“No Nation is Exempt” – The United States Legal Fight Against Sex Trafficking

On January 31, 1865, the United States Congress passed the 13^th Amendment of the U. S. Constitution abolishing slavery. Yet it still exists in our nation “under a modern alias – human trafficking”. While trafficking encompasses a variety of forms, sex trafficking predominantly engages “young women and children” in prostitution and child sex exploitation.  It has been found in “restaurants, bars, hotels” and the internet.

This legal article begins with an overview of the various federal laws dating back to the Mann Act in 1910. Over the past 25 years Congress has passed significant legislation to hold traffickers and those who financially benefit from trafficking. These include:

Trafficking Victim’s Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA)

This Act was the first of several bills designed to address sex trafficking in the United States and internationally.  The TVPA provided the legal framework to fight human trafficking through “Protection, Prosecution, and Prevention”.

Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003 (TVPRA)

In addition to providing greater protection for victims and improveing prosecution of traffickers, the TVRPA provided victims with the ability to seek civil legal action against the traffickers and those who financially benefited from trafficking.

Trafficking Victims Reauthorization Act of 2005 (TVRPA)

This legislations provides grants for states, local governments and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), to fund victim assistance and assist with investigations.

William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protections Reauthorization Act of 2008 (TVPRA 2008)

The TVRPA 2008 expanded the 2003 legislation by providing a variety of approaches to enhance accountability of traffickers and those who knew or should have known they were benefiting from trafficking enterprises.

Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2013 and Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015

These two bills enable federal agencies to ‘protect, prevent, and combat human trafficking in the U.S. and around the world’.

Other studies have found that approximately 80% of trafficking arrests have occurred around hotels and motels. The transient nature of guests and the ability for traffickers and their customers to remain anonymous make these facilities to be a prime location for trafficking operations. However, federal legislation has enabled victims to file civil suits against these facilities. The plaintiffs only need to demonstrate the hotel or motel had knowledge of financial benefit.  Many of these have included national chains.

To successfully determine that individuals and corporations are subject to civil claims for damages and attorney fees, victims must demonstrate three elements. The defendant:

1. Knowingly benefitted financially or received anything of value from the sex trafficking,
2. Participated in the venture, and
3. Knew or should have known defendants engaged in violation of 18 U.S.C § 1591.

While prosecution of these cases has resulted in differing opinions across circuits, most courts have agreed that renting rooms to traffickers demonstrates the facility benefitted financially.  At the same time, there are differing opinions across circuits regarding the element of ‘participated in the venture’.  In the Northern District of Georgia, the court ruled ‘association alone cannot establish liability; instead, knowledge and ‘some participation in the sex trafficking act itself must be served’.

Finally, to demonstrate defendants “knew or should have known”, the courts have looked at a variety of indicators including:

Requests for exit rooms; excess condoms, lingerie, sex paraphernalia left behind; prolonged periods of hotel stay; men coming and going from the rooms at odd hours; noticeable bruising; refusal of housekeeping; no eye contact; rooms paid for in cash; women checking in with little to no belongs; and in some cases cries to hotel employees for help.

Other sections of the paper focused on legal strategies regarding cases crossing multiple circuits and insurance coverage. In closing, the author discussed the U. S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Blue Campaign, which was designed to combat sex trafficking and provide information on indicators of sex trafficking.