Although subtler than handcuffs and prison time, the technology confronts one of the most stubborn challenges of bringing down sex trafficking: “the very ingrained fantasy in this culture about commercial sex in that everybody is a willing participant,” says Jennifer Long, founder of AEquitas, a nonprofit that works to improve the prosecution of human trafficking. Bradley Myles, head of Polaris, the NGO that runs the National Human Trafficking Hotline, agrees. “Even if men aren’t getting arrested, it’s piercing the anonymity of buying sex,” he says. “It’s a shock to the system.”
Jenny Teeson Took On Minnesota’s Spousal Exemption For Rape, Now Other States Are Questioning Their Own Laws
A report from the gender-violence advocacy group AEquitas noted a surge of studies from the 1970s – when spousal rape was starting to enter the public discourse – which found that 10 to 14 percent of women reported being raped by their husbands.
AEquitas tracks legislation at the state and federal level to provide activists and legislators with a clearer picture of the legal roadblocks to full criminalization of marital rape. According to the group’s 2014 report, some form of marital exemption or higher standard for prosecution still exists in a handful of states.
We Prosecute Murder Without the Victim’s Help. Why Not Domestic Violence?
But prosecuting in the post-Crawford era requires “creativity, ingenuity, hard work and dedication,” said Teresa Garvey, a former New Jersey prosecutor and attorney adviser at Aequitas, a nonprofit organization that helps prosecutors with gender-based violence. Gretta Gardner, a former Baltimore City prosecutor and now deputy director of the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said a lot of prosecutors get scared off at the prospect of an aggressive defense lawyer. Crawford “gave them an excuse if a case was too difficult,” she said.
Minnesota’s repeal of marital rape exemptions highlights existing legal loopholes
Holly Fuhrman, an associate attorney and adviser at Aequitas, gave the hypothetical examples of a prison guard and an inmate, or a caregiver and someone in their care as situations that could fall into this exemption.
“The exemptions themselves are very complicated,” Fuhrman noted to ABC News.
Beyond the legal loopholes, Fuhrman said that a number of other aspects of the relationship between the couple could prevent the victim from seeking legal justice.
She said that marital rape “often happens in the context of a broader domestic violence relationship where there are dynamics of power and control at play.”
Some states seek to close loopholes in marital rape laws
AEquitas, a resource for prosecutors, reported last month that 17 states still maintain some form of the exemption for spouses who rape partners when they are drugged or otherwise incapacitated: Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Idaho, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Washington and Wyoming.
The story behind the outrage: Why a school bus driver got no jail time for raping 14-year-old girl
Charges and sentencing guidelines for sex crimes vary widely, and with no comprehensive data tracking for sentencing nationwide, it’s hard to say what would amount to a “typical sentence” in a sex assault case, said Jennifer Long, the chief executive officer of AEquitas. The non-profit group supports prosecutors in seeking justice in gender-based violence and human trafficking cases.
Long couldn’t speak to the particulars of the case against Piche, but said, “I’m not surprised that people are outraged by a sentence that doesn’t seem to match the seriousness of a crime like that against a victim.”
‘Stalking is a homicide in slow motion.’ Did West Chester police fail stalked, slain woman?
Research shows stalking is a lethal risk factor, but one not as well understood among law enforcement as domestic violence or sexual abuse for myriad reasons, including a lack of stalking-related training for officers, said Jennifer Landhuis, the director of the Stalking Prevention, Awareness, and Resource Center.
“We are at with stalking where we were with domestic violence 22 years ago when we started,” Landhuis said.
What to Expect When Reporting a Sexual Assault to Law Enforcement
Allure spoke to Jennifer Long, the CEO of AEquitas, an NGO that focuses on issues of gender-based violence, stalking, and human trafficking. Long has years of experience as an attorney, and now her focus is providing training and research so that survivors are not retraumatized when they engage with the system. She says advocates can be incredibly helpful and encourages survivors to ask their own questions.
“Talk to community advocates; talk to law enforcement about what will happen and what the process looks like,” she says. “Survivors often don’t feel empowered to ask questions because it is a vulnerable time, but they have the right to be informed, and understanding can reduce the anxiety that comes with the process.”
Inside One Woman’s Fight to Rewrite the Law on Marital Rape
While marital rape has been a crime in all 50 states since 1993 — a milestone achieved after years of dogged campaigning by women’s rights activists — the overwhelming majority of states still have loopholes on the books that can make it difficult, or even impossible, to prosecute such cases, according to data compiled by AEquitas, a nonprofit in Washington that assists prosecutors in gender-based violence cases.
AEquitas, which maintains a comprehensive database on marital rape laws, said hurdles to prosecuting sexual misconduct involving spouses or partners existed in 41 of 58 jurisdictions it reviewed. Those include the 50 states, the District of Columbia, United States territories, and federal and military law.
Artificial intelligence can help in fight against human trafficking
As part of the recent study, researchers tried to understand how artificial intelligence can help in the fight against human trafficking.
A group of computational researchers, experts in artificial intelligence (AI) and other members of the technology community are joining forces with policy experts, law enforcement officials, activists and survivors to help put the pieces together.
Since 2015, Jennifer Gentile Long, a graduate of Lehigh and chief executive officer of Aequitas — a resource for prosecutors working on cases of human trafficking and gender-based violence– and Lopresti have collaborated on computer-science-based efforts to help AEquitas manage and make use of a large amount of text data in legal documents to support the organization’s work in helping prosecutors build stronger cases.
“It was amazing to see experts in all these fields come together and try to coordinate efforts so that people are working toward solutions, not working haphazardly. They are making a true impact on this crime–identifying victims at points where they are missed, providing opportunities to leave and find safety, identifying perpetrators, and looking at policy in a coordinated effort. And it’s so great to see Lehigh, in a way, sitting at the head of the table,” Long asserted.
