Human Trafficking
Though human trafficking and sex trafficking is absolutely a crime warranting criminal liability, it is also against civil law. No amount of money can ever erase the trauma caused by human trafficking. However, a civil lawsuit or settlement can play a large role in helping survivors gain necessary resources to work toward sustainable healing and wholeness.
Background
Human trafficking—modern day slavery—remains a prevailing issue across the world and the United States is not immune. In 2017, the International Labor Organization reported almost 25 million are trafficked a year worldwide. Victims of human trafficking have been identified in cities, suburbs, and rural areas in all fifty states in the United States.
Human trafficking is a crime against the person and contrary to popular belief, does not require the movement of a person. Human trafficking takes many forms. Most commonly, trafficking will take the form of either: (1) sexual exploitation and/or sex trafficking (forced, fraudulent, or coerced commercial sex or sex with minors) or (2) forced labor and/or involuntary and indebted servitude.
Legal Remedies for Human Trafficking at the State Level
Although all fifty states and D.C. have laws devoted to human trafficking prevention and/or statutes specifically criminalizing the act of human trafficking, these definitions and laws vary significantly between states. Most states, however, do not have a statute that creates a private civil right of action specifically for human trafficking.
For example, Tennessee explicitly criminalizes human trafficking, mandates restitution for survivors, and calls for certain human trafficking prevention measures (such as implementation of a human trafficking hotline and providing social services for victims of human trafficking). Tennessee does not, however, have a civil private right of action specifically for human trafficking or sex trafficking. See e.g. Tenn. Code Ann. §§ 39-13-301 et seq., § 71-1-135. Thankfully, there are other options to obtain justice for human trafficking survivors.
A qualified attorney can advise you on other private causes of action that can be brought against a person or entity who plays a role in human trafficking and sex trafficking. Some options include false imprisonment, fraud, misrepresentation, civil conspiracy, civil assault, negligence, unjust enrichment, and civil battery.
Legal Remedies for Human Trafficking at the Federal Level
At the federal level, federal prosecutors use various statutes to charge traffickers. Some include the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (“RICO”) Act, the Alien Tort Act, the Ku Klux Klan Act, and the Fair Labor Standards Act. The most significant of the federal statutes, however, is the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (“TVPA”) of 2000 and the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act (“TVPRA”) of 2003.
One of the greatest aspects of the TVPRA is its creation of a civil private right of action against perpetrators of trafficking and any person or entity who benefited from participation in a trafficking venture where they knew or should have known the venture was human trafficking. (18 U.S.C § 1595). Even better—the statute of limitations for this private civil cause of action is ten (10) years, or if the survivor was a minor when the violation occurred, ten (10) years from the age of 18. (18 U.S.C § 1595).
The TVPA allows survivors to seek compensatory damages, punitive damages, and attorneys’ fees from perpetrators and enablers of trafficking. For example, the TVPA has been used against numerous motels and hotels who participated in human trafficking.
More on the TVPA
Human trafficking usually takes the form of either (1) forced human labor; or (2) sex trafficking or commercial sexual exploitation. The TVPA provides clear definitions for both.
Under the TVPA—18 U.S.C. § 1589—forced labor occurs when someone knowingly provides or receives someone’s labor or services:
(a) through actual or threatened force or actual or threatened physical restraint to that or another person; and/or
(b) through actual or threatened serious harm to that or another person; and/or
(c) through actual or threatened abuse of law or legal process; and/or
(d) through a scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause the person to believe that, if that person did not perform such labor or services, that or another person would suffer serious harm or physical restraint.
Under the TVPA—18 U.S.C. § 1591—sex trafficking occurs when someone:
knowingly recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides, obtains, advertises, maintains, patronizes, or solicits by any means a person and in so doing, affects interstate or foreign commerce; OR,
benefits, financially or by receiving anything of value, from participation in the foregoing; OR,
knowingly or recklessly uses force, threats of force, fraud, or coercion to cause a person to engage in commercial sex; OR,
where the person is a minor, causing that minor to engage in commercial sex—where it is a minor, no force, fraud, or coercion required.
Conclusion
Navigating the civil side of human trafficking is nuanced and complicated. A qualified attorney who specializes in human trafficking can help guide you through the process and work toward obtaining justice and accountability for the perpetrator.