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Human Trafficking and Toxicology

Human traffickers control their victims through force, fraud, and/or coercion. Coercion, specifically, can take many forms, including seeking out vulnerable victims facing substance abuse. In other cases, traffickers may introduce victims to drugs and alcohol to facilitate their crimes and establish additional control. Understanding basic toxicology better allows law enforcement, prosecutors, and medical professionals to recognize how drugs and alcohol affect a victim’s ability to disclose, participate in the criminal justice system, and recover from the trauma of trafficking.

This presentation will identify common dynamics in sex and labor trafficking and describe how drugs and alcohol are used to assert and maintain control over victims and perpetrate trafficking and trafficking related crimes. The presenter will discuss the importance of and strategies for collaborating with medical professionals to identify drug-facilitated human trafficking, provide much needed care, and educate other allied professionals about the effects of drug use in the context of trafficking dynamics

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Model Policy for Prosecutors and Judges on Imposing, Modifying and Lifting Criminal No Contact Orders

The goals of the criminal justice system in a domestic violence case are to seek justice, protect the victim and the community, hold the offender accountable, prevent and deter future crime, and rehabilitate the abuser. Criminal no-contact orders are an effective tool to help protect victims of domestic violence during the pendency of criminal prosecution. This resource outlines what a no-contact order is, how it is obtained, and the complexities around whether to impose or maintain them when taking the victim’s wishes and safety into account. The authors discuss how to implement processes to gather timely and accurate information about risk and lethality, a particular victim’s wishes and motivations, and possible negative consequences in order to best determine when to impose or maintain a no contact order in the face of a victim’s opposition.

Model Policy for Prosecutors and Judges on Imposing, Modifying and Lifting Criminal No Contact Orders

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In God’s Shadow: Unveiling the Hidden World of Domestic Violence Victims in Religious Communities

Domestic violence has been elevated to a global epidemic in recent years. Domestic violence victims of closely knit and observant religious communities face a distinct set of barriers, which affects their ability and willingness to report and to cooperate with law enforcement, as well as their ability to escape the abuse. This article provides a unique window into the hidden world of domestic violence victims in communities of faith and tackles some of the complexities associated with this sensitive issue.

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Improving Witness Safety and Preventing Witness Intimidation in the Justice System – Benchmarks for Progress

The pervasive problem of victim/witness intimidation in the criminal justice system requires a strategy for change and firm commitments from leaders and practitioners alike. This resource includes tools for practitioners to use collaboratively within their communities. These tools provide criminal justice leaders with concrete guidance to implement best practices in preventing and responding to witness intimidation. The resource defines the problem, identifies concrete solutions, and outlines a process for assessing and improving witness safety.

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Stalking: Effective Strategies for Prosecutors

Stalking affects 6.6 million people in the United States each year and every day, in courtrooms throughout the country, stalking victims recount the fear and distress they have experienced as a result of this crime. Stalkers create and exploit vulnerabilities in their victims, relying on technology and manipulation of the justice system to conceal their crimes and cast doubt on their victim’s credibility. This article provides an overview of stalking and the modern technology stalkers use. The article emphasizes the importance of using a collaborative approach between law enforcement, victim advocates and prosecutors to assist victims and hold offenders accountable.

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Prosecuting Intimate Partner Violence and Animal Cruelty

While control of the victim is the ultimate goal of perpetrators of intimate partner violence, victims themselves are not the only targets of these tactics. Abusers may also threaten and commit acts of violence against the victim’s children, family members, and even their pets. This article discusses strategies for protecting victims of abuse and their pets and holding offenders accountable for their actions. The author encourages prosecutors and allied professionals to work together in a coordinated fashion to better identify, investigate, and prosecute acts of animal cruelty. A coordinated community response to co-occurring animal abuse and domestic violence, together with the effective use of strategies to permit successful prosecution in the absence of active participation by the victim, will promote the safety and well-being of victims and their pets while holding the offender accountable for the abuse of all victims in the household.

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Evading Justice: The Pervasive Nature of Witness Intimidation

Acts of witness intimidation range from the crude to the complex and, when successful, evade the purview of the justice system, which allows the criminal behavior to continue unchecked. The pervasive nature of these crimes is devastating to victims and to community confidence in the justice system’s ability to keep victims safe and hold offenders accountable. Criminal justice professionals, community leaders, and researchers have declared witness intimidation a national concern and a challenge to the administration of justice. This article discusses how to recognize intimidation and reduce its impact on the criminal justice system through education, documentation and other preventive measures. The authors also offer effective investigation and prosecution strategies.

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Supreme Court Upholds DNA Collection of Arrestees

In Maryland v. King, the U.S. Supreme Court held that states may obtain and test DNA samples of defendants arrested for violent crimes. This decision resolved conflicting holdings in state and federal courts and clarified that this procedure does not violate the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. It also sanctioned the expanded use of arrestee DNA profiles to solve cold cases in which there is DNA evidence that can prove the identity of a perpetrator. This article reviews the case facts and its impact on DNA collection laws.

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Identifying, Investigating, and Prosecuting Witness Intimidation in Cases of Sexual Abuse in Confinement

Regardless of the setting in which it occurs, witness intimidation is a chronic problem with devastating implications for victims and for the prosecution of crimes. Victims of sexual abuse in confinement are especially vulnerable to intimidation because they typically have fewer opportunities to escape from (or even avoid) their abusers. This article identifies strategies for investigations and prosecutions that build trust in the criminal justice system and provide multiple, safe, and confidential points of entry for potential reporters. It also discusses victim and witness safety, retaliatory violence, verbal and physical intimidation, and financial and emotional manipulation. The author also examines the potential for intimidation and violence over the course of multiple cases and across time in a single case, as well as policies and protocols that promote effective prosecution of these cases.

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The Prosecutors’ Resource on Elder Abuse

This Prosecutors’ Resource is designed to assist with investigating and prosecuting cases involving abuse, neglect, and financial exploitation of an older victim. It includes foundational knowledge on the various forms and co-occurrence of elder abuse crimes, the characteristics of victims and perpetrators, the aging body, and issues of competency and capacity that will all inform prosecutors’ decision-making in cases and interactions with victims. This Prosecutors’ Resource also provides prosecution strategies for working with older victims and addresses the individual steps and considerations for prosecuting elder abuse cases from the initial interview and investigation through sentencing.

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