Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015: Changes to Domestic Human Trafficking Policies
Released: 2015-12-17T00:00:00

C ombatting trafficking in persons has been a major legislative priority of the 114 th Congress. Trafficking is a human rights concern as well as a significant area of modern day criminal activity. Moreover, it involves violations of labor, public health, and human rights standards, as well as criminal law.

The United States has a varied role in human trafficking. It is "a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, transgender individuals, and children—both U.S. citizens and foreign nationals—subjected to sex trafficking and forced labor." There are no current, reliable data on the total number of human trafficking victims in the United States. However, some studies provide snapshots of the victim pool by estimating specific victim populations; for instance, one study suggests that perhaps 100,000 U.S. citizen children may be victims of trafficking within the United States.

Human trafficking in the United States is broadly conceptualized in two categories: sex trafficking and labor trafficking. Notably, it "can occur in both legal and illicit industries, including in commercial sex, hospitality, sales crews, agriculture, manufacturing, janitorial services, construction, shipyards, restaurants, health and elder care, salon services, fairs and carnivals, peddling and begging, and domestic service." The United States initiates more investigations and prosecutes more individuals for sex trafficking than for labor trafficking offenses.

Noncitizens are more susceptible than U.S. citizens to labor trafficking, and more foreign victims are found in labor trafficking than in sex trafficking. Although labor trafficking can happen to U.S. citizens, significantly more U.S. citizens are found in sex trafficking. Research also indicates that most of the victims of sex trafficking into and within the United States are women and children.

U.S. efforts to counter trafficking in persons include protection for victims, education of the public, and the investigation and prosecution of trafficking offenses.

Several departments (the primary being the Departments of Justice [DOJ], Health and Human Services [HHS], and Labor [DOL]) have programs, or administer grants to other entities, that provide victim assistance tailored to trafficking victims. Such assistance may include temporary housing, independent living skills, cultural orientation, transportation, job training, mental health counseling, and legal assistance. A number of federal agencies administer public awareness campaigns on identifying human trafficking victims. The Department of Homeland Security's (DHS's) Blue Campaign is one such example. The majority of cases investigated at the federal level are handled by agents in DOJ's Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and DHS's U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), who coordinate with others as appropriate. These cases are prosecuted by DOJ.

Congress began legislating to counter domestic human trafficking more than a decade ago. The Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA; Division A of P.L. 106-386 ) and its four reauthorizations (TVPRAs) have collectively aimed to reduce human trafficking within the United States. They have established grant programs for victims and law enforcement, strengthened criminal laws, and provided for oversight on the effectiveness and implications of U.S. policies on countering human trafficking. Countering human trafficking has also been a prolific area of legislative activity for the 114 th Congress. Notably, the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act of 2015 (JVTA; P.L. 114-22 ) was signed into law on May 29, 2015.

This report discusses domestic human trafficking issues addressed by the JVTA. The issues are grouped under the following themes: (1) restoring victims through services and benefits, (2) criminal justice, (3) domestic sex trafficking of children, and (4) other issues that include inter-agency coordination, training, sex offender registration, and children conceived through rape. The report supplements CRS Report R43917, Domestic Human Trafficking Legislation in the 114th Congress , by [author name scrubbed], [author name scrubbed], and [author name scrubbed].

Restoring Victims: Services and Benefits

In general, the trafficking business feeds on continuing demand and conditions of vulnerability such as youth, gender, poverty, and social exclusion. Actors engaged in human trafficking range from family-run organizations to sophisticated transnational organized crime syndicates. Trafficking victims are often subjected to mental and physical abuse in order to control them. Abuse may include debt bondage, social isolation, removal of identification cards and travel documents, violence, and threat of reprisals against the victims or their families.

A major aspect of U.S. anti-trafficking efforts is victim assistance—providing immediate services when victims are identified and helping them recover from the victimization. The JVTA seeks to improve services to victims.

Adequacy of Services for Victims

One issue surrounding U.S. policy to combat human trafficking is whether the United States provides equal treatment of all victims—foreign nationals and U.S. citizens, including victims of labor trafficking and sex trafficking. There is confusion over whether U.S. citizens, as well as noncitizens, are eligible for services under all the anti-trafficking grant programs authorized by the TVPA, and whether Congress has provided funding for programs that target U.S. citizen and lawful permanent resident (LPR) victims. Under the TVPA, DOJ, HHS, and DOL have programs or administer grants to other entities to provide services to trafficking victims. Only the DOJ and HHS programs receive specified funding for trafficking victims services.

