January 23, 2008
Dear Chairman Leahy, Chairman Biden, Ranking Member Specter, Ranking
Member Lugar and Ranking Member Brownback,
The undersigned anti-trafficking service providers, advocates, scholars,
civil and human rights lawyers and other individuals are writing
in support of your leadership in the development of a strong bill
reauthorizing the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA).
We are pleased with the majority of the House bill, H.R. 3887, the
William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization
Act of 2007. However, we are extremely concerned that several provisions
will lead to harmful unintended consequences. We urge you to consider
these concerns as you craft the Senate reauthorization bill.
The collective expertise and experience of the signatories to this
letter is notable. Many of us have assisted trafficked persons with
their legal, social, psychological and family issues; worked on
issues of violence against women, participated in the development
of the TVPA as well as the UN Trafficking Protocol; written extensively
about trafficking and related issues; and opposed slavery and forced
labor in all forms within the United States and abroad. As such,
we share a profound concern about the desperate situation of immigrants
and citizens who are trafficked into and within the U.S. We know
that you also have the same concerns and so we would like to share
the following thoughts about certain provisions in H.R. 3887.
1. Section 221(f)(1) federalizes all prostitution-related crimes
as ‘sex trafficking’
Proposed Section 221(f)(1) of H.R. 3887 would amend the Mann Act,
which presently criminalizes the transportation of persons across
state lines for the purpose of prostitution. The proposed section,
18 U.S.C. § 2430, would create a new crime of “sex trafficking”,1
which would authorize the Department of Justice (DOJ) to prosecute
any individual whose action within a territory or possession, affecting
interstate or foreign commerce, induces another to engage in prostitution.
In other words, if a person arranges an act of prostitution over
the phone, as hundreds of meetings are arranged everyday, DOJ would
be pressured by supporters of this new crime to prosecute each of
these thousands of cases annually. This proposal is part of an attempt
by certain organizations and individuals to make prostitution a
federal crime and redefine all prostitution as trafficking, even
in the absence of force, fraud, or physical or psychological coercion,
the cornerstone of trafficking in persons. Calling all non-trafficking
prostitution-related crimes ‘sex trafficking’ would
not only lead to confusion but also to the other problems we discuss
below. 2
We strongly oppose this unnecessary, confusing and resource draining
provision and share the concerns raised by DOJ in a letter to the
Honorable John Conyers and the Fraternal Order of Police in a letter
to Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Specter.3
The proposed “sex trafficking” provision would drain
Department of Justice resources. The attempt to expand federal jurisdiction
over all local and in-state prostitution cases would drain the limited
financial and staffing resources of the Civil Rights Section of
DOJ and take federal prosecutors, as well as investigators from
other federal agencies, away from their core mission of investigating
violations of crimes stemming from the Thirteenth Amendment and
crimes involving children.
According to DOJ, local law enforcement is responsible for 100,000
arrests per year that are related to prostitution.4 The DOJ itself
contends that “due to the high volume of prostitution-related
crimes, the federal government lacks the necessary resources and
capacity to prosecute these offenses.”5 Furthermore, “it
is unnecessary and a diversion from Federal law enforcement’s
core anti-trafficking mission.”6
States are better situated to address local prostitution issues.
