How Victim Criminalization Impacts Black Trafficking Survivors

Misidentification, or the misinterpretation of a trafficking victim as a perpetrator of related crimes, can be detrimental in legal proceedings. While this is a national issue, Missouri law is highly conducive to the criminalization of trafficking survivors.

Some of the biggest protections against trafficking survivor criminalization are Safe Harbor laws, which act as safeguards against the criminalization of minors who are victims of sex trafficking and exploitation. This helps to redefine these individuals as victims of abuse, opening doors for recovery. These laws generally fall into at least one of three categories: immunity, diversion, and mandatory referral. Immunity protects minors from being prosecuted for certain offenses related to abuse and exploitation, such as prostitution. Under diversion laws, minors may be charged with an offense but would be directed to social services, treatment, and therapy, rather than a sentence or a traditional penalty. Often, the charges are dropped once the minor has completed the diversion program, as the goal of these programs is to prevent victims from returning to the abusive situations. Finally, mandatory referral avoids formal court proceedings altogether, typically offering immunity and placing minors in programs similar to diversion programs.

So how does this tie in with the missing Black women and girls crisis here in St. Louis? Missouri is notably lacking in robust safe harbor laws, despite having the 4th highest rate of human trafficking in the U.S. While Safe Harbor laws prioritize recovery, Missouri law, in its current state, discourages victims from seeking services or reporting an exploitative situation. This effect is exacerbated among Black children, who already face the highest rate of juvenile prostitution arrests at 53%. This indicates that Black youth, like Black women, make up a disproportionate proportion of sex trafficking and exploitation cases. Paired with missing person statistics, such as how 1 in 6 missing children are likely sex trafficking victims and 36% of missing individuals are Black youth and women, it is clear that the lack of care given to Black victims has had tangible effects on the Black community. One of the glaring issues with how cases of missing Black children are handled is the misclassification of missing youth as “runaways”. Not only does this minimize the amount of resources that can be dedicated to finding these children, but it also contributes to victim criminalization.

To combat this criminalization, Missouri must take key steps toward protecting victims. First, the state must install legal protections in the form of expanded Safe Harbor laws. It is essential to note that, in their current state, Safe Harbor laws only protect minors. Yet, adult women also face a significantly disproportionate rate of sex trafficking and exploitation, accounting for at least 78% of victims, with Black women alone making up 40%. On a broader scale (as trafficking and exploitation cases are severely underidentified), 54% of Black women will experience stalking and/or physical or sexual violence in their lifetime. Women who are categorized as domestic violence survivors are heavily criminalized, with roughly 70-80% of women in prison having experienced intimate partner violence and 84% of Black girls having experienced family violence or abuse. The expansion of these protections is critical to lessening the hyper-criminalization of survivors. Second, the approach to implementing these protections must be comprehensive, culturally-informed, and trauma-informed. Racial biases and stereotypes, such as the Jezebel and the “Strong Black Woman” narratives, reinforce the tendency of the judicial system to over-incarcerate Black communities. The use of Safe Harbor laws, including immunity, diversion, and mandatory referral programs, ensures that victims can recover and safely exit trafficking and exploitative situations.