Silver State Times

Nevada has one of the highest human trafficking rates in the nation, and yet there were no successful prosecutions of sex traffickers in the Silver State in 2020, a recently released report revealed.

The Human Trafficking Institute released a report Oct. 4 detailing the records of federal trafficking prosecutions in the state of Nevada in 2020. The state report did not take note of state-level trafficking prosecutions or state civil lawsuits.

The Nevada State Report for federal human trafficking prosecutions in 2020 notes that four Nevada-based human trafficking cases were pursued by federal prosecutors, but none resulted in successful convictions during 2020.

Lindsey Roberson, the Human Trafficking Institute’s director of legal engagement | Human Trafficking Institute

Lindsey Roberson, the Human Trafficking Institute’s director of legal engagement, said federal charges were brought against people, but no one was convicted. She said the COVID-19 pandemic is partly to blame, as well as the “tricky” nature of such investigations.

“You know, we try to promote a model of investigation and prosecution that requires multidisciplinary collaboration,” Roberson told Silver State Times. “And I can't speculate as to what's happening in the Nevada federal district. But I think where collaboration is lacking between agencies that work with survivors and agencies that investigate offenders, sometimes it can be quite difficult to bring those cases to court.

Nevada is ninth in the nation for most human trafficking cases, reporting 199 cases in a single year, according to the UNLV Center for Crime and Justice Policy.

In Nevada, sex trafficking is the most common form of trafficking, comprising 89% of trafficking cases in the state. This is higher than the national percentage of sex trafficking cases, where 71% of total trafficking cases are centered around selling sex.

This Is Reno reported that: “Nevada currently has 11 active cases of defendants charged with sex trafficking. In 2019 in Nevada, one new sex trafficking case was filed and one case ended in a conviction. In 2018, no new trafficking cases were filed in Nevada and four earlier cases ended in convictions. There have been 33 sex trafficking convictions in Nevada since 2010."

Roberson said it’s difficult to ascertain if human trafficking has increased or if there is just more awareness of it now.

“Oh, that’s a tough one. I don’t know the answer,” she said. “You know, our report is not a prevalent study. I mean, it's simply looking at the federal enforcement efforts. We’re limited to publicly available data there, and the global estimates right around the world estimate there's more forced labor trafficking happening than sex trafficking. 

“But when you look at our data, you know, in Nevada, for example, it’s had no forced labor prosecutions, certainly not an indication there's no forced labor in Nevada, right? It's just an indication that we’re not identifying, investigating and prosecuting it. So it’s really hard to speak about whether prevalence of increased or decreased because we just don’t have that data.”

Roberson said law enforcement agencies are learning more about trafficking and are more receptive to view women caught up in prostitution as victims, not criminals.

“Yeah. I mean, absolutely, that’s a trend that we want to see and we want to encourage,” she said. “I've been working in the field and law enforcement for over a decade, and I have personally seen that trend shift with local law enforcement and federal law enforcement officers who are recognizing that prostitution is not a victimless crime, that exploitation is inherent in this business.”

“And just because it appears to be a choice that someone is making does not mean that coercion is not present, right? Which is the sort of basis of human trafficking,” Roberson said. “And what makes human trafficking so different from other crimes is having to prove that coercion because it’s not always apparent. And oftentimes it’s mental and not physical.”

It’s much more complex, she explained.

“As you know, the media would like us to think that there’s locked doors and chains or physical abuse, and frankly, the non-physical and psychological, reputational and financial harm are often just as coercive, if not more than physical harm,” Roberson said. “So, yes, I do think law enforcement is making a shift. I think prosecutors are making a shift. I think it's been happening slowly over time. But I do think there's evidence that it's happening. And that's what we want to see, is a victim-centered prosecution model.”

She is encouraged by what she is witnessing.

“Absolutely. Absolutely. I see that everywhere,” Roberson said. “There are a lot of encouraging things happening. You know, I think we are seeing this pendulum shift away from prostitution as like a person to someone being prostituted, someone being exploited, as a verb.”

She said it’s challenging to define what success looks like.

“And frankly, it doesn't always end in a conviction. Sometimes there's intervention, you know, on the front end that removes somebody from a type of exploitation that's, done by service providers, that's done by people who are doing outreach with survivors and victims,” Roberson said. “It doesn't always end in an investigation, prosecution and conviction. But at the same time, I do think prosecutors educating themselves on what human trafficking is, what it's not, what the law says that it is. It doesn't require physical coercion, that it doesn't require movement and it certainly doesn't require require foreign-born victims or activity that it can all happen intrastate and still be a federal crime. So I think education is huge.

“I also think resources are huge,” she said. “So I think having prosecution leadership and prosecutors’ offices putting emphasis on this crime and allocating resources, meaning prosecutors to work on these crimes and to collaborate with law enforcement and service providers is really paramount. If we want to see an impact here, just like with any crime, right, you have to allocate resources to it.”

Training is crucial. Human trafficking is a very nuanced crime, Roberson said.

Advocates and investigators need to maintain contact, build rapport and trust with the victims that are often needed to testify in trials.

“So I think training and education (are important) for prosecutors to understand how to engage in these cases appropriately with law enforcement as they build their investigations,” she said. “Because oftentimes these cases take a long time to build a long time from identification through investigation, the prosecution and conviction — years. So understanding that you've got to be in it for the long haul, managing expectations, I think is really big. And that goes back to sort of these myths that, like victims, don't necessarily think that they need to be rescued.”

Roberson said without such knowledge, “we might be setting ourselves up for failure." 

"So understanding what survivors need in this space, being survivor-informed, being victim-centered and learning how to do that as a prosecutor, I think really changed my approach as a former prosecutor and also changed my ability to successfully prosecute these cases,” she said.

Roberson is a graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s School of Law and served as a law clerk to the Judge James C. Fox for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Roberson was a prosecutor from 2012-19, first for the state of North Carolina, and then as a federal prosecutor for the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division for the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit.

The U.S. federal government awarded $101 million last year combatting human trafficking, according to a release from the Justice Department.

“The scourge of human trafficking is the modern-day equivalent of slavery, brutally depriving victims of basic human rights and essential physical needs as it erodes their sense of dignity and self-worth,” then Attorney General William Barr said the Sept. 21, 2020, release. “The Department of Justice is relentless in its fight against the perpetrators of these heinous crimes. Working with state and local law enforcement and community victim service providers, we will continue to bring these criminals to justice and deliver critical aid to survivors.”

The administration of President Joe Biden announced an updated National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking on Dec. 3.

“The plan draws on survivor voices and recommendations over the years on how to prevent human trafficking and provide the appropriate resources to protect and respond to the needs of individuals who have experienced human trafficking,” according to a release from the White House.

“Survivor engagement is critical for empowerment and establishing effective victim-centered and trauma-informed anti-trafficking policies and strategies,” it stated. “The National Action Plan emphasizes recommendations from survivor-led groups, including the United States Advisory Council on Human Trafficking, to include input from individuals with lived experiences within our strategic responses.”