Page 30 - Leisure Living Magazine May 2018

Human Trafficking: Ohio’s
Current Landscape
“Law You Can Use” Courtesy of the Ohio State Bar Association
By Tabitha Woodruff, Attorney at the Legal Aid Society of Columbus
January was designated National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month since for- mer President Barack Obama first proclaimed it in 2010. In Dec. 2017, President Donald Trump continued the tradition with his own proclamation making January 2018 a month dedicated to raising awareness of human trafficking.
In Ohio, grassroots efforts have grown into extensive government action addressing this issue. Here, attorney Tabitha Woodruff discusses the legal landscape of human trafficking in Ohio, the challenges the state still faces and the legal resourc- es available to trafficking survivors.
Modern Day Slavery
Human trafficking is the illegal ownership and sale of human beings; in modern times it takes many different forms.
The federal Trafficking Victim Protection Act of 2000 divided human trafficking into two categories: forced sex work, which is termed “sex trafficking,” and forced labor, which is termed “labor trafficking.” The federal definition of labor trafficking encompasses debt bondage, involun- tary servitude, and other exploitative practices. Sex work takes many different forms, and may include dancing, pornography, or prostitution. In sex trafficking sex work is induced by force, fraud or coercion. The law in Ohio uses the word “compulsion” as a broader term to cover those concepts.
Compulsion is an amorphous concept but is not always required in the Ohio definition of human trafficking. If someone is developmental- ly disabled or under age 16, Ohio law presumes that anyone facilitating and profiting from their sex work is using compulsion and is guilty of sex trafficking. But what if the victim is 17; has a long history of childhood trauma but has not been diagnosed as developmentally disabled; and knows that if she does not perform sex work for her pimp’s profit, then he will kick her out and she will be homeless? There are many human trafficking cases like this where it is unclear if
30 |LeisureLiving May 2018
the Ohio legal definition for “human trafficking” is met, even though it would be categorized as human trafficking under federal law.
Catching the Trafficker Doesn’t Always Protect the Survivor
Often, a sex trafficking victim is still charged with prostitution even when their trafficker has been charged or convicted for trafficking them. Even in child sex trafficking cases, the victims might be charged.
In Ohio, there is no minimum age to be charged under R.C. 2907.24 (solicitation) or R.C. 2907.25 (prostitution). Children as young as 11 have been charged with solicitation and prostitu- tion in Ohio. Currently, there are specialty courts in a few Ohio counties (such as Empowerment Court in Franklin County and Restore Court in Summit County) that work to protect and stabilize child trafficking survivors with pending delinquency charges.
How Attorneys Are Helping
Human trafficking survivors face many chal- lenges and if the survivor is undocumented or has a long criminal record, these challenges may be compounded. Lawyers play an important role by helping trafficking survivors take advantage of the legal options available to them.
For example, Ohio law allows for a crimi- nal court to order a convicted defendant to pay money directly to the survivor they harmed.
Continued on page 32
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