A related issue is the overall amount of funding for victims' services, especially as the focus on sex trafficking is broadening to include minor sex trafficking victims in the United States who are U.S. citizens. Between FY2002 and FY2013, Congress appropriated approximately $20 million each year for victims' services, and the amount was increased to approximately $28 million in FY2014 and approximately $58 million in FY2015. Despite the recent increases in funding, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) report federal funding for victims' services remains insufficient to address the myriad needs of individual victims.

The 113 th Congress amended certain grant programs through the 2013 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA, P.L. 113-4 ) so that sex trafficking victims would be eligible for victims' services programs. These changes include

clarifying that victims' services and legal assistance under VAWA include services and assistance to victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, or stalking who are also victims of severe forms of trafficking in persons ; amending the purpose for grants to tribal governments to combat violence against women to include sex trafficking and creating a new purpose area to provide services to address the needs of youth who are victims of several crimes, including sex trafficking; creating a new tribal coalition grant program (administered by DOJ) that, among other purposes, seeks to enhance access to essential services for Indian women victimized by domestic and sexual violence, including sex trafficking; and to assist Indian tribes in developing and promoting state, local, and tribal laws and policies that enhance best practices for responding to violent crimes against Indian women, including sex trafficking; and amending the authorization for grants for state and local law enforcement's anti-trafficking programs focusing on U.S. citizen victims so that these grants can be used for noncitizen victims as well.

The JVTA clarifies that DOJ grants for trafficking victims' services could be used to provide housing. It also requires, beginning in FY2017, that the Secretary of HHS make grants for a national communications system to help victims of severe forms of trafficking communicate with service providers. In addition, the law provides additional rights for victims of federal crime, including the right to be informed in a timely manner of court agreements and, with some exceptions, to be informed about certain victims' services.

Certification

Under the TVPA, noncitizen victims of trafficking are certified as victims by HHS, which makes them eligible for certain services. U.S. citizen and LPR trafficking victims are not required to be certified by HHS, and indeed would not meet the criteria to be certified because certification applies only to foreign nationals who need an immigration status (e.g., T status or continued presence) to remain in the United States. Thus, an issue that has arisen is whether U.S. citizen and LPR victims are eligible for certain victims' services (e.g., those funded by HHS and DOL) since they do not undergo certification. The JVTA clarifies that U.S. citizen and LPR victims of trafficking are not required to be certified by HHS in order to be eligible for HHS-provided services for trafficking victims.

Job Corps Program

Job Corps is an employment and job training program for 16- to 24-year-olds that is administered by DOL. The JVTA amends the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (which superseded the Workforce Investment Act as of July 1, 2015) to specify that victims of a severe form of trafficking (as defined in the TVPA) do not need to meet the income requirement to be eligible for the Job Corps program.

Restitution and Forfeiture

Victims of human trafficking often suffer injuries that can affect them for the rest of their lives. Medical care, psychological treatment, job training, and more may be necessary to assist victims in recovering. Preexisting law allowed a victim of peonage, slavery, or trafficking in persons to bring a civil action against his/her perpetrator and obtain civil remedies. The JVTA requires the Attorney General to collect and tabulate data on mandatory restitution orders (the TVPA requires the court to order restitution—paid by the defendant to the victim—for any crime of peonage, slavery, or trafficking in persons); these data should include demographic information on the perpetrators. In addition, it requires the Attorney General to use the proceeds generated by trafficking-related forfeitures to satisfy unfulfill ed restitution orders entered for the benefit of trafficking victims. It also requires DOJ to provide training for certain court officers to assist victims in seeking restitution. (See the " Training " section.)

Education and Outreach

The JVTA directs DOJ to make available, via the website for the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP), a database for trafficking victim stakeholders on (1) counseling and hotline resources, (2) housing resources, (3) legal assistance, and (4) other services for trafficking survivors. Such stakeholders include trafficking victim advocates, crisis hotline personnel, foster parents, law enforcement personnel, and crime survivors.

Criminal Justice

While the United States has a number of statutes that can and have been used to combat human trafficking, law enforcement and policymakers remain interested in ways to enhance investigations and prosecutions of individuals who commit trafficking offenses. In general, federal law enforcement has targeted criminal networks that may involve individuals operating in a number of capacities.

