The Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 is an Act of Congress introduced in the Senate on January 13, 2015, and signed into law by United States President Barack Obama on May 29, 2015. It is also known as the JVTA. Broadly speaking, it aimed to expand services for survivors of human trafficking as well as to strengthen and empower law enforcement and first responders.
Bill's Background and Introduction The 114th Congress quickly and vigorously took up the issue of human trafficking, generating twelve bills in the first couple weeks of the new session.Authors' names redacted (December 17, 2015). Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015: Changes to Domestic Human Trafficking Policies (R44315). Congressional Research Service (CRS). Retrieved 2019-03-11. The JVTA incorporates provisions from ten of those twelve bills: H.R. 159 (Stop Exploitation of Trafficking Act of 2015), H.R. 181 (Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015), H.R. 246 (To improve the response to victims of child sex trafficking), H.R. 285 (SAVE Act of 2015), H.R. 350 (Human Trafficking Prevention, Intervention, and Recovery Act of 2015), H.R. 357 (Human Trafficking Prevention Act), H.R. 398 (Trafficking Awareness Training for Health Care Act of 2015), H.R. 460 (Human Trafficking Detection Act of 2015), H.R. 468 (Enhancing Services for Runaway and Homeless Victims of Youth Trafficking Act of 2015), and H.R. 469 (Strengthening Child Welfare Response to Trafficking Act of 2015). The bills built on momentum from bills considered but not passed in the 113th Congress.Finklea, Kristin, Adrienne L. Fernandes-Alcantara, & Alison Siskin, Domestic Human Trafficking Legislation in the 114th Congress, Congressional Research Service (April 16, 2015). Retrieved 2019-03-12. They largely focused on sex trafficking.
The JVTA was introduced by Senator John Cornyn and originally co-sponsored by Senators Amy Klobuchar, Ron Wyden, Mark Steven Kirk, Orrin Hatch, Lindsey Graham, Christopher Coons, Tom Udall, Daniel Coats, Mike Crapo, John Hoeven, Robert Casey Jr., and Dianne Feinstein.
The bill was not a reauthorization of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), though it did modify some of the TVPA's provisions. The TVPA is the original, landmark piece of U.S. legislation that established human trafficking as a federal crime, enumerated penalties for those convicted, mandated that convicted traffickers pay their victims restitution, It created the State Department's specialized Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, and established the T Visa for non-citizen trafficking victims who need immigration relief and services. The TVPA must be regularly re-authorized to provide continued funding, but the reauthorizations often include definitional changes, legal clarifications, or the establishments of new pilot programs.
In its findings ahead of the JVTA's passage, Congress noted that, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), human trafficking was a rapidly growing industry and already the third-largest criminal enterprise globally.Committee Report 114-7, United States House of Representatives (January 27, 2015). Retrieved 2019-03-13. Representatives seemed especially concerned about victims' vulnerabilities, including due to youth and unstable homes, and about the lack of attention to interventions on the demand/buyer side.
Controversy Human trafficking is typically a bipartisan issue. However, the JVTA became embroiled in a controversy related to the highly controversial and partisan issue of abortion. Though the word "abortion" was never mentioned in the bill, it stated that the money in the Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund would be subject to sections 506 and 507 of division H of the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2014, meaning that the funds would have been subject to the Hyde Amendment. The Hyde Amendment is a legislative provision barring the use of federal funds to pay for abortion except to save the life of the woman, or if the pregnancy arises from incest or rape.
Since the Fund included $5,000 assessments from people convicted of trafficking-related offenses (i.e., fines and fees that are private money), Democrats argued that applying the Hyde Amendment to the Fund would be an expansion of the Hyde Amendment's scope. Democrats also accused Republicans of "trying to pull a fast one" by inserting this provision. Democrats argued Republicans had told them the application of the Hyde Amendment to the Fund was not among the changes to the bill, plus that change was not listed alongside other changes that Republicans had made since the bill had previously been introduced.
Republicans in turn argued that Democrats hadn't read the bill closely enough or that they were being disingenuous. Republican Senator John Cornyn noted the bill had been available to the public for about a month before it was considered by the Judiciary Committee on February 26, 2015, and thus the argument that Republicans had snuck the language into the bill "presupposes that none of their staff briefed the senators on what was in the legislation, that nobody read a 68-page bill and that senators would vote for a bill, much less co-sponsor it, without reading it and knowing what's in it. None of that strikes me as plausible." Republicans also pointed to other legislation that had been passed shortly before, such as the Affordable Care Act and the National Defense Authorization Act, that included similar language.
