Human Trafficking Around the World by Stephanie Hepburn Read Free Book Online Page B

years in 2009. However, the average sentence decreased to 11.8 years in 2011 (U.S. Department of State, 2009c, 2010, 2012).
    The Innocence Lost National Initiative, run by the DOJ and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), is a collaboration of federal and state law-enforcement authorities and victim assistance providers that targets child sexual exploitation. In 2008 the initiative led to the rescue of 245 children and the conviction of 148 offenders (U.S. Department of State, 2009c). In 2009 the initiative led to the identification of 306 children and the conviction of 151 traffickers in state and federal courts (U.S. Department of State, 2010). Under amendments to the TVPA in 2008, the FBI is tasked with incorporating human trafficking offenses in the annual statistics collected from police forces nationwide. This requirement should help to provide a more accurate picture of trafficking in the United States. Collection is expected to begin in early 2013 (U.S. Department of State, 2012).
    While attorneys can turn to both the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and the TVPA to bring civil suit against traffickers, attorneys often utilize only the FLSA. Perhaps this is because the FLSA has been around far longer. Yet there is minimal disincentive to using both. If attorneys utilize both but are unable to satisfy the TVPA claim, the suit can still be won regarding the FLSA claim. It may be that attorneys believe that proceedings will drag on if they involve the TVPA. The difference, of course, between losses for defendants under the FLSA versus the TVPA is that of mere slaps on the wrist versus the stigma associated with human trafficking. Conviction solely under the FLSA seriously undermines the severity of the crime and does not adequately deter a company (and others) from repeating the crime.
    Restitution is automatically part of the proceedings in criminal trafficking cases. In 2008 traffickers were ordered to pay more than $4.2 million to their victims (U.S. Department of State, 2009c). Also, in 2009, under 18 U.S.C. § 1593A, sentencing guidelines established equivalent sentencing in peonage, slavery, and trafficking-in-persons cases for whoever knowingly benefits, financially or by receiving anything of value, from participation in a trafficking venture. Under the guidelines the offender cannot simply plead ignorance. The individual is culpable if he or she knew or was “in reckless disregard” of the fact that the venture involved human trafficking (U.S. Department of State, 2010; U.S. House of Representatives, 2010b).
    It is important to recognize the various factors that may alter and influence the language and meaning of new legislation, and consequently the sentencing that traffickers face. For instance, the New York State Anti-Trafficking Law contains an obvious discrepancy in its definitions of and penalties for sex versus labor traffickers. Enacted in 2007 under Eliot Spitzer’s administration, the New York anti-trafficking law makes it significantly tougher to prosecute labor traffickers than sex traffickers. Attorney Christa M. Stewart, the coordinator of the New York State Anti-Trafficking Program, says the agenda in creating the anti-trafficking law was to hinder prostitution but not necessarily human trafficking. “The anti-trafficking law is more aligned with New York State penal law against promoting prostitution,” Stewart said. “If someone is promoting prostitution by using a specific means—i.e., if he is benefiting from someone else’s commercial sex act and he also does X, Y, and Z (such as gives a material false statement) then he can be considered a trafficker in New York State.” 11
    The final language of New York’s anti-trafficking law was strongly influenced by a rift within the anti-trafficking movement and by the interests of agricultural lobbying groups and political figures. According to one social service provider, who wished to remain anonymous, the law reflects a clear