In an effort to help law enforcement combat the advertising side of commercial sexual exploitation, the JVTA permits the prosecution of traffickers if they know or recklessly disregard the fact that those whose services they advertise are coerced, deceived, or under age. For-profit advertisers, including website operators, may not be prosecuted based only on reckless disregard; they must know that those being advertised are coerced, deceived, or under age.

The JVTA expands the ability of federal, state, and local prosecutors to obtain wiretap orders from courts for certain investigations by including additional trafficking-related offenses as allowable investigations. It also expands law enforcement's "toolbox" for prosecuting individuals who travel interstate or internationally to engage in commercial sexual activity with a child. It modifies the affirmative defense that defendants enjoy in such cases to require that they prove by "clear and convincing evidence," rather than the less demanding "preponderance of the evidence" standard, that they reasonably believed the child was an adult. In addition, the JVTA clarifies that the U.S. Marshals Service has the authority to help (upon request) federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies in locating and recovering missing children.

The JVTA also makes changes to increase financial penalties for traffickers and heighten the federal response to trafficking offenses.

Enhanced Financial Penalties

The JVTA imposes an additional $5,000 penalty assessment on anyone convicted of offenses including peonage, slavery, or trafficking in persons; sexual abuse; sexual exploitation and other child abuse; transportation for illegal sexual activity; and certain human smuggling offenses. These monies are to be deposited into a Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund (established by the act). The fund is to be administered by the Attorney General, in consultation with the Secretary of HHS. Money from the fund may be used from FY2016 through FY2019 to support certain existing grant programs authorized by the TVPA or to enhance programming for victims of child pornography served under the Victims of Child Abuse Act. However, the act prohibits the use of monies from the fund for medical items or health care or services. Instead, an amount equal to that collected by the special assessments is to be transferred into the fund from money appropriated for community health centers (but not less than $5 million or more than $30 million); these funds may be used for grants supporting medical items or health care or services for victims served under the previously referenced TVPA grant programs and victims of child pornography.

Reducing Demand

Experts widely agree that any efforts to reduce the prevalence of trafficking should address not only the supply but also the demand . While statutes exist to allow federal law enforcement to prosecute the buyers of commercial sex, federal legislation has focused more extensively on penalizing the traffickers and placed less emphasis on the buyers. To increase focus on combating the demand for sex trafficking, the JVTA explicitly prohibits the patronizing or soliciting of commercial sex (or benefiting from these activities). It also clarifies that federal prosecutors do not need to prove that a defendant both knew and disregarded the fact that a victim had not yet attained 18 years of age. In addition, the law requires the Attorney General, within 180 days of its enactment, to ensure that working groups and task forces within the Violent Crimes Against Children program (which includes the Innocence Lost National Initiative) work to enhance the capabilities of state and local law enforcement to detect, investigate, and prosecute individuals who patronize or solicit children for sex. The JVTA also requires the Bureau of Justice Statistics to report annually on statistics related to the arrest and prosecution of buyers.

Cyber Crimes Unit in Immigration and Customs Enforcement

The JVTA requires the Secretary of Homeland Security to operate a Cyber Crimes Center (the Center) within ICE to provide investigative assistance, training, and equipment support to ICE's domestic and international investigations of cyber-related crimes. Notably, this codifies the already existing Center within ICE. Within the Center there is a Child Exploitation Investigations Unit (CEIU), Computer Forensics Unit (CFU), and Cyber Crimes Unit (CCU). The CEIU is charged with coordinating all ICE child exploitation initiatives and investigations into child exploitation, child pornography, child victim identification, child sex tourism, and forced child labor. The CEIU also provides training, technical expertise, and support, as needed, to law enforcement agencies and personnel; support and counseling services to ICE personnel engaged in child exploitation prevention; and outreach and training activities. The CEIU collects and maintains data regarding law enforcement activities of ICE, and is required to produce reports using these data.

The CFU, among other duties, provides technical and digital forensics to ICE personnel (and, subject to available funding, other federal, state, local, tribal, military, and foreign law enforcement agencies), and researches and develops digital forensics capabilities. The CCU oversees ICE's cyber security strategy and operations and enhances ICE's ability to combat criminal enterprises operating on or through the Internet. The JVTA authorizes the CEIU, CFU, and CCU to collaborate with the Department of Defense and National Association to Protect Children to recruit, train, and hire wounded, ill, and injured veterans and transitioning servicemembers.

