Sec. ?.
806 words·~4 min read·
/bill/114/hres/919/ih/section-A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.
That the House of Representatives— encourages States to uphold the basic rights and dignity of human trafficking survivors and— truly recognize and identify survivors of human trafficking as victims of crime and treat these victims with the same justice, respect, and dignity as other crime victims; ensure that victims of trafficking are accorded the support, services, and legal rights as other victims of crime without being criminalized or made to feel responsible for the crimes committed against them; advance a survivor-centered approach to addressing human trafficking that ensures the safety, confidentiality, and physical and mental well-being of victims, while recognizing symptoms of trauma and coping mechanisms that may impact victims’ interactions with law enforcement, the justice system, and service providers; implement screening mechanisms for all children entering child welfare services and the juvenile justice system, and for unaccompanied children migrating into the country, to identify child trafficking victims and connect them with appropriate services; ensure that child trafficking victims are provided with the full range of protections, including access to child welfare services, trauma-informed programming, and the same legal rights, afforded to other children who experience sexual abuse, rape, or incest; this includes ensuring that criminals who exploit child sex trafficking victims are not given lesser sentences and penalties than criminals who exploit children through sexual abuse, rape, or incest; and ensuring that child trafficking victims are never referred to as child prostitutes or underage sex workers in law or official documents and proceedings; and develop a 24-hour emergency response plan to provide victims of labor and sex trafficking with immediate protection and support when they are first identified; such a plan may include physically moving victims of trafficking to a place of safety, attending to the immediate medical and emotional needs of survivors, assessing whether survivors are under risk for harm, retaliation, or intimidation, and directly connecting survivors with victim advocates, housing, and service providers; strongly urges States to adopt rights and protections for victims of human trafficking that include the right— to be treated as a victim of crime and afforded justice, respect, and dignity; to protection if the victim’s safety is at risk or if there is danger of harm, retaliation, or recapture by the trafficker; to comprehensive trauma-informed, long-term, culturally competent care and healing services oriented toward emotional, physical, psychological, and family healing without time limit restrictions; to evidence-based screening and assessment tools, treatment plans, and therapy to address traumatic stress and associated mental health symptoms; to safe and effective emergency and long-term housing; education, vocational, and job assistance and training; mentoring programs; language assistance; drug and substance abuse services; and legal services; for child sex trafficking victims to be treated as children in need of child protective services and to be served through the child welfare system, where appropriate, in place of the juvenile justice system; and for all victims of trafficking who are United States citizens, lawful permanent residents, and foreign nationals to be eligible for services; strongly urges States to adopt the following legal rights and protections for victims of human trafficking, including the— right to have convictions and adjudications related to prostitution and nonviolent offenses vacated and such records cleared if offenses were committed as a result of the victim being trafficked; right to legal protection and immunity for child trafficking victims for offenses related to prostitution and nonviolent offenses if offenses were committed as a result of being trafficked, and the right to have charges dismissed as part of a specialized diversion program; immunity should be granted in combination with service provision aimed at eliminating detention while giving victims the necessary resources to heal and reintegrate in their communities; right to not be held in mandatory detention, receive a mandatory residential placement in a punitive setting, or be detained in facilities inappropriate to one’s status as a victim of crime; right to the same type of court procedures and legal protections accessible to victims of sexual assault, rape, child sexual abuse, or incest, including the right to not be treated as a criminal; right to testify without being forced to make face-to-face contact with one’s trafficker, for instance, via one-way closed-circuit television; right for foreign national victims to be granted a temporary visa without being required to cooperate with a law enforcement investigation; right to be informed and notified in writing of the survivor’s legal rights, including the availability of victim compensation, mandatory restitution, and a civil cause of action; the availability of protective orders and policies related to their enforcement; and the rights and services available to the victim under 18 U.S.C. 3771 and 42 U.S.C. 10607(c) ; and retention of all rights regardless of whether the crime has been reported to law enforcement; and recognizes and applauds the State legislative bodies that have taken tremendous steps to adopt protections and services for victims of trafficking.
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