Criminal Record Relief for Survivors of Human Trafficking

Many survivors of human trafficking interact with the criminal legal system most frequently by virtue of their own arrest and prosecution. This course will explore this phenomenon and introduce practitioners to the national effort to lessen the harm of criminalization on trafficking survivors in the form of state criminal record relief laws.

Almost all the states in the country now offer some form of criminal record relief for trafficking survivors. In this program, practitioners will learn how these laws work and how stakeholders in different jurisdictions can collaborate to draft, pass, improve, and implement criminal record relief laws. Further, the course will help lawyers identify best practices for working with survivors seeking relief in a way that supports empowerment and healing.  

Learning Objectives:

1. Explore how trafficking survivors end up in the criminal legal system and the resulting harm
2. Analyze state law offering criminal record relief to trafficking survivors for prior arrests and prosecution resulting from their exploitation
3. Identify best practices for practitioners working with trafficking survivors to obtain relief