Domestic Sex Trafficking of Children

Domestic sex trafficking of children is trafficking within the United States involving a commercial sex act in which the person induced to perform such act has not attained 18 years of age. Regardless of whether a child is believed to have consented to sex or whether the child represents himself/herself as an adult, the child is considered a trafficking victim under federal law. The exact number of child victims of sex trafficking in the United States is unknown because of challenges in defining the population and varying methodologies used to arrive at estimates. Most of the victims are thought to be U.S. citizens and LPRs.

Commercial sexual exploitation of children appears to be fueled by a variety of individual (e.g., homelessness or history of child abuse), relationship (e.g., family conflict or dysfunction), community (e.g., peer pressure or gang involvement), and societal (e.g., sexualization of children) variables. These factors may interact in ways that can increase the risk of exploitation. As part of its 2013 report on child sex trafficking, the National Academy of Sciences recommended that multiple stakeholders—such as the federal government, state and local governments, academic and research institutions, foundations and nongovernmental organizations, and the commercial sector—collaborate to address this issue.

The JVTA addresses sex trafficking of children through changes to a few policy areas, including missing and exploited children, runaway youth, the child welfare system, and juvenile justice.

Missing and Exploited Children

The Missing and Exploited Children's (MEC) program, administered by DOJ, authorizes supports for children who are missing and/or sexually exploited. The Missing Children's Assistance Act requires DOJ to provide an annual grant to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), which serves as a clearinghouse for assisting law enforcement and other stakeholders in responding to cases involving these children.

The JVTA makes changes to the Missing Children's Assistance Act. That act directed NCMEC to operate a tipline for online users and electronic service providers to report Internet-related child sexual exploitation. It outlined eight categories that can be reported to the tipline (referred to as the CyberTipline), including child prostitution. The JVTA strikes "child prostitution" and replaces it with "child sex trafficking, including child prostitution." In practice, NCMEC already referred to this category as "child sex trafficking."

The JVTA separately amended the Crime Control Act of 1990 concerning reporting children to the federal National Crime Information Center (NCIC) Missing Person File. The NCIC is a digital index of information on crimes and criminals that is maintained by the FBI. The JVTA requires law enforcement agencies submitting information to NCIC on a missing child to include a recent photograph and to notify NCMEC of each report that relates to a child reportedly missing from foster care. The JVTA also changes the period of time for verifying and updating records of missing children from 60 days to 30 days. The law further specifies that the record be updated, where available, with a photograph taken within 180 days of the original entry into the NCIC and the state law enforcement database. In addition, the applicable state law enforcement agency must notify NCMEC of each report that relates to a child reportedly missing from foster care. The state law enforcement agency must grant permission to the NCIC Terminal Contractor for the state to update the missing person record in the NCIC with additional information on the missing child that is learned during the investigation.

Runaway and Homeless Youth

The Runaway and Homeless Youth program is administered by HHS and authorized under the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act. The act funds organizations throughout the country to provide services to youth who have run away and/or experienced homelessness. It also supports research, evaluations, and technical assistance for grantees.

The JVTA amends provisions in the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act on grants for research, evaluation, demonstration, and service projects. Specifically, the law expands on the types of research and other projects that HHS should prioritize, including projects that address staff training on (1) the behavioral and emotional effects of severe forms of trafficking (both sex and labor trafficking), (2) responding to youth showing effects of such trafficking victimization, and (3) agency-wide strategies for working with runaway and homeless youth who have been sexually victimized, including victims of sex trafficking. By referencing the TVPA definitions of "severe forms of trafficking in persons" and "sex trafficking," the law encompasses child and adult victims of sex and labor trafficking.

Improving Investigations and Prosecutions of Child Abuse

Subtitle A of the Victims of Child Abuse Act supports improving the investigation and prosecution of child abuse through the expansion and improvement of Children's Advocacy Centers (CACs). In addition, it provides for related technical assistance and training, including training for attorneys or others involved in the prosecution of child abuse. CACs are intended to coordinate a multidisciplinary response to child abuse (e.g., law enforcement, child protection/social service, medical, mental health) in a manner that ensures child abuse victims (and any nonoffending family members) receive the support services they need and do not experience added trauma as a result of the investigation of child abuse. CACs are located in all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

The JVTA amends Subtitle A of the Victims of Child Abuse Act by expanding the definition of "child abuse" used by CACs—physical or sexual abuse or neglect of a child—to include the production of child pornography and human trafficking. The law also enables DOJ to make grants under the CAC program for the development and implementation of specialized programs to identify and provide direct services to victims of child pornography.