All 50 states already have laws addressing solicitation, pandering
and pimping and they address concerns around prostitution that are
most appropriate to each locality. The Fraternal Order of Police,
representing local law enforcement officers across the country opposes
DOJ involvement, stating “it is not clear, or even advisable,
that the Federal government become active on these local issues
in the absence of evidence that the offenses were committed as part
of or in furtherance of a human trafficking operation. To do so
is a waste of resources at all levels of government.”7
The proposed “sex
trafficking” statute will instantaneously and dramatically
increase the estimated and actual number of “trafficking”
victims in the U.S. Presently the U.S. government estimates that
between 14,500-17,500 foreign-born trafficking victims are brought
into the U.S. every year.8 However, if the prosecutions under the
proposed new prostitution crime called “sex trafficking”
are added to the data on real trafficking cases, the statistics
for trafficking would be artificially inflated. The estimated number
of prostitution-related arrests is around 100,000 a year and the
proposed new law would allow DOJ to prosecute most of those cases
when, in fact, it may be that no more than 10% of the cases would
involve true trafficking crimes, including internal trafficking
cases. However, if DOJ were to prosecute all of the potential prostitution-related
cases under the proposed new prostitution crime, then the above
statistics indicate that those engaged in prostitution would outnumber
true trafficking victims nearly six to one and compete for access
to funding, resources programs and every other aspect of assistance
to the real trafficked individuals as well as fewer true victims
being identified. While we welcome better data collection on trafficking
of persons within (as well as into) the United States, we do not
support artificial inflation of the data. The inflated data would
also impact the U.S. ranking in respect to other countries; it would
overnight look as though the United States has the highest number
of trafficking victims in the developed world.
2. Section 221(a) removes the real crime of sex trafficking from
the list of 13th Amendment Crimes
The real crime of sex trafficking is presently found in 18 U.S.C.
§1591, which is in the part of the U.S. Code (Chapter 77 on
Peonage, Slavery and Trafficking in Persons) reserved for 13th Amendment
crimes. It addresses trafficking into commercial sex acts via force,
fraud or coercion, or of a person under 18. Inexplicably, section
221(a) of H.R. 3887 relocates this trafficking offense to the Mann
Act (Chapter 117), which, as we discussed above, covers only ordinary
prostitution offenses and not any real trafficking crimes. Since
the proposed section 221(f)(1) would add a new non-trafficking prostitution
offense called “sex trafficking” to the Mann Act, the
authors of H.R. 3887 were forced to rename the real sex trafficking
offense in an unsuccessful attempt to reduce confusion. Consequently,
section 221(a) proposes renaming the real sex trafficking offense
as “aggravated sex trafficking.” Not surprisingly, the
use of similar terminology to demarcate completely different types
of offenses (a 13th Amendment crime and an ordinary crime) within
the Mann Act only adds unnecessary confusion. These stark changes
to the statute are unnecessary and could undermine trafficking prosecutions.
Separating the real sex trafficking crime from other 13th Amendment
crimes weakens 13th Amendment protections against modern-day slavery.
Human trafficking, perhaps the most pernicious form of modern-day
slavery, occurs when an individual extracts labor or sexual services
from other individuals by depriving them of their free will. Accordingly,
federal laws aimed at eradicating trafficking, forced labor, slavery,
and involuntary servitude prohibit the use of force, fraud or coercion
to compel an individual to perform a commercial sex act or any other
form of labor or services.
In passing the TVPA, Congress intended to carry out the mandate
of the 13th Amendment and address the evils it targets - slavery
in all of its forms and practices.9 The 13th Amendment, as the United
States Supreme Court has explained, aims to “abolish slavery
of whatever name and form and all its badges and incidents; to render
impossible any state of bondage; to make labor free, by prohibiting
that control by which personal service of one man is disposed of
or coerced for another’s benefit”.10 Accordingly, Congress
recognized that prostitution per se is not trafficking any more
than farm labor or domestic work per se is trafficking. Thus, moving
the real sex trafficking crimes from the TVPA into the Mann Act
is an ill-disguised attempt to recast all prostitution as trafficking.
Congress should support the integrity of the comprehensive TVPA
and not remove the real sex trafficking offense from the TVPA, thereby
ensuring that the fight against all 13th Amendment prohibitions
on slavery, forced labor, involuntary servitude and human trafficking
will be prosecuted equally and with due regard for the heinous nature
of these crimes.
Removing sex trafficking from the trafficking section of the criminal
code will undermine trafficking prosecutions. This proposed section
separates labor and sex trafficking in the criminal code, which
prevents victims, advocates and law enforcement from understanding
the nuances of human trafficking as a whole. Victims of human trafficking
also often experience both labor and sex trafficking and by separating
these provisions into two different criminal section laws, law enforcement
may not view the crimes in their totality. We are concerned that
the following will occur: increased focus solely on cases involving
prostitution with a decrease on labor exploitation cases; conferences,
trainings, outreach conducted on cases involving prostitution to
the detriment of labor exploitation cases; decreased ability of
attorneys, social service agencies and good samaritans to identify
labor exploitation cases; and fewer labor exploited individuals
coming forward to seek assistance as a consequence of the focus
on prostitution in prosecutions, training and outreach.
3. Section 234 undermines the ability of DOJ to focus on child exploitation
cases
The Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section was established to
address the problem of child exploitation and its core mission should
not be sacrificed. Section 234 renames the “Child Exploitation
and Obscenity Section” in the Criminal Division of the DOJ
as the “Sexual Exploitation and Obscenity Section” and
authorizes this Section to prosecute new federal adult prostitution
and adult sex trafficking cases. We are concerned that the proposed
redesignation would increase the Section’s workload to include
prosecution of adult prostitution and sex-related offenses under
the Mann Act and the proposed § 2430. The Section is ill equipped
to handle ordinary prostitution related cases, which now number
over 100,000 a year.
Congress should respect the ability of state law enforcement officials
to continue handling adult prostitution cases and allow the Civil
Rights Division to continue prosecuting adult trafficking cases,
including adult sex trafficking cases. Congress should support and
protect the core mission of the Child Exploitation and Obscenity
Section by leaving it unchanged so that it can continue to tackle
the extremely difficult child abuse and exploitation (including
child sex trafficking) cases.
4. Section 214(b) undermines state’s discretion in using Victims
of Crime Act funds.
H.R. 3887 adds a new provision - §1404F “Victims of Commercial
Sexual Exploitation and other Crimes” -- relating to state
use of Victims of Crime Act funds. Under existing law, states have
the right to determine how to spend their limited VOCA funds. The
proposed language specifically states that people in prostitution
are ‘victims’ covered by VOCA. It categorizes all prostitutes
as per se victims of a crime, even those working legally in Nevada
and individual sex workers who are not alleging victimization. This
provision could be interpreted to establish an assumption that this
one group has priority over others because people in prostitution
would be the only category of persons enumerated as victims in the
Act. This approach could harm other crime victims (e.g. domestic
violence, sexual assault, child abuse, and assault) by providing
priority access to limited VOCA funds for all prostitutes even if
they have not claimed victimization, is eligible while another group
is not eligible. States should continue to have discretion to determine
how to spend VOCA funds in a way that meets local priorities and
conditions.
Conclusion
Trafficking in persons is a form of modern-day slavery where an
individual compels another to provide labor or services through
force, fraud or coercion. Consistent with our constitutional obligations
as well as those under international law, Congress passed the TVPA
to eradicate this practice which deprives individuals of their basic
humanity and freedom. Legislation that conflates prostitution with
trafficking, asserts federal jurisdiction over ordinary prostitution
offenses now handled by local jurisdictions and removes the responsibility
for prosecuting prostitution-related trafficking cases from the
Civil Rights Division would undermine the fundamental purpose of
our trafficking efforts within the United States and abroad. This
purpose is reflected in statements made by the late Senator Paul
Wellstone, “[trafficking] is one of the brutal aspects of
this new global economy. It supplements drug trafficking, except
quite often it is more profitable, believe it or not, because the
women--girls--are recycled over and over again. We are talking about
close to 1 million women and girls, the trafficking of these women
and girls for purposes of forced prostitution or forced labor.”11
We urge you to ensure that this important legislation is not undermined.
Sincerely,
Alexandria House
Los Angeles, CA
American Civil Liberties Union
Washington, DC
Asian American Legal Defense and
Education Fund
New York, NY
Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach
San Francisco, CA
Ayuda, Inc
Washington, DC
Susie Baldwin, MD, MPH
Los Angeles County Department of Public Health *
Los Angeles Free Clinic *
Carol Leigh
BAYSWAN
San Francisco, CA
Doug Bandow,
Vice President for Policy,
Citizen Outreach Project.
Springfield, VA
Sr. Mary Kristin Battles SND,
Provincial Superior, California Province,
Sisters of Notre Dame
Best Practices Policy Project
Joy Zarembka, Director
Melanie Orhant, Managing Attorney
Break the Chain Campaign
Washington, DC
Professor Denise Brennan
Department of Sociology and Anthropology
Georgetown University
Florrie Burke, Human Trafficking Consultant
Freedom Network Training Institute *
New York, NY
CASA de Maryland
Silver Spring, MD
Center for Health and Gender Equity
Takoma Park, MD
The Center for Women Policy Studies
Washington, DC
Wendy Chapkis
Professor of Sociology and Women &
Gender Studies University of Southern Maine *
Grace Chang
Associate Professor
Women's Studies
UC Santa Barbara *
Sealing Cheng
Wellesley College *
Coalition of Immokalee Workers
Immokalee, FL
Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking
Los Angeles, CA
Desiree Alliance
Henderson, NV
Ann Jordan
Director,
Initiative Against Trafficking in Persons, Global Rights
Human Rights Watch
New York, NY
International Organization for Adolescents (IOFA)
Chicago, IL and Washington, DC
International Rescue Committee
Washington, DC
Kathleen Kim
Associate Professor of Law
Loyola Law School *
Legal Momentum
Washington, DC
Little Tokyo Service Center
Los Angeles, CA
The Lucha Project of
Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center
Miami, FL
Alice M. Miller, JD
Lecturer in Residence
UC Berkeley School of Law *
Mosaic Family Services
Dallas, TX
The Multiracial Activist
Alexandria, VA
Na Loio - Immigrant Rights & Public Interest Legal Center
Honolulu, HI
National Alliance To End Sexual Violence
Washington, DC
National Asian Pacific American Women's Forum
Washington, DC
National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Washington, DC
National Council for Jewish Women
Washington, DC
National Employment Law Project
New York, NY
National Immigration Forum
Washington, DC
National Immigration Law Center
Washington, DC
Janet Pregler, M.D.
Professor of Clinical Medicine
Director
Iris Cantor-UCLA Women's Health Center
Rocky Mountain Survivors Center
Denver, CO
The Rutherford Institute
Charlottesville, VA
Safe Horizon
New York, NY
Svati Shah, Ph.D.
Visiting Assistant Professor
Wellesley College *
Sex Workers Outreach Project USA
San Francisco, CA
Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center
New York, NY
Tapestri
Atlanta, GA
Paula Tavrow, PhD
Director, Bixby Program in Population and Reproductive Health
UCLA School of Public Health *
Dan Werner
Workers' Rights Law Center of New York, Inc.
New York, NY
* For identification purposes only
cc: The Honorable John Conyers, Jr.
The Honorable Tom Lantos
Attachments (3)
Footnotes
1 The proposed new § 2430 provides that “whoever knowingly,
in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, within the special
maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, or in
any territory of the United States, or in any territory or possession
of the United States, persuades, induces or entices any individual
to engage in prostitution for which any person can be charged with
an offense, or attempts to do so, shall be fined under this title
or imprisoned not more than 10 years or both.”
2 We also object to the proposal in § 224 of the bill for the
Attorney General to develop a state ‘model’ trafficking
statute that would go beyond trafficking to include prostitution
(the new ‘sex trafficking’ provision), thereby confusing
slavery and prostitution for state legislators also.
3 See attached Dept. of Justice letter to The Hon. John Conyers
at 8-9 (Nov. 9, 1007) (DOJ letter) and Fraternal Order of Police
in a letter to Chairman Leahy and Ranking Member Specter at 1 (Dec.
6, 2007) (Fraternal Order letter).
4 See attached DOJ document: “H.R. 3887: The William Wilberforce
Trafficking in Persons Reauthorization Act of 2007: Comments Reflecting
Managers’ Amendment” (DOJ Comments).
5 DOJ letter at 9.
6 DOJ letter at 9.
7 Fraternal Order letter at 1.
8 “America Will Not Tolerate Slave Traders, Bush Says,”
http://usinfo.state.gov/gi/Archive/2004/Jul/19-988082.html 9 22
U.S.C. § 7107(b)(22).
10 Bailey v. Alabama, 219 U.S. 219, 241 (1911) (emphasis added).
11 Congressional Record: July 27, 2000 (Senate), pp. S7788-7789,
http://www.immigrationweek.com/immigdaily/News/2000,0731-Trafficking.shtm
(emphasis added)
3. Letter to
Congressman Lantos
(Note: This law has
already passed in the House, so this campaign is not active.)
This is a letter just about this specific issue in the media, but
the TVPRA is full of problems. (There are also some potentially
better aspects of the proposed law but I find the framework problematic)
l.
Dear Congressman Lantos,
As a concerned citizen from California (San Francisco), I am asking
that you eliminate the amendment to the Trafficking Victims Protection
Act scheduled for an imminent vote, Section 221 (f)-see below.
This amendment would blur the intentions of the Mann Act and would
adversely effect the ability of the FBI to combat real crime in
this country, distracting the FBI with the job of monitoring the
commercial sex industry.
I am very disappointed that our newly elected Democratic majority
has focused on submitting legislation that increases government
oversight into our private lives in the guise of helping women.
Many experts and academics, as well as our own Government Accountability
Office have recognized the diversions and moral panics that have
accompanied the current response to trafficking.
We needs initiatives to protect all workers from abuse including
migrants, undocumented workers and sex industry workers. Laws that
target commercial sex in general are shameful response to the myriad
of abuses in our labor markets including slavery and other forms
of forced labor.
Section 221 (f) which adds the phrase 'or affects' `and in the special
maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States,' to
the Mann Act as below:
(f) Transportation Generally- Section 2422(a) of title 18, United
States Code, is amended-- (1) by inserting `or affecting' after
`travel in'; and
(2) by inserting `in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction
of the United States,' after `foreign commerce,'.
As our own Department of Justice points out (reported in the Washington
Post on November 29, 2007), this change "...would expand federal
jurisdiction to cover prostitution offenses, which the department
calls unnecessary and 'a diversion from Federal law enforcement's
core anti-trafficking mission.' " Thank you for your attention.
4. Model Letter
for your senator
(Here
is Senate Judiciary contact info)
Dear Senator
Like many in this country, I am troubled by the desperate situation
of immigrants and citizens who are victims of forced labor in the
U.S. and I appreciate your dedication to this issue. As a human
rights activist, I am concerned about a number of amendments of
the House version of the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization
Act of 2007 (HR 3887). I am also especially worried about the safety
and well being of individuals who live in the margins of society
including sex workers and migrants.
Several aspects of HR 3887 attempt to shift focus to the commercial
sex industry in general, rather than trafficking. This robs those
who are victims of trafficking from resources and attention to their
plight. This also drives the commercial sex industries further underground,
exacerbating violence and reducing options.
I urge you to review an extensive report, “Collateral Damage”
by Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, (http://www.gaatw.net)
the organization which led the way in the development of the United
Nations Trafficking Protocol and other international anti-trafficking
legislation. This report emphasizes the critical need for a re-assessment
of anti-trafficking initiatives.
Although there are a number of new provisions in HR3887 that will
be of assistance to victims of trafficking, several provisions will
lead to harmful unintended consequences. I urge you to consider
these issues listed below as you craft the Senate reauthorization
bill.
Below are a list of my concerns, originally compiled a letter distributed
by a number of human rights activists and organizations in the U.S.
including: The Center for Women Policy Studies, Coalition to Abolish
Slavery and Trafficking, Initiative Against Trafficking in Persons,
Global Rights, National Council for Jewish Women, National Alliance
To End Sexual Violence and many more.
1. Section 221(f)(1) federalizes all prostitution-related crimes
as sex trafficking
Proposed Section 221(f)(1) of H.R. 3887 would amend the Mann Act.
The proposed section, 18 U.S.C. § 2430, would create a new
crime of ‘sex trafficking,’ which would authorize the
DOJ to prosecute any individual whose action within a territory
or possession, affecting interstate or foreign commerce, induces
another to engage in prostitution. In other words, if a person arranges
an act of prostitution over the phone, as hundreds of meetings are
arranged everyday, DOJ would be pressured by supporters of this
new crime to prosecute each of these thousands of cases annually.
This proposal is part of an attempt by certain organizations and
individuals to make prostitution a federal crime and redefine all
prostitution as trafficking, even in the absence of force, fraud,
or physical or psychological coercion, the cornerstone of trafficking
in persons.
2. Section 221(a) removes the real crime of sex trafficking from
the list of 13th Amendment Crimes
The real crime of sex trafficking is presently found in 18 U.S.C.
§1591, which is in the part of the U.S. Code (Chapter 77 on
Peonage, Slavery and Trafficking in Persons) reserved for 13th Amendment
crimes. It addresses trafficking into commercial sex acts via force,
fraud or coercion, or of a person under 18. Inexplicably, section
221(a) of H.R. 3887 relocates this trafficking offense to the Mann
Act (Chapter 117), which, as we discussed above, covers prostitution
offenses which are not crimes of force and coercion. Since the proposed
section 221(f)(1) would add a new non-trafficking prostitution offense
called ‘sex trafficking’ to the Mann Act, the authors
of H.R. 3887 were forced to rename the real sex trafficking offense
in an unsuccessful attempt to reduce confusion. Consequently, section
221(a) proposes renaming the real sex trafficking offense as ‘aggravated
sex trafficking.’ Not surprisingly, the use of similar terminology
to demarcate completely different types of offenses (a 13th Amendment
crime and an ordinary crime) within the Mann Act only adds unnecessary
confusion. These stark changes to the statute are unnecessary and
could undermine prosecutions which involve severe trafficking offenses,
as are outlined in the current TVPRA.
Sincerely,
Carol Leigh
Trafficking Policy Research Project
www.bayswan.org/traffick
5. Details of
Amedment in Section 221 (f)
Carol Leigh (Trafficking
Policy Research Project) writes:
I found out from the journalist who wrote the article (below) that
the amendment that promoted this media flare up is a small change
in the Mann Act. The issue is Section 221 (f). I listed it below.
Apparently this is a small change that would fuzzy up the jurisdiction
of the FBI to include all sorts of interstate prostitution (although
most of us feel they are extremely involved as it stands). The way
this became a story is that the Dept. of Justice wrote the committee
a letter complaining about this change. I imagine this may be revised
due to DOJ resistance.Amendment in new TVPA.
(f) Transportation Generally- Section 2422(a) of title 18, United
States Code, is amended--
(1) by inserting `or affecting' after `travel in'; and
(2) by inserting `in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction
of the United States,' after
This is the Mann Act, with the change for clarification.
TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 117 > § 2422
§ 2422. Coercion and enticement
(a) Whoever knowingly persuades, induces, entices, or coerces any
individual to travel in
adding:
or affecting
interstate or foreign commerce
adding
in the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United
States
or in any Territory or Possession of the United States, to engage
in prostitution, or in any sexual activity for which any person
can be charged with a criminal offense, or attempts to do so, shall
be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years,
or both.
6. Anti-Human Trafficking Bill Would Send FBI Agents on
Trail of Pimps
By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 29, 2007; Page A05
Local vice police officers, who for decades have led the law-enforcement
crackdown on prostitution, could soon have unwilling partners: FBI
agents.
The Justice Department is fighting legislation that would expand
federal law to cover prostitution cases, saying that the move would
divert agents from human trafficking crimes. Although local police
still would handle the vast majority of cases, Justice officials
said the law's passage would force them to bring cases in federal
courts as well.
Some anti-trafficking activists and members of Congress say the
federal government should be involved in policing prostitution.
Prostitution is a social evil, they say, and increased law enforcement
can only help the campaign against it.
"It's mind-boggling that the Justice Department would be fighting"
the bill, said Dorchen Leidholdt, a founding board member of the
Coalition Against Trafficking in Women, an activist group pushing
the change. "They have the power to pick and choose the cases
they want to prosecute. They don't have to prosecute local pimps
if they don't want to."
The new provision is part of a bill reauthorizing the federal human
trafficking statute, which passed Congress in 2000 and helped trigger
a worldwide fight against what many consider modern-day slavery.
The House Foreign Affairs Committee this month approved the legislation,
which has bipartisan support and is expected to be taken up by the
full House next week. Its prospects in the Senate are unclear.
The battle against trafficking is a major priority for the Bush
administration, which is attacking it with 10 federal agencies reporting
to a Cabinet-level task force chaired by Secretary of State Condoleezza
Rice. But there has been heated debate, even among the dozens of
organizations fighting trafficking in the United States, over whether
prostitutes should be considered trafficking victims.
Federal officials define trafficking as holding someone in a workplace
through force, fraud or coercion, elements that are required to
prove a trafficking case under federal law, other than in cases
involving minors. Trafficking generally takes two forms, forced
sex or labor. But some activists argue that all prostitutes, even
those not forced to turn tricks, should be defined as trafficking
victims and their pimps subject to federal prosecution.
The debate over the bill comes amid broader questions over how many
victims are trafficked into the United States. The government estimated
in 1999 that about 50,000 slaves were arriving in the country every
year. That estimate was revised downward in 2004 to 14,500 to 17,500
a year. Yet since 2000, and despite 42 Justice Department task forces
and more than $150 million in federal dollars to find them, about
1,400 people have been certified as human trafficking victims in
this country, a tiny fraction of the original estimates.
The House legislation cites the government's current estimate of
up to 17,500 victims a year, but the Justice Department, in a Nov.
9 letter to congressional leaders, "questions the reliability"
of the numbers. "Such findings, without a full body of evidence,
are counter-productive," the letter says.
The letter also expresses opposition to the provision that Justice
officials said would expand federal jurisdiction to cover prostitution
offenses, which the department calls unnecessary and "a diversion
from Federal law enforcement's core anti-trafficking mission."
A senior Justice official, who was not authorized to speak for the
record, reiterated the department's opposition yesterday.
"Prostitution is abhorrent, but state and local law enforcement
officials already do an excellent job fighting it," he said.
Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney (D-N.Y.) said yesterday that she strongly
supports the bill. "We want to crack down on sex trafficking,
and DOJ can allocate its resources to go after the most serious
cases," she said.
But Jack McDevitt, an associate dean in Northeastern University's
College of Criminal Justice, who has studied local law enforcement's
response to trafficking, said the Justice Department's concerns
are warranted.
"Cases in local prostitution and pimping are better handled
by local law enforcement, which have the contacts in the community
and are going to find more intelligence about these crimes,"
he said. "Every major police department in the United States
has had a vice unit for the past 50 years."
6. Concerned
Women for America and Fundamentalist Feminists Constructed HR 3887
excerpted from
How to End Sex Slavery
By Janice Shaw Crouse
Thursday, November 1,
2007
(Note: Janice Shaw
Crouse, Ph.D., Senior Fellow at the Beverly LaHaye Institute, the
think tank for Concerned Women for America)
"Several of us who are working in a broad left-right coalition
against human trafficking became involved in anti-trafficking work
over a decade ago when we first learned about this travesty against
human beings. We have been committed abolitionists ever since. We
worked on the very first Trafficking Victims Protection Act to get
the focus on prosecuting those who commit the terrible crime of
human trafficking rather than merely on arresting the victims (who
are easily replaced and the crime continues). We worked to get provisions
in the 2005 bill to end the demand for prostitutes, which I and
my colleagues believe is the driving force behind sex trafficking."
