Raise Awareness: In Your Community

This bill directs the development and posting of notices containing information for victims of human trafficking. It was recently passed by the NJ Assembly Judiciary Committee to increase awareness of the National Human Trafficking Hotline Number.

Why it matters:

• Posters with information on how victims can get help (written by the NJ Commission on Human Trafficking) would be placed in transportation areas, hotels, bars, massage parlors, and other areas where trafficking is likely occur.

• The National Hotline's number and text option would gain greater visibility and, ideally, accessibility for victims and survivors wherever they are. Victims are often moved frequently, so a number seen one day in New Jersey can be called the next from another state.

• The National Hotline provides a trauma-informed response to victims and survivors, giving them the choice of whether they want to seek help from law enforcement. Choice matters to those who have had no choice in what was done to them.

This bill directs the Commissioner of Education to develop and administer a three-year Child Trafficking Awareness Pilot Program to provide school district staff in selected districts with training on how to identify and respond to child trafficking. The purpose of the pilot program will be to train public school teachers and staff on ways to identify student victims of child trafficking and help prevent child trafficking in schools.

This appropriates $100,000 to the Department of Law and Public Safety from the General Fund to the Commission on Human Trafficking, in the Division of Criminal Justice in the Department of Law and Public Safety. This appropriation would provide funds to support the administrative duties of the commission, enabling the commission to address the directives outlined in the "Human Trafficking Prevention, Protection, and Treatment Act.”

On March 21, 2018 the US Senate voted 97-2 in favor of SESTA & HR1865. This followed the 388-25 vote in the House of Representatives on February 28, 2018. This legislation proposes:

• Removing the current legal shield for Internet advertising of child sex trafficking under the guise of free speech.

• Giving victims the right to go to court against those who profited from their exploitation.

• Allowing enforcement of laws to prosecute websites that enable sex trafficking.

• Finally allowing those who profit from these crimes to be held accountable in court.

This is a major victory in the fight to end the sale of children on the Internet. We're grateful to Senators Mendendez and Booker for voting in support of this vital legislation, and the majority of our NJ Congressional Delegation for their votes for HR1865.

Why it matters:

• At least one quarter of survivors being helped by our statewide service providers were sold on the Internet in 2018. Many were trafficked in New Jersey hotels and motels, such as these cases in Middlesex County and Union County.

On May 6 2013, the Human Trafficking Prevention, Protection, and Treatment Act was signed in to law. We advocated strongly for the measure, which swiftly passed the NJ General Assembly and Senate with strong bi-partisan support. As a result, New Jersey now has one of the toughest anti-trafficking laws in the United States.

This comprehensive law cracks down on every aspect of trafficking by revising and expanding the state's current laws to criminalize additional activities related to human trafficking, upgrade certain penalties on existing human trafficking or related crimes, increase protections afforded to victims of human trafficking, and provide for increased training and public awareness on human trafficking issues. The law also established a new Commission on Human Trafficking, located in the Department of Law and Public Safety, which evaluates existing laws concerning human trafficking and enforcement, as well as review existing victim assistance programs, and promote a coordinated response by public and private resources for victims of human trafficking.

Among the many important avenues of redress offered in the law for victims are:

• Unjust convictions can be removed from a survivor's criminal record so they will no longer be denied housing, higher education, or a promising career because of convictions that occurred as a result of being trafficked.
• A 15-year-old sex trafficking victim will be able to testify against her trafficker via closed circuit television, saving her from a re-traumatizing confrontation.
• A survivor of labor trafficking whose abuse left him with years of medical bills can sue his trafficker for their cost.
• The National Human Trafficking Resource Center Hotline will be posted where victims are most likely to see it, putting them one phone call away from hope and help.
• A separate, non-lapsing, dedicated fund known as the Human Trafficking Survivor's Assistance Fund will be administered by the Attorney General's Office to provide services to victims of human trafficking and promote awareness of the crime. To that end, the law takes aim at those that promote or enable human trafficking by sharply increasing fines and penalties for activities associated with human trafficking. All fines collected will be deposited in this fund.