As mentioned, the JVTA establishes a Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund. The law directs the Attorney General, in coordination with the HHS Secretary, to use the amounts available in the fund to, among other things, award grants or enhance victim programming provided through grants for CACs (and specified activities under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act). Of the amounts available in the fund, and assuming enough funds are available in a given fiscal year, not less than $2 million may be used for such services.

Response by the Child Welfare System

State and local child welfare agencies are responsible for carrying out child welfare policies that are intended to promote the safety, well-being, and permanency of all children. Child victims of sex trafficking may come to the attention of a child welfare agency if they are reported to an agency's child protective services (CPS) hotline. Children in foster care—who are placed out of their homes typically due to abuse or neglect by their parents or caregivers—may be vulnerable to trafficking. Youth who run away from foster care are perceived to be especially susceptible to this type of victimization. The capacity for state and local child welfare agencies to respond to the needs of sex trafficking victims is believed to be limited. This may be due, in part, to inadequate training, insufficient resources, high caseloads, and the perception that victims should be handled in the juvenile justice system. In addition, states may not have mechanisms in place to "screen in" cases involving a child who is sex trafficked because the perpetrator involved is not the child's parent or caregiver as these terms are defined under state law.

The JVTA seeks to ensure that initial investigation and assessment of child trafficking reports occurs. It does so through the state grants program under Section 106 of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA); of note, funding for CAPTA state grants is provided to help states improve their CPS systems and may be used for a range of purposes specified in the law. The JVTA adds that the CAPTA state plans must include provisions and procedures related to sex trafficking of children. Specifically, such provisions and procedures must address (1) identifying and assessing reports involving children who are known or suspected victims of sex trafficking and (2) training state child protective services workers about identifying, assessing, and providing comprehensive services to such children (including efforts to coordinate with state law enforcement officials, the state juvenile justice system, and social service agencies such as runaway and homeless youth shelters). State child welfare agencies are also required to include the number of children identified as sex trafficking victims in their annual data reports to HHS, as required by CAPTA.

Separately, the JVTA defines child sex trafficking victims as victims of "child abuse and neglect" and "sexual abuse" for purposes of CAPTA. States that receive state grant funds under CAPTA must define "child abuse and neglect" to be consistent with the CAPTA definition. All states receive CAPTA state grants, and have such definitions. The term "child" is defined in CAPTA as an individual under age 18, except that in the case of sexual abuse the age is specified by the child protection law of the state where the child resides. The JVTA enables states to define "child" as an individual under the age of 24 for the purpose of defining victims of child sex trafficking as victims of "child abuse and neglect" and "sexual abuse."

Grant Programs for Domestic Minor Victims of Trafficking

One overriding issue concerning minor victims of sex trafficking is the extent to which federal agencies can and do provide services to these victims who are U.S. citizens or LPRs. The 2013 TVPA reauthorization ( P.L. 113-4 ) created a discretionary grant program for child sex trafficking victims. The grant program authorizes DOJ, in consultation with HHS, to award one-year grants to six grantees to combat sex trafficking of children in the United States. Of the grant amounts, at least 67% must be allocated to nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to provide counseling, legal services, shelter, clothing, and other social services to victims, while not less than 10% must be allocated to provide services to victims or training for service providers on sex trafficking of children.

Likewise, the JVTA authorizes the Attorney General to make grants to an eligible entity to develop, improve, or expand domestic child human trafficking deterrence programs designed to aid victims while investigating and prosecuting the trafficking offenses. This includes both sex and labor trafficking. An eligible entity is a state or unit of local government that meets specified criteria. Generally, the grants may be used to (1) establish or enhance specialized training programs on the prevention of child trafficking for law enforcement, first responders, health care officials, child welfare officials, juvenile justice personnel, prosecutors, and judicial personnel; (2) establish law enforcement and prosecution units and task forces dedicated to fighting trafficking of children; (3) establish or enhance court programs to assist child trafficking victims; and (4) fund activities of law enforcement agencies to find homeless and runaway youth, including the salaries and associated expenses for retired federal law enforcement officers assisting the law enforcement agencies in finding these youth. The JVTA authorizes DOJ to use the Domestic Trafficking Victims' Fund (established by the act) to carry out these grants.

