According to the Prison Policy Initiative (2018), 219,000 women are behind bars in the U.S. The number of women locked up nationwide has been growing more than twice as fast as that of men since 1978. Moreover, incarcerated women tend to face greater disciplinary action than men and are offered inferior services, programming and facilities than men (Women’s Justice Institute, 2018). Attendees will learn about two programs directly supporting and advocating for incarcerated women. Chicago Books to Women in Prison (CBWP) distributes free books to women and trans/non-binary people in prisons nationwide. The grassroots organization provides a critical intervention by offering the self-empowerment, education and entertainment of reading to people with little or no access to books. The organization has integrated human trafficking education in its work, offering recommended books on human trafficking. CBWP uses the trust it has earned from the women it serves to help fight human trafficking. Sex Workers Outreach Project (SWOP) Behind Bars provides extensive support to incarcerated men, women and trans folks: newsletters, books, pen pals, scholarships, and reentry support, as well as a “toolkit” for donating books to county jails. They advocate for sex workers, who rarely receive the comprehensive support that would enable them to leave the industry if they choose. SWOP Behind Bars works to remove the stigma around sex work and thereby protect the human rights and dignity of women in it. By decriminalizing both the buying and selling of sex, efforts can better focus on those who truly need assistance.

Presentation Objectives:

·  Explain how books-to-prisoners programs fill a critical need for incarcerated people

·  Describe the role of books-to-prisoners programs in educating incarcerated people about human trafficking

·  Discuss the importance of supporting and advocating for sex workers, including those who are incarcerated and in reentry

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Victims of trafficking are presenting in healthcare settings, yet studies show that they often remain ‘hidden in plain sight’ in the hospitals and clinics because healthcare professionals don't know how to identify, respond, and safeguard them (Oram et al, 2016; Katsanis et al, 2019). Professionals may be blinkered to treating the physical injury but miss holistically assessing the individual and their potentially life-threatening situation. Crucial opportunities to empower and intervene in a survivor’s life are being lost. Trafficking survivors often feel unable to spontaneously disclose their abusive situation to health professionals due to complex, layered fears, threats, confusions and misunderstandings. However, to a sensitive professional, their speech, behavior, mental state and physical appearance may well give clues that something is wrong. If that attending health professional is then equipped to manage a potential slavery scenario safely and confidently, including tailored screening questions, techniques for removing suspicious accompanying individuals from the room without raising alarm and an understanding of next steps, the chance for a victim to be well supported greatly increases. This workshop will cover the reality of human trafficking and how it relates to healthcare, the approach and lessons learnt from the USA’s healthcare-led responses, and VITA’s plans to transform the assessment and care of modern slavery survivors in the UK National Health Service.

Presentation Objectives:

·  Discuss how victims of trafficking may present in healthcare settings

·  Discuss what physical, mental, behavioural and other clues to trafficking may be disclosed or detected in the healthcare setting

·  Discuss what actions are appropriate and safe for a healthcare professional to take when a patient is a suspected modern slavery victim

·  Discuss existing training programs for healthcare professionals across the USA, drawing important lessons

·  Discuss the development and strategy of VITA training in the UK, identifying key recommendations for implementing a national training program

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Recently there have been concentrated efforts focusing on human trafficking prevention (ACF, 2016; Chang & Stoklosa, 2017). Current prevention efforts span various professional fields and expertise. Missing from prevention literature is the systematic inclusion of survivors’ through methodologically sound research (Murphy, Bennet, & Kottke, 2016). This study utilized Group Concept Mapping (GCM), a rigorous participatory mixed-method process adept in capturing stakeholder contributions, to explore human trafficking prevention. Having survivor contributions captured through rigorous research provides greater opportunities to utilize data. GCM draws upon a non-random, purposive sample of stakeholders: survivors of human trafficking (Kane & Trochim, 2007). Survivors are the originators of the data, determine the value of the data and identify ways in which the data should be presented and coalesced. Adult survivors of human trafficking (N=35) participated in brainstorming and rating/sorting sessions across three states. Survivors were asked to conceptualize human trafficking prevention. Results identified 10 distinct clusters, made up of 108 unique statements. Examples included: Education and Awareness, Social Services, and School Based Education. Survivor conceptualizations of prevention (statements) were also rated by participants across two variables, Importance and Feasibility. Participant ratings produced a high correlation between participants’ views of which data was important and which data was feasible (r = 0.91). Two significant outcomes of this study are the central focus on the inclusion and representation of survivors’ contributions and building an empirical knowledge base for preventing human trafficking. The analytical outputs are highly useful in influencing program development and modification. Dr. Justin “Jay” Miller, Associate Dean for Research & Associate Professor at the University of Kentucky, is a contributing author of this presentation.

Presentation Objectives:

·  Emphasize survivor integration in research conceptualizing prevention strategies

·  Discuss study findings and implications

·  Identify key areas for prevention initiatives

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As many of us working tirelessly toward ending human trafficking begin to move from “rescue and restore” models of intervