Senator Obenshain's Plan to Crack Down on Modern Day Slavery

Senator Mark Obenshain of Harrisonburg is currently campaigning for the position of Attorney General in the upcoming 2013 election in Virginia.  Part of his campaign is to heavily push for reform in dealing with victims of human trafficking as well as prosecuting their traffickers.  This plan consists of areas he intends to focus on if he is elected to the position.

Senator Obenshain's Points to Address Human Trafficking in Virginia

• Treat the action of human trafficking as a stand-alone felony offense

• By taking this action, it would enable law enforcement as well as the legal system a way to ensure traffickers are brought to justice swiftly.
• Currently, there isn't any specific law for the crime for the act of human trafficking itself.  Rather, there are a myriad of different prosecutable crimes they can be tried for; none of which is comprehensive.
• Making human trafficking a felony offense on its own would help tremendously in situations where businesses (like a hotel, massage parlor, etc.) knowingly tolerate human trafficking on their premises.  It would give law enforcement a way to hold these people accountable as well. 
• Obenshain's Proposal:  "Make human trafficking a felony in its own right; eliminate the requirement to prove force, intimidation, or deception when the victim is a minor; and include forcing a child to perform in sexually explicit material in the definition of trafficking."

•  List those having commercial sex with a minor to sex offender registry

• Since the act of human trafficking isn't currently a crime on its own, those who seek sex with minors can't be prosecuted for anything more than prostitution.
• A new law passed this year does make prostitution with a minor a felony offense, however, those who seek this sex are not put on the national Sex Offender Registry.
• A person convicted of child pornography twice is forced to have their name listed on the registry, but this is not so for those who engage in prostituted sex with minors.  This sends a message to citizens that it's not okay to look at pictures of children in compromising positions, but it's not as big of a deal to actually participate in those acts with them.
• Obenshain's Proposel: "Add those convicted of a felony charge of engaging in prostitution with a minor to the Sex Offender Registry."

• Seek additional state prosecutorial  authority

• "Under the Communications Decency Act, state and local governments do not possess concurrent authority to investigate and prosecution the promotion of prostitution online."
• Obenshain's Proposal: "Work with Virginia’s congressional delegation to seek jurisdiction for state public safety officials to investigate and prosecute businesses and individuals advertising and promoting internet facilitated child sex trafficking."

• Provide for asset forfeiture

•   There currently aren't any laws forcing human traffickers to provide their victims with financial restitution once they've been rescued.
• Obenshain's Proposal: "Provide for the mandatory forfeiture of any profits or proceeds, and any interest or property, that the sentencing court determines to have been acquired or maintained as a result of human trafficking, to be deposited into a set-aside fund for investigative cost reimbursement and victim compensation."

• Ensure victim compensation and restitution

• While there are currently laws in place to provide minors of sex trafficking with restitution, they may be ineligible if they refuse to cooperate with law enforcement in the prosecution of their traffickers.
• The thing is, kids who've been trafficked are often told by their abusers that the police and lawyers are not out to help them, but rather to hurt them.  These are terrified kids who should always be seen as victims rather than participants in these crimes.
• Obenshain's Proposal: "Relax disqualifying provisions for juvenile victims of sex trafficking and provide for restitution to cover costs of medical and psychological treatment, housing services, and a reversion of income the defendant received by trafficking the victim."

• Create a civil cause of action for trafficking victims

• Obenshain's Proposal: "Allow victims to bring civil action for actual damages, compensatory damages, punitive damages, injunctive relief, and other appropriate relief."

• Establish a human trafficking task force

• Obenshain's Proposal: "Utilizing the existing resources of the office, create a task force within the OAG to consider all aspects of human trafficking—sex and labor trafficking alike, which would help produce and promote educational and training materials, support law enforcement efforts, develop policies for cooperation with NGOs and establish a coalition of partners in the effort to combat trafficking, institute public awareness initiatives, oversee research and compile statistics on human trafficking in Virginia, and review existing laws and practices."

• Enhance training and awareness  

• This provision will aid in getting information about human trafficking distributed amongst a myriad of organizations and businesses.
• Obenshain's Proposal: "Provide enhanced training and educational materials covering things like interview techniques, prosecutorial methods, collaboration with NGOs, and promoting victim safety, along with advanced training options; and ensure that victims are provided with information regarding their legal rights, the progress of court proceedings, and a directory of local victim service organizations."