The Alliance to End Slavery and Trafficking (ATEST), a U.S.-based coalition composed of anti-human trafficking non-profits who work together to advocate for solutions to end modern slavery, urged the Senate to break the partisan gridlock and pass the bill.ATEST, ATEST Urges Senate to Reach Bipartisan Compromise on Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (March 16, 2015). Retrieved 2019-03-12. Senators were ultimately able to reach a compromise: only the federal money in the Fund may be used for health care services. The private fines and fees cannot, which ensures that no money in the Fund will be used to fund abortions. This broke the gridlock and allowed the bill to proceed.
Republicans had also blocked Loretta Lynch's confirmation as Attorney General until after a compromise was reached on the JVTA. Thus, after the Senate passed the JVTA on April 22, it confirmed Loretta Lynch, who was sworn in on April 27, 2015.
Titles The JVTA has ten titles, which are large, notable subsections of the act. (For example, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.) All of the Titles are still part of the JVTA and were therefore passed at the same time. They also address human trafficking in some capacity.
Title I -- Justice for Victims of Trafficking This is the longest of the ten titles. It establishes a $5,000 (~$ in ) penalty (which expires on September 30, 2019) which is assessed on people convicted of offenses related to human trafficking and sexual abuse.Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 (JVTA) (S. 178, Public Law 114-22), Title I, Sec. 3014. That fine is paid into a fund the JVTA establishes called the "Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund," which the Department of Justice (DOJ) uses to support victims of trafficking. The U.S. government matches the amount generated by the $5,000 fines. As part of a political compromise to ensure the bill passed, Congress agreed that none of the private money in the Fund may be used for health or medical expenses (to ensure none of the Fund's money is used for abortions). (See "Controversy" section above for more information.)
The Title clarifies that victims who are U.S. citizens or lawful permanent residents should not be denied services simply because they have not received a certification from Health and Human Services (HHS) or the Secretary of Homeland Security, the way that non-citizen victims of human trafficking must in order to access services and benefits.JVTA (S. 178, Pub. Law 114-22) Title I, Sec. 102.
It also creates a block grant program (financed by the Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund) to pay for efforts aimed at deterring domestic child sex trafficking.JVTA (S. 178, Pub. Law 114-22), Title I, Sec. 203. This includes funding for efforts that establish or expand: training programs for professionals combating human trafficking such as health care officials, police, prosecutors, and child welfare officials; law enforcement units or task forces geared at investigating instances of child sex trafficking and rescuing survivors; law enforcement units to help track down runaway and homeless youth; and court programs for trafficking victims. It clarifies that grant awards may be used to fund programs that identify and assist victims of child pornography, including by paying for investigation expenses such as wiretaps.JVTA (S. 178, Pub. Law 114-22), Title I, Sec. 104.
This Title also adds to the TVPA's definition of trafficking by adding "patronizing, or soliciting" to the sex trafficking statute to clarify that those who purchase sex acts from trafficking victims can be prosecuted as trafficking offenders.JVTA (S. 178, Pub. Law 114-22) Title I, Sec. 108. (The full definition now includes anyone who "recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides, obtains, advertises, maintains, patronizes, or solicits" someone over 18 by using force, fraud, or coercion, or someone under 18, for the purposes of commercial sex.) It requires DOJ to direct pre-existing Innocence Lost National Initiative task forces to target those who buy sex acts from trafficking victims.JVTA (S. 178, Pub. Law 114-22) Title I, Sec. 110. It also requires law enforcement officers to file a recent photo with all reports they submit to the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC) as well as for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to be notified every time a child is reported missing from a foster home or childcare institution.JVTA (S. 178, Pub. Law 114-22) Title I, Sec. 116. The Title also criminalizes knowingly selling advertising for sexual services provided by minors or trafficking victims.JVTA (S. 178, Pub. Law 114-22) Title I, Sec. 118.
It clarifies that victims have the right to be notified of plea bargains and deferred prosecution agreements, as well as that, in cases where district courts have denied victims their rights, victims' petitions to courts of appeals are to be reviewed under the ordinary appellate standard of review (legal error or abuse of discretion) rather than the higher standard (clear and indisputable error) that is typically used in such appeals.JVTA (S. 178, Pub. Law 114-22) Title I, Sec. 113.Shared Hope International, Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act: Section-by-Section Analysis. Retrieved 2019-03-13.
Finally, the Title establishes the United States Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, which is composed of 8-14 survivors of human trafficking.JVTA (S. 178, Pub. Law 114-22), Title I, Sec. 115. The Council is designed to assess U.S. policies and programs and provide advice and recommendations to the federal government to ensure that its policies and programs align with best practices in the anti-human trafficking field. The Council generates an annual report detailing its findings.
Title II -- Combating Human Trafficking