"The legislation now under consideration on Capitol Hill ”
H.R. 3887, the William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection
Reauthorization Act of 2007? ” is a strong bill, but our coalition
recommends several critical changes.
Let me put three of those changes in the simplest possible language.
I call them the MSM against sex trafficking ” the Mann Act,
the Survey and the Model Law:
1. The Mann Act needs to be part of the TVPA, and it should be revised
so that it is not necessary to prove that the trafficker made the
victim cross state lines. Such a technicality allows too many pimps
to go free. Instead, it should be enough that the trafficker's activities
affect interstate commerce.?
2. The Biennial Survey authorized in the 2005 TVPA has never been
conducted, so we still have no concrete numbers about trafficking
victims. That survey needs to be mandated so that the number of
victims is known and law enforcement officials understand the extent
of the problem.
3. The current Department of Justice Model Law should be withdrawn
and its effects remediated. Currently, the law (now taking precedence
over laws in 33 states) requires the virtually impossible task of
proving force, fraud or coercion before a trafficker can be convicted.
Most victims are too scared to testify against their pimp, so when
a criminal is shown to have taken money from a prostituted girl
or woman and hasn't filed a W2 form, it is obvious that he or she
IS a pimp and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the
law.
Our coalition is making history in its efforts to end the horrible
crime of human trafficking. The 2007 TVPRA could make it possible
to end the sex trade industry, with the sexual predators punished
and victims restored to a bright future. I dream of the day when
little girls will be able to play safely without having to look
over their shoulders in fear. I dream of the day when vulnerable
teenagers and naive and desperate women are no longer targeted by
predators who view them as commodities for sexual exploitation."
7. Text
of Mann Act
8. Global
Alliance Against Traffic in Women: Collateral Damage
9. Senator's Contact
Info
Senators Contact Info
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Also visit the Presidential candidates at:
Barack Obama
http://obama.senate.gov/contact/
Hilary Clinton
clinton.senate.gov/contact
Senate Judiciary Committee
Patrick J. Leahy
CHAIRMAN, D-VERMONT
senator_leahy@leahy.senate.gov
Edward M. Kennedy
D-MASSACHUSETTS
kennedy.senate.gov/senator/contact.cfm
Arlen Specter
RANKING MEMBER, R-PENNSYLVANIA
http://specter.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.ContactForm
Joseph R. Biden, Jr.
D-DELAWARE
biden.senate.gov/contact/emailjoe.cfm
Orrin G. Hatch
R-UTAH
hatch.senate.gov/index.cfm?Fuseaction=Offices.Contact
Herb Kohl
D-WISCONSIN
http://kohl.senate.gov/gen_contact.html
Charles E. Grassley
R-IOWA
grassley.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home
Dianne Feinstein
D-CALIFORNIA
http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.EmailMe
Jon Kyl
R-ARIZONA
kyl.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Russell D. Feingold
D-WISCONSIN
feingold.senate.gov/contact_opinion.html
Jeff Sessions
R-ALABAMA
sessions.senate.gov/email/contact.cfm
Charles E. Schumer
D-NEW YORK
schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/contact/webform.cfm
Lindsey Graham
R-SOUTH CAROLINA
lgraham.senate.gov/index.cfm?mode=contact
Richard J. Durbin
D-ILLINOIS
durbin.senate.gov/contact.cfm
John Cornyn
R-TEXAS
cornyn.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Con...
Benjamin L. Cardin
D-MARYLAND
cardin.senate.gov/contact/
Sam Brownback
R-KANSAS
brownback.senate.gov/CMEmailMe.cfm
Sheldon Whitehouse
D-RHODE ISLAND
whitehouse.senate.gov/contact.cfm
Tom Coburn
R-OKLAHOMA
coburn.senate.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Contact.Home