First Page
241
Last Page
284
Document Type
Comment
Abstract
It is common for human trafficking victims to acquire a criminal record as a result of the activities they are forced to engage in whilst being trafficked. Once these victims become survivors, their criminal record hinders them from wholly reacclimating to society. The current state of human trafficking laws provides little to no relief for human trafficking survivors in regard to alleviating their criminal records. Accordingly, human trafficking survivors are perpetually victimized by the United States criminal justice system. This Article explores the current state of human trafficking laws and their enduring effect on survivors. Specifically, the Article examines California’s vacatur law and analyzes its fundamental advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, this Article delineates the effective impact of actualizing exhaustive relief for human trafficking survivors and offers suggestions for overcoming obstacles to expansion of the proposed, improved vacatur law. Ultimately, this Article argues that the continued victimization of human trafficking survivors necessitates the implementation of a uniform, federal derivative of a comprehensive vacatur law.
Recommended Citation
Sarah Devaney
Justice for All? Impeding the Villainization of Human Trafficking Victims via the Expansion of Vacatur Laws,
49 Pepp. L. Rev.
241
(2021)
Available at:
https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/plr/vol49/iss1/5