Juvenile Justice61

Under the TVPA, the federal government treats individuals under the age of 18 who are involved in commercial sexual activity as victims rather than perpetrators, and victims are eligible for specialized services. The same is not always true at the state level; at times, minors involved in commercial sexual activity may be labeled as child prostitutes or juvenile delinquents and treated as criminals rather than being labeled and treated as victims.

The 2013 TVPA reauthorization ( P.L. 113-4 ) specified that the model state anti-trafficking laws created by the Attorney General should include safe harbor provisions that treat an individual under 18 years of age who has been arrested for prostitution as a victim of a severe form of trafficking. It should also prohibit the prosecution of such a person and refer him/her to service providers who provide assistance to victims of commercial sexual exploitation.

The JVTA incentivizes states to enact safe harbor laws that would (1) treat each minor involved in commercial sexual activity as a victim of a severe form of trafficking in persons, (2) discourage the charging and prosecution of these minors for prostitution or sex trafficking offenses, and (3) encourage the diversion of these minors to child protection services. It allows DOJ to give community policing grants preference to applicants from states that have adopted safe harbor laws.

Other Issues

Inter-agency Coordination/Efficiency

There have been concerns about possible duplication of efforts and a lack of coordination among the agencies that conduct anti-trafficking activities, and whether the fact that so many agencies are involved with anti-trafficking policy leads to duplication or funds not being used in the most efficient manner. The TVPA, as amended, established both the President's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking (PITF) and the Senior Policy Operating Group (SPOG) in part to facilitate coordination on anti-trafficking policy across U.S. government agencies to ensure that there is not a duplication of efforts. In addition, the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act ( P.L. 113-183 ) requires HHS to establish, by September 2016, the National Advisory Committee on Sex Trafficking of Children and Youth in the United States to improve the nation's response to sex trafficking and develop best practices and recommendations for states to combat sex trafficking of children, among other duties.

The federal government does not currently have a national strategy broadly directed at combating human trafficking. The JVTA directs the President's Interagency Task Force to Monitor and Combat Trafficking to conduct a review of human trafficking prevention within the United States. The report is to include (1) a catalog of the U.S. government's efforts to prevent individuals from committing trafficking offenses and prevent children from becoming victims; (2) a survey of the literature related to deterring individuals from trafficking and preventing children from becoming victims; (3) identification of best practices related to preventing human trafficking of children; and (4) identification of gaps in research and data that would be helpful in formulating strategies to prevent child trafficking.

The JVTA also requires a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report to Congress on each program or initiative authorized under the law and the following five statutes to determine whether any program or initiative is duplicative: (1) Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2005, (2) Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, (3) Victims of Child Abuse Act of 1990, (4) Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, and (5) Missing Children's Assistance Act. The report is to be submitted to the House and the Senate Judiciary Committees within 180 days of the law's enactment. The report must include a description of the cost of any duplicative program or initiative and recommendations on how to achieve cost savings with respect to each such duplicative program or initiative.

The JVTA initiates the creation of the United States Advisory Council on Human Trafficking (Council), which is to be comprised of between 8 and 14 human trafficking survivors. The Council is to serve as an advisory body to the Senior Policy Operating Group on Trafficking in Persons, reviewing federal anti-trafficking policy and programs. In addition, the Council is to serve as the point of contact for federal agencies seeking input of trafficking survivors on programs and policies. The group is to formulate assessments and recommendations to ensure that federal policies conform, to the extent practicable, to the best practices in the field of human trafficking prevention, and it is required to produce an annual report regarding its review of anti-trafficking policies and programs. The Council is to terminate at the end of FY2020.

Finally, the JVTA directs the Attorney General to implement and maintain a National Strategy for Combating Human Trafficking that includes (1) integrating federal, state, local, and tribal efforts to investigate and prosecute human trafficking cases; (2) coordinating cases within DOJ; (3) addressing annual budget priorities and federal efforts dedicated to preventing and combating human trafficking; (4) continually assessing future trends, challenges, and opportunities to enhance federal, state, local, and tribal efforts to combat human trafficking; and (5) encouraging cooperation, coordination, and mutual support between the private sector and federal agencies to combat human trafficking.

