Identifying Challenges to Improve the Investigation and Prosecution of State and Local Human Trafficking Cases SUBMITTED BY: April 2012 Amy Farrell, Ph.D. Jack McDevitt, Ph.D. Rebecca Pfeffer, M.A. Stephanie Fahy, M.A. NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY INSTITUTE ON RACE AND JUSTICE SCHOOL OF CRIMINOLOGY AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE Colleen Owens Meredith Dank, Ph.D. William Adams, M.P.P.URBAN INSTITUTE JUSTICE POLICY CENTER SUBMITTED TO: National Institute of Justice 810 Seventh Street N.W. Washington, D.C. 20531 TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements 1 Introduction and Literature Review 1 2 Research Questions and Methodology 17 3 Characteristics of Human Trafficking Cases 36 4 Identification of Human Trafficking Cases 73 5 Investigating Human Trafficking Cases 1046 State and Local Prosecution of Human Trafficking Cases 1447 Federal Prosecution of Human Trafficking Cases 1938 Conclusion 217 References 229 Appended Material Appendix A - State Anti-Trafficking Laws and Provisions (2003-2007) 234 Appendix B: State Legislation at 2007 and Federally Funded Human Trafficking Task Force Strata 236 Appendix C: Screening Letter 237 Appendix D: Screening Telephone Interview Protocol and Questions 239 Appendix E: Study Site Descriptions 244 Appendix F: Request to Participate Letter and Certification Form 258 Appendix G: Closed Case Review Sheet 261 Appendix H: Interview Consent Forms and Questions 271 Appendix I: Thematic Codes 292 Appendix J.: Non Trafficking Case Review 301 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This report would not have been possible without the hard work and dedication of a number of people. We would especially like to thank Noam Perry, Laura Siller, Meghan Bibb, Samantha Lowry, Hannah Dodd and Darakshan Raja for their hard work organizing site visits, collecting data, coding case records and transcribing interview materials. We are also grateful for the work of Ryan Heitsmith, Cameron Boutin, Sean Roche, Chris Temple, Rick Neiman, Colin Pugh, Carey Walovich, Sarah Trager, Stephanie MacInnes, Robin Halberstadt and Juan Pedroza for transcribing interviews, coding case records and entering case data. Additionally we thank our colleagues at Northeastern University, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center for supporting the authors and members of the research team during the course of data collection and analysis. We are grateful to the time and expertise provided by the project advisory board including Sergeant Chris Burchell, President and CEO Texas Anti-Trafficking In Persons & Child Sexual Exploitation Coalitions; Mark Elam, Director, Oklahomans Against Trafficking Humans; Mary Ellison, Director of Policy, Polaris Project; Elizabeth Fildes, Deputy, Erie County Sheriff’s Dept.; Maria Sanchez-Gagne, New Mexico Assistant Attorney General; Samir Goswami, Director of Corporate Responsibility, Rule of Law, LexisNexis; Amanda Kloer, Program Associate, ABA; Anna Rodriguez, Executive Director, Florida Coalition Against Human Trafficking; Karen Stauss, Director of Research, Free the Slaves. We are also grateful for the helpful comments and suggestions from the panel of anonymous reviewers. The data collected for this report would not have been possible without the willingness of law enforcement agencies, victim service providers and prosecutors to speak candidly with us about very challenging issues. In particular, the access that participating law enforcement agencies provided to closed case records and incident reports provided tremendous insight into the investigation and prosecution of early human trafficking cases. Finally, this research would not have been possible without the support of the National Institute of Justice. In particular, senior social scientists Karen Bachar and John Picarelli provided feedback and encouragement throughout the project. 1 CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION AND LITERATURE REVIEW Background Over the past several decades, the problem of human trafficking has received increased public attention. In the United States, stakeholders from various interest groups have publicized the problem and encouraged strong governmental responses (Batstone, 2007; Bales, 2008). In 2000, the federal government passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (TVPA). This law defined a new set of crimes related to human trafficking1 and enhanced penalties for existing offenses such as slavery, peonage and involuntary servitude. Under the TVPA, a severe form of trafficking in persons was defined as: a commercial sex act induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age; or the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for labor or services, through the use of force, fraud, or coercion for the purpose of 1 These in