2012 Trafficking In Persons Final Report.pdf - NCJTC Home

article gives strategies for law enforcement agents to investigate human sex trafficking.
TVPA & Prosecution
Chacon, Jennifer M., ―Misery and Myopia: Understanding the Failure of U.S. Efforts to Stop
Human Trafficking,‖ 74 Fordham L. Rev. 2977, 3026 (2006)
This article by legal scholar and professor Jennifer Chacon examines the failure of the
Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) to stem the tide of human trafficking that
results from irregular migration patterns worldwide. She concurs with the general
scholarly consensus on the point that the TVPA has focused too greatly on law
enforcement, to the detriment of victim assistance and protection. Chacon goes a step
further than others, who suggest greater emphasis on victim identification and assistance,
in her recommendation on improving the effectiveness of the TVPA. She argues that the
existing market in the United States fuels trafficking and that targeted policy intervention
must address this demand. She goes on to cite US labor and immigration law
enforcement as further driving trafficking by driving populations of workers into
businesses and industries that operate below the radar, increasing the potential for abuse
and exploitation.
Clawson, Heather J., Nicole Dutch, Susan Lopez, and Suzanna Tiapula, ―Prosecuting Human
Trafficking Cases: Lessons Learned and Promising Practices,‖ Inner City Fund International
(2008).
This study examines human trafficking in the U.S. from a prosecution perspective,
looking at federal and state legislation to understand potential obstacles to conducting
successful litigation. It contains federal case reviews, interviews with federal prosecutors,
interviews with state and local prosecutors, and a statistical analysis of this research.
Samples of the questions and data gathering methods are included in the report.
DeStefano, Anthony. The War on Human Trafficking: U.S. Policy Assessed.
New York state certified lawyer Anthony DeStefano traces the recent history of U.S.
policy toward the crime of human trafficking. From its early recognition as a global issue
in the 1990s to its treatment under U.S. law, human trafficking is both explained and
analyzed as DeStefano assesses U.S. responses to the problem. DeStefano thoroughly
summarizes the early stages of debate in the U.S., including architects of domestic
standard definitions and the role of the U.S. in shaping the United Nations‘ Protocol to
Suppress, Punish, and Prevent Trafficking in Persons. He considers the U.S. Trafficking
Victims Protection Act effective to the extent that it provides a way out and some
protections for some victims of trafficking. At the same time, domestic and international
debates over the role of prostitution in human trafficking have, he feels, stymied a great
deal of progress in the prevention and prosecution prongs of the TVPA and Palermo
Protocol. Ultimately, DeStefano argues that a more productive use of energy would be to
focus on ―labor policies and economic realities that make systemic changes and increase
work options while protecting those in disfavored occupations such as sex work.‖
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