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4 How Attorneys Can Help
Pages 19-24

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From page 19...
... Challenges Sex trafficking is a federal crime and in almost all states is also a state crime, so federal, state, and local prosecutors all work sex trafficking cases. The nature of trafficking cases may require prosecutors to work with numerous other agencies within and outside the legal system, including local, state, and federal law enforcement; the juvenile justice system; federal and state criminal justice systems; federal and state judiciaries; child welfare departments; and 19
From page 20...
... First, in addition to or instead of the numerous laws at both the state and federal levels that are potentially applicable to these crimes, prosecutors have the option of charging defendants with various other crimes, including human trafficking, compelling/promoting prostitution, kidnapping, sexual exploitation of a minor, and transport for purposes of prostitution. These other crimes may have lower evidentiary standards, and judges may be more familiar with them, although their use may result in more lenient sentences [8]
From page 21...
... For example, they can: • seek to admit evidence of the victim's prior testimony or out-of-court statements in lieu of having the victim testify at trial by establishing that "forfeiture by wrongdoing" applies -- that is, that the defen dant's actions to intimidate the victim are the reason the victim is unable or unwilling to testify, so the defendant has forfeited his constitutional right to confront the victim at trial; • introduce any available evidence that shows overt or subtle intimida tion employed by the defendant to explain why the victim is absent from the trial, unwilling to testify, or testifying on behalf of the defendant; • introduce expert testimony to explain victim behavior and the dy namics of child sexual exploitation and sex trafficking cases that might otherwise be misunderstood by jurors or interpreted as dam aging the victim's credibility; • use technology and the private sector to assist in gathering and pre senting evidence of money laundering, to mine cell phone data, and/
From page 22...
... BOX 6 A Toolkit for Prosecutors The Barton Child Law and Policy Center at Emory University School of Law developed a toolkit for prosecutors to improve accountability of offenders and to help overcome some of the challenges related to pursuing cases of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors. This toolkit provides strategies for building a case, including how to obtain evidence, how to educate a jury to understand the crimes of commercial sexual exploitation and sex trafficking of minors and their victims, and how to build a case that is victim centered and pro tects the minor during the prosecution process [35]
From page 23...
... . In some jurisdictions, victim and support service providers have partnered with defender organizations to provide training for defense attorneys that can enhance their ability to screen defendants, identify victims, provide referrals for services, and prepare robust legal defenses on behalf of victims [11, 15, 36]
From page 24...
... . This database includes federal and state human trafficking cases, both criminal and civil, within the United States since 1980.a The project gathers details on cases from a range of sources (e.g., case opinion and news databases on the LexisNexis search engine; government websites, such as those maintained by the U.S.


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