State prosecutors struggle with human trafficking cases
BOSTON—Laws cracking down on human trafficking are on the books in all 50 states, but convictions are notoriously elusive, and state prosecutors haven' t come close to matching the success their federal counterparts have had in winning cases.
States need to add resources to support trafficking victims, educate the public and train law enforcement if the numbers of prosecution sand convictions are to improve, officials and experts say. In at least a dozen states, attorneys general are not even authorized to pursue human trafficking charges.
Records requested from all 50 states by The Associated Press indicate a low conviction rate since Washington became the first state to en acta human trafficking law in 2003. A previous study suggested a 45% conviction rate through roughly the first decade of the laws.
In contrast, the conviction rate for prosecutions under the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act, enacted in 2000, is about 80%, according to Justice Department data.
“We're not fully where we need to be, but it's encouraging to see states pursue these cases,” said Bradley Myles, executive director of the Polaris Project, which lobbied for passage of the state laws. “Prosecutors are still learning how to prosecute these cases successfully. We' re in the process of seeing the field mature more. It's going to take time.”
Under scoring the difficulties is the misdemeanor case against New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, whose attorneys May 13 succeeded in getting video evidence suppressed. The decision, if upheld, could force prosecutors to drop charges against Kraft and potentially others among the 300 men facing solicit ation charges as part of a sweeping investigation of massage parlor prostitution and possible human trafficking in Florida.
Some spa owners and operators also face felony prostitution charges, but none of the defendants has been charged under the state's human trafficking law.
Some local officials point out that prose cut ors do often win convictions on other, often times lower charges that can still take suspected human traffickers off the street for a time, not unlike how murder charges are sometimes downgraded to manslaughter. The study that found a 45% conviction rate also found that 72% of human trafficking cases that were examined did lead to some sort of conviction.
In the Florida prostitution case, many of the spa operators are being prosecuted under the state' s Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, which calls for the same maximum penalty, 30 years in prison, as for human trafficking.
That means prosecutors won't have to rely on the testimony of trafficking victims, which is frequently difficult to procure, in order to build their cases while still being able to pursue long sentences, said Jeffrey Hendriks, a prosecutor in Fort Pierce handling six of the felony cases.