Training

While U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is one of the two lead agencies responsible for human trafficking investigations, personnel from several agencies within DHS may encounter instances and victims of trafficking during the course of their regular duties. For example, agents from the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) may encounter trafficking victims at airports as traffickers attempt to move the victims around the country. The JVTA directs the Secretary of DHS to implement a training program within 180 days on deterring, detecting, and disrupting human trafficking during the course of their primary roles and responsibilities for personnel from TSA, Customs and Border Protection (CBP), and any other agency that the Secretary deems appropriate. The law also requires the Secretary to ensure that such personnel regularly receive current information related to the detection of human trafficking. The Secretary is required to certify to the appropriate congressional committees no later than one year after enactment that the training has been completed. The JVTA also requires the Secretary to submit an annual report to these committees on the effectiveness of the training program required under the law, including the number of cases in which DHS personnel suspected human trafficking and the number of confirmed cases of human trafficking. The JVTA allows the Secretary to provide the training curricula to any state or local government, or any private organization to assist such entities in creating their own programs to identify human trafficking.

The JVTA requires the Attorney General to assure that each DOJ anti-trafficking program, including training programs for federal, state, or local law enforcement, includes technical training on effective measures for (1) investigating and prosecuting an individual who obtains, patronizes, or solicits a commercial sex act involving a trafficking victim; and (2) facilitating the provision of physical and mental health services to trafficking victims. It also requires that any DOJ anti-trafficking program for U.S. Attorneys or other federal prosecutors includes training on seeking restitution for trafficking offenses. In addition, it mandates that the Federal Judicial Center provide training to judges related to ordering restitution for trafficking offenses.

The JVTA amends the TVPA to include members of the Foreign Service as persons who are required to be trained on how to identify and protect trafficking victims, and it specifies minimum requirements for the training. For example, the law requires that all ambassadors and deputy chiefs of missions receive a briefing on trafficking issues prior to departing for their posts.

As noted previously, the Preventing Sex Trafficking and Strengthening Families Act ( P.L. 113-183 ) amended federal child welfare law to require state child welfare agencies to develop procedures needed to ensure relevant training for caseworkers. These procedures must be developed in consultation with state and local law enforcement, juvenile justice systems, health care providers, education agencies, and organizations with experience in dealing with at-risk children and youth. The JVTA similarly amends a separate child welfare law to ensure that state child welfare agencies develop provisions and procedures for training child protective services (CPS) workers about identifying and assessing children who are victims of sex trafficking.

The JVTA also requires HHS to competitively award a grant to one medical or nursing school for developing best practices for health care professionals to recognize and appropriately respond to victims of severe forms of human trafficking. This entity would be required to analyze and evaluate, in consultation with others, existing best practices for interprofessional collaboration, and develop training for health care professionals on such best practices. It also requires HHS to later disseminate the best practices identified by the medical or nursing school.

Sex Offender Registry

The Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (SORNA) provides a set of minimum standards for sex offender registration and notification in the United States. It requires those convicted of federal, state, or military sex offenses to register with state or tribal authorities after they have been sentenced or after their release from prison. They must register in each jurisdiction in which they live, work, or attend school, and they must periodically update the information in the registry. In an August 2014 report, the Inspector General for the Department of Defense questioned whether SORNA provided access to information on as many military sex offenders as it should.

The JVTA requires the Secretary of Defense to provide the Attorney General with information on individuals released from military corrections facilities or convicted during a court-martial without confinement, and who are required to register under SORNA. Such information is included in the National Sex Offender Registry and the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Website.

Rape Survivor Child Custody

There have been cases of a rapist suing his victim for custody of the child conceived during the rape. In some cases, the rapist volunteers to surrender his parental rights if the woman refuses to testify in the criminal case. While some states have statutes that allow the court to terminate the parental rights in the case of rape, others either do not have such statutes or have restrictions, such as requiring the person to be convicted of the assault before his parental rights can be terminated.

The JVTA requires the Attorney General to increase grant funding under the STOP (Services, Training, Officers, Prosecutors) Violence Against Women Formula Grant Program and Sexual Assault Services Program to states that have a law that allows the mother of a child conceived through rape to seek court-ordered termination of the parental rights of her rapist. The laws would apply without regard to the age or marital status of the child's parents at the time of the offense. The increase in formula grants is allowed to be provided for a total of four two-year periods (eight years), and is equal to not more than 10% of the total amount of funding provided to the state averaged over the previous three years. Of the increased funding, 25% is for STOP grants, and 75% for the Sexual Assault Services Program. The JVTA authorizes $5 million a year for FY2015 through FY2019 for the grant increases.