In the past month, the State of New York has introduced 11 new Human Trafficking Intervention Courts (including Buffalo and Rochester, near where I live in upstate NY). According to the New York Times, the new courts are modeled after three pilot projects that had been established earlier in New York City, and the “initiative is believed to be the first of its kind in the nation.”

The NY law resembles the federal U.S. law in targeting force, fraud and coercion (what the national law dubs “severe forms” of trafficking). Included in its list of punishable offenses is withholding of a passport or other identity document.

The initiative follows criticism of the weak implementation of NY’s 2007 antitrafficking law. As of 2009, there had been one conviction. This seems to be reflected in anti-trafficking more generally: as of 2009 there had been 196 cases under the federal law, by contrast with the  estimate of 14,000+ trafficked persons annually into the US given by the State Department.

Anti-trafficking advocates argue that low conviction rates reflect a lack of training and understanding among conventional police forces, perhaps coupled with chauvinistic prejudice. Critics suggest that the mismatch may have more to do with the flawed and overblown data supporting the annual estimates. (The “Data Matters” section of this website contains some further discussion.)

The law, which focuses on sex trafficking (labor trafficking is also included albeit as a lesser offense), provides those charged with prostitution with a way out of direct criminal prosecution — the law reframes who is a victim versus a perpetrator – although, since prosecutions often seek testimony from trafficking victims, involvement with the criminal justice system may continue in some form. Questions around implementation will include:  what proportion of prosecutions will look at labor trafficking rather than sex trafficking? how well will victims fare following identification by the criminal justice system? what proportion of resources will be spent on victim assistance versus criminal prosecution?

See announcement here.

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer rhoncus placerat risus, vel viverra risus porta luctus. Nulla sed felis id libero imperdiet pretium. Aliquam id erat leo. Cum sociis natoque penatibus et magnis dis parturient montes, nascetur ridiculus mus. Fusce a lacus est, in semper magna. Integer ut sem tellus, id fringilla mauris. Duis tincidunt faucibus justo, at volutpat velit dignissim hendrerit. Proin nec dui magna. Pellentesque porta lobortis justo, non consequat dolor venenatis in. Aenean eget libero nulla, ac lacinia arcu. Fusce tristique consequat egestas. Pellentesque iaculis convallis leo, in tempus diam auctor ac. Nulla blandit velit a arcu laoreet eget fringilla arcu blandit. Etiam ante sapien, feugiat at ornare aliquam, porta sed tellus. Aenean ante purus, dignissim vitae porta eget, sodales eu quam.

Donec vel ante suscipit elit imperdiet tincidunt. Nam magna mauris, venenatis vel convallis eu, pharetra a eros. Duis molestie metus aliquam purus tristique dignissim. Phasellus pellentesque vehicula facilisis. Cras id nulla sem. Quisque ornare, nulla vel pulvinar vulputate, magna dolor mattis libero, vel pharetra nisi sem et erat. Sed non elit sit amet velit fermentum rhoncus nec pretium massa. Proin placerat commodo iaculis. Donec nec sapien nec sem dapibus porttitor quis sollicitudin urna. Pellentesque a urna ipsum, ut elementum felis. Aliquam non vestibulum dui. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut augue magna, ultrices id scelerisque a, bibendum id sem. Vivamus id tellus vitae sem pulvinar ullamcorper non nec libero. Vivamus non mi sed enim vestibulum rutrum in eget metus. Nam tellus lectus, molestie non pharetra ut, cursus at orci.