All the information above came straight from Obenshain's campaign page, and I urge you to check it out as well.  Regardless of their political affiliations, it's so refreshing to see legislators in my home state taking such an active stance on the tragedy of human trafficking.  As a Virginia citizen, I hope this is a trend that continues to grow throughout all facets of local, state, and national government.  

Polaris Project 2013 State Ratings

The Polaris Project, based in Washington D.C., is an organization which exists to see an end to modern day slavery.  "By successfully pushing for stronger federal and state laws, operating the National Human Trafficking Resource Center hotline (1-888-373-7888), conducting trainings, and providing vital services to victims of trafficking, Polaris Project creates long-term solutions that move our society closer to a world without slavery."

Image Source

Each year, the Polaris Project ranks every state in the U.S. according to the "presence or absence of 10 categories of state statutes that Polaris Project believes are critical to a comprehensive anti-trafficking legal framework."  One thing to note is that although these state rankings are a decent gauge for how effective a state is at combating trafficking, it is not a comprehensive representation of all legislation concerning human trafficking in that given state.
States are sorted into four tiers (1-4).  Tier 1 consists of states which have met 7 or more of the 10 categories.  Tier 2 contains states which have met 5-6 criteria, Tier 3 is 3-4, and Tier 4 is anywhere from 0-2. Of the 50 states reviewed this year, 39 have made progress in passing legislation concerning human trafficking and 32 of these are now in Tier 1.  South Dakota is the only state remaining in the lowest level having only met two of the ten categories.

Image Source

 The four most improved states this past year were Arkansas, Wyoming, New Jersey, and Mississippi (all of which are Tier 1 states with the exception of Wyoming).  Over the past three years, the people have made it clear to their elected officials that this gross injustice against humanity will not be tolerated.  Hopefully this trend will continue and the 2014 State Ranking map will be all orange and green.

Image Source

Ask your elected officials to increase funding for human trafficking victims!

This Thursday, The Gray Haven Project is hosting a "Call Day" so that we can contact our elected representatives in Congress and the Senate to let them know that we won't be content with slavery victims remaining in the shadows in this country.

Why the Call Day?
With the end of the fiscal year approaching, numerous organizations have encountered a drastic reduction in allocated funds available for serving human trafficking clients.   The trafficking victims program, created by the Office of Refugee Resettlement has exceeded the number of projected 2013 victims by 184%.  The projected goal for this program was originally to serve 269 people, but over 500 have already been served, leaving a dire need for additional funds.
Without the additional funding needed, organizations which serve survivors will be forced to cut services, greatly diminish the number of new clients to be served, suspend assistance for immediate family members of victims, and will reduce the financial support for service providers by up to 50%.  That means that even after victims have been identified, they may be turned away or receive inadequate support.
To be clear, this additional funding is needed because the program has been so successful.  There were just more identified victims than expected, and we have a moral responsibility to aid them if we can.  Please join me and countless others this Thursday while we take a stand against this injustice and hold our elected officials accountable for action.

Contacting Your Representatives
If you're unsure who your elected representatives are, please click here for Congress and click here for the Senate. 
Once you have them (or their assistants) on the phone, use a script like this as reference for talking points:

Dear Representative,

I am your constituent and I care about victims of human trafficking.  I urge you to save the Victims of Trafficking program from drastic cuts proposed by the Appropriations LHHS (Labor, Health, & Human Services) bill.

The Appropriations Subcommittee of LHHS introduced a bill that will provide $658 million to the Office of Refugee Resettlement, $112 million mess than the current fiscal year and $147 million less than the funding requested in the President's budget.  There has been a 184% increase in the number of victims served this fiscal year from 269 to 524 victims.  These numbers show the overall success of the program and should elicit a supportive response from the US government.

Greater funding is necessary, because while there has been a 569% increase in the number of victims since USCRI's (United States Committee for Refugees and Immigrants) beginning, the budget has increased by 0%.  Because of this, organizations have been forced to reduce comprehensive services to victims.

While I fully recognize the pressures to reduce spending, the United States has a responsibility to provide adequate services to those whom our government has vowed to protect.  Once survivors are identified, they need resources to help them find employment and integrate into their communities.  Cutting those services makes it more difficult for survivors to become vital, productive members of society.

 I urge you to support additional funding to the Victims of Trafficking program for the rest of the 2013 and 2014 fiscal year.

It's as simple as that.  If you'd like, please also sign this petition on Change.org to make sure President Obama gets the message as well.  To quote the CEO of the Gray Haven, Josh Bailey, "countless survivors that you will never meet will know that a united group of people stood behind them.  You are the difference."  We are the difference, and we can see an end to this ugliness.