“There are tremendous barriers placed in front of victims, who also have tremendous vulnerabilities,” says Jennifer Gentile Long ’93, chief executive officer of AEquitas, a resource for prosecutors working on cases of human trafficking and gender-based violence. “That makes their participation in these investigations very difficult and in some cases impossible—sometimes because of direct threats and sometimes just because the trauma is so great or they lack trust or familiarity with our justice system. We also often see victims identified as defendants and that shuts everything down.”