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Decriminalizing Victims of Sex Trafficking

Posted: May 1, 2015

CSE Institute Faculty Advisor, Michelle Madden Dempsey, recently published her article, “Decriminalizing Victims of Sex Trafficking” in the American Criminal Law Review (Georgetown University Law Center).

In the article, Professor Dempsey argues that “[o]ur current practice of arresting and prosecuting victims for prostitution-related offenses is not only a profound injustice, it is a violation of our obligations under international law and, at very least, an embarrassing hypocrisy.”

Abstract:  Despite the United States’ commitment to decriminalizing victims of sex trafficking and the obvious injustice of subjecting these victims to criminal penalties, the majority of jurisdictions throughout the U.S. continue to treat sex trafficking victims as criminals. This essay argues that the criminal law must abandon this practice. Part one presents a brief account of definitional and conceptual debates regarding what counts as sex trafficking. Part two explains why we must decriminalize its victims. Part three outlines four methods of decriminalizing sex trafficking victims, and defends what has come to be known as the “Nordic model” as the most effective means of achieving this decriminalization.

Download the full article.

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