The Criminalization of Labor Trafficking Survivors

While it is commonly known in the anti-trafficking field that survivors of sex trafficking are often arrested and convicted for acts they are forced to commit by their traffickers, there is far less awareness about the criminalization of victims of non-sexual labor, as well as the intersection between the two, whereby someone is trafficked for both labor and sex. However, this slowly appears to be changing. The U.S. Department of State’s Trafficking in Person’s report drew attention to the underrecognized issue of forced criminality for the first time in 2024, highlighting how victims of trafficking can be forced, coerced, or defrauded into committing criminal labor such as forced drug sales, panhandling, shoplifting, or illegal/unlicensed massage as a part of their exploitation. Because these individuals are committing illegal acts that are not as directly associated with trafficking as commercial sex acts in the minds of most law enforcement and service providers, these victims can easily be misidentified or missed entirely. 

Join the Human Trafficking Prevention Project (HTPP) and Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service (MVLS) as we welcome representatives of Framework, the U.S. national technical assistance provider on labor trafficking, to help us gain insight and discuss the implications of this misunderstood issue.

This webinar is sponsored in partnership by the Human Trafficking Prevention Project and Maryland Volunteer Lawyers Service. Please reach out to htpp@mvlslaw.org with any questions.