Local Laws
New York State
The laws against Human Trafficking in New York State were codified in 2007. For a full text of the law:
- Laws of New York, 2007 – Human Trafficking.
- New York Safe Harbor for Exploited Children Act – Summary
The New York Anti-Trafficking Network provides a comprehensive overview of NYS laws and the changes brought about by the 2007 legislation. These include defining the new crimes of Sex Trafficking and Labor Trafficking, as well as changes in the law relating to prostitution and in the NY Social Services law: NEW YORK PENAL LAW
The Safe Harbor Act
In response to the problem of criminalizing victims too young to give consent, state legislators in New York passed the Safe Harbor for Exploited Children Act. The act presumes that a person under the age of 16 is a “person in need of supervision” rather than a juvenile delinquent, taking them through the family court system instead of criminal court. It also provides long term housing and counseling for such recognized victims, which may include any victim under the age of 18.
Prosecutors say that they need to be able to charge these children with prostitution as an incentive to get them to testify against their pimps, and so within the act there are conditions that can permit prosecutors to charge a person under the age of 16 as a juvenile delinquent: If the person has previously committed a prostitution offense, has previously been placed in social services as a “person in need of supervision”, or is unwilling to participate in the services ordered by the court. To put it simply, the act exists side by side with existing statutes and can be applied at the prosecutor’s discretion, significantly diluting its intended effect.
Experts speak of the trauma suffered by child sex trafficking victims as more severe than most sexually-based trauma given the chronic nature coupled with the reinforced victimization from the community at large of buyers. Therefore, the services required for a child sex trafficking victim are unique and rarely available. Many victims cannot access the services due to their detention and resulting label of juvenile delinquent. In some cases, the victim’s access to services can be contingent on cooperation with law enforcement in an investigation into the trafficking crime. Sex trafficking is the only sex crime in which the victim is threatened with incarceration or denial of services to elicit facts about the crime.
Arrest and prosecution of the traffickers is too frequently based solely on the victim’s cooperation and testimony. This approach places the burden on the victim rather than on the investigators — a burden that is most often too heavy for these traumatized children who typically require a lengthy amount of time before they will disclose the facts of their victimization and only if approached with advanced interview techniques to help them with this disclosure. For these reasons, it is critical in cases of domestic minor sex trafficking that law enforcement pursue innovative or alternative investigation to corroborate the victim’s allegations. Currently, law enforcement agencies typically are not trained in alternative investigative approaches and/or are not provided with adequate resources to develop and initiate these alternative techniques.
GAPS IN THE LAWS
- Labor trafficking is not treated as serious a crime as sex trafficking. DCJS has recommended that some labor trafficking cases should be referred to federal law enforcement for prosecution, since those penalties are more substantial.
- The law does not include an independent private right of action.
- The law does not provide for restitution or forfeiture of traffickers’ assets.
- There is no provision that allows for victims to vacate prior convictions for conduct involuntarily engaged in as a part of the trafficking scheme.
- There is no specific mechanism for service providers to make referrals to OTDA directly, meaning that a trafficked person must be involved with law enforcement in order to access services that are available through the confirmation process.
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