Resources: 5.5 Strategies for Prosecutors and Law Enforcement

Prosecution and Law Enforcement Strategies

• AEquitas Library AEquitas publishes the STRATEGIES newsletter and monographs on complex topic areas, emerging issues, and promising practices related to the prosecution of violence against women cases. AEquitas staff also regularly contribute to other publications. Additionally, AEquitas develops and maintains resources including statutory compilations; case law digests; and sample motions, briefs, protocols, and predicate questions.
• In the Neighborhood: Enforcing Child Sexual Abuse and Sexual Exploitation Statues in Strip Clubs and Adult Bookstores (2012) This article lists common portions of the criminal code that are routinely violated in these establishments and offers suggestions for law enforcement officials seeking to enforce these statutes. The article also offers suggestions for policymakers desiring to make it easier for law enforcement officers to enforce the criminal code in these establishments.
• Enhancing Prosecutions of Human Trafficking and Related Violence Against Sexually Exploited Women This project was supported by a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW). The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of OVW. This resource describes seven critical strategies that can help prosecutors develop a response to human trafficking that recognizes and responds to the interconnected sexual and physical violence perpetrated against trafficked and nontrafficked victims in order to better identify, investigate, and prosecute the crimes against them.
• Identifying Challenges to Improve the Investigation and Prosecution of State and Local Human Trafficking Cases (2012) This research discusses the challenges to the identification and investigation of difficult cases and proposes strategies for overcoming the barriers to investigation and prosecution of human trafficking cases in the United States.
• Sex Trafficking: Identifying Cases and Victims (2009) Written by Robert Moosey for the National Institute of Justice Journal, this article provides direction for law enforcement on identifying cases and victims of sex trafficking.
• Enhancing Community Policing With Immigrant Populations (2008) The National Sheriffs' Association and the COPS Office partnered to host a national roundtable discussion of law enforcement leaders and immigration advocates who developed recommendations for enhancing community policing and ensuring equity in the delivery of law enforcement services to immigrant populations. This report documents this roundtable and provides practitioners and law enforcement agencies with information gained from the roundtable as well as other pertinent research.
• Criminal Resources Manual: Communications with Represented Persons—Issues for Consideration (2005)  The manual, by the U.S. Attorney’s office, is a resource for best practices when communicating with represented persons.

Restitution and Asset Forfeiture

• Restitution and Asset Forfeiture: A Focus on Human Trafficking (2014) This reference paper compiles restitution and forfeiture laws in the United States, including the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.
• Hitting Them Where It Hurts: Strategies for Seizing Assets in Human Trafficking Cases (2013) This issue of Strategies in Brief newsletter discusses using asset forfeiture laws to help deter and disrupt trafficking activities and to help provide victims with monetary support as they begin to rebuild their lives.
• Maximizing Restitution Awards for Labor and Sex Trafficking Victims (2013) This is a new resource created by the law firm of Norton Rose Fulbright, with assistance from Polaris, on the topic of restitution awards for labor and sex trafficking victims. The guide is a resource for pro bono attorneys representing trafficking survivors and for prosecutors on federal law of restitution.
• No Victim? Don't Give Up: Creative Strategies in Prosecuting Human Trafficking Cases Using Forfeiture by Wrongdoing and Other Evidence-Based Techniques (2012) This article provides an overview of key investigative and prosecution strategies in preparing and litigating forfeiture by wrongdiong motions.
• Human Trafficking and RICO: A New Prosecutorial Hammer in the War on Modern Day Slavery (2011) Written by Kendal Nicole Smith, this Comment explores the use of RICO as a means of prosecuting human trafficking in the United States. Part I defines human trafficking and surveys its scope within the United States as it exists today by explaining the differences between trafficking and smuggling and by emphasizing the international nature of the problem. Part II examines the development of current trafficking legislation, culminating in the TVPA and its subsequent amendments.