforcement agencies to investigate cases of trafficking
Identifying Crime of Human Trafficking : Identifying Crime of Human Trafficking Immediate concerns for law enforcement:
Identify when crimes of trafficking taking place
Identify and distinguish between victims and perpetrators
Stop crimes of trafficking in progress
Manage victims of trafficking as witnesses
Secure evidence of trafficking for prosecutions and trials
Identifying Crime of Human Trafficking : Identifying Crime of Human Trafficking Non-verbal crime scene clues to link to human trafficking:
Living conditions of potential victims
Physical abuse
Working conditions
Restriction of movement indicators
Behavior indicators of severe dependency
Possession of other’s legal documentation
Possession of false or fraudulent documentation
Insistence on providing information to officer
Identifying Crime of Human Trafficking : Identifying Crime of Human Trafficking Local law enforcers most likely first to come upon crimes of human trafficking
Look beneath surface of other crimes and scenarios to expose crimes of human trafficking:
Prostitution rings
(brothels, escort services, massage parlors)
Pornography
Illegal operations of massage parlors, strip clubs
Domestic abuse
Vice raids involving foreign nationals
Crimes involving immigrant children with no guardians
Identifying Crime of Human Trafficking : Identifying Crime of Human Trafficking Evidence of control and lack of ability to move freely or leave job
Bruises or other signs of physical abuse
Intense fear or depression
Non-English speaking
Recent arrival from Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe, Canada, Africa, India
Lack of ID or immigration documents
Victims of Trafficking and Their Needs : Victims of Trafficking and Their Needs There are four general areas of victim needs:
Immediate assistance
Housing, food, medical, safety and security, language interpretation and legal services
Mental health assistance
Counseling
Income assistance
Cash, living assistance
Legal status
T visa, immigration, certification
Communicating with Victims of Human Trafficking : Communicating with Victims of Human Trafficking Fear of deportation
Does not Identify as Victim
Distrust of law enforcement
Unaware of rights The TVPA authorizes special visas and other forms of immigration relief to certain to trafficking victims.
You are a victim, not a criminal. What is happening to you is wrong.
We can help get you what you need. We can protect you. You can trust us.
You have rights. You have the right to live without being abused.
Identifying Victims of Trafficking : Identifying Victims of Trafficking Key Questions for Victims of Trafficking:
How did you get here?
Where do you live, eat and sleep?
Do you owe someone money?
Is someone keeping your legal/travel documents?
Were you threatened if you tried to leave?
Has your family been threatened?
Were you ever physically abused?
Were you ever forced to stay in one place?
Who are you afraid of?
Your Role as Local Law Enforcement Officers : Your Role as Local Law Enforcement Officers Keep doing what you’re doing
Take closer look – beneath surface
Help build and prosecute crimes at state level
Cooperate with district attorneys, social services and Federal authorities if case becomes Federal
Call Trafficking Information and Referral Hotline,
1.888.3737.888, to connect victims to services they may be eligible to receive. For more information on human trafficking visit www.acf.hhs.gov/trafficking.
Evidence of Success : Evidence of Success [Insert name of case study in which a victim was successfully identified and helped by local law enforcement]
Slide26 : Questions and Answers
Slide27 :
Looking Beneath the Surface:
Role of Law Enforcement Officers in Identifying and Helping
Victims of Human Trafficking