AGAINST
Rochester Regional Coalition
HUMAN
TRAFFICKING
Educate • Advocate • Liberate
Information for the
Legal & Law Enforcement Communities
An electronic version of the National Association for Court Management (NACM) Guide to Addressing Human Trafficking in the State Courts is now available on the Human Trafficking and the States Courts Collaborative website www.htcourts.org/guide-chapter1.htm. The HT Guide was produced by the HT Collaborative, an initiative funded by the State Justice Institute (SJI).
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The Guide provides state court practitioners a comprehensive resource for:
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clarifying the types and dynamics of sex and labor human trafficking involving U.S. citizens and foreign nationals present in jurisdictions across the nation;
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identifying how traffickers and victims might appear in different types of state court cases, including criminal, family, juvenile, child protection, ordinance violation, and civil cases;
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accessing tools and guidelines for using the tools to help courts identify and process cases where trafficking is involved; and
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accessing links to other resources to help courts address trafficking-related problems.
Health and human service organizations, law enforcement agencies, and victim advocates may also find it valuable.
Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States: A Guide for the Legal Sector (2014), by Institute of Medicine (IOM); National Research Council of the National Academies. The intended audience for this guide is the range of actors within the legal sector that may interact in some way with victims, survivors, and perpetrators of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors. The legal sector is understood to comprise two justice systems that operate in different but related realms: the adult criminal justice system and the juvenile justice system. Both systems encompass federal, state, county, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies; police officers and investigators; probation officers; parole officers; corrections officers; prosecutors and defense attorneys; victim advocates; and judges—all of whom have roles to play in responding to these crimes.
Freedom for All: An Attorney’s Guide to Fighting Human Trafficking (2015), by Kavitha Sreeharsha and Kelly Hyland of the Global Freedom Center. This book demonstrates to attorneys across multiple practice areas how human trafficking intersects with their daily practice, how their skills translate, and how they can easily begin to integrate anti-trafficking into their work. It is as much a practical introduction to any student or practicing attorney as it is a lay of the land of current anti-trafficking legal efforts. The book also highlights the important contributions of numerous attorneys and exciting nascent developments. Whether criminal, corporate, employment, immigration, international or public interest, now is the moment to develop areas of the law, employ creative arguments and thinking, and implement new policies and programs. Efforts at all levels are sorely needed to increase identification, services and prevention - to make a true difference in the lives of trafficked persons. If you have ever asked yourself “What can I do?” Freedom for All gives you the answer.
Remedies for Immigrant Victims of Crimes: U & T Visas, a presentation by the WJCNY that explains eligibility for U- and T-visas, the application process and benefits of each, and how to decide whether to apply for U- or T-visa when eligible for both.
Tools for Law Enforcement
Resources from the Polaris Project for law enforcement professionals.
Human Trafficking Task Force e-Guide. Developed in partnership by the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) and Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA), this Guide is a resource to support established task forces and provide guidance to agencies that are forming task forces. Its purpose is to assist in the development and day to day operations of an anti-human trafficking task force and to provide fundamental guidance for effective task force operations.
Toolkit for Law Enforcement Use of the U-Visa. Law enforcement agencies with a practice or policy for signing U visa certifications have an additional tool to reduce crime and ensure safer communities. The U visa is a federal program available to immigrant victims of crime who are helpful to law enforcement. This toolkit developed by
National Immigrant Women’s Advocacy Project at American University, Washington College of Law, The Vera Institute of Justice, and Legal Momentum (last updated November 2012} provides valuable information for law enforcement agencies and prosecutors.
The Office of Refugee Resettlement, an office of the Administration for Children & Families of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, provides materials for Law Enforcement Officers as part of its Rescue and Restore Campaign. These include: Resource Overview, Tips for Identifying the Crime of Human Trafficking, Screening Questions to Assess Whether a Person is a Trafficking Victim, Understanding the Mindset of a Trafficking Victim, Communictating With Victims of Human Trafficking, Tips for Identifying and Interacting with Victims of Human Trafficking, PowerPoint Presentation for Law Enforcement Officers, and a Pocket Assessment Card.
Breaking Barriers: Improving Services for LGBTQ Human Trafficking Victims provides valuable recommendations to service providers and criminal justice professionals, so that they may be better equipped to provide the specialized services and resources needed by LGBTQ trafficking victims and survivors. If the basic needs of LGBTQ youth continue to go unmet, these young people face a greater risk of returning to their trafficking situations, published July, 2015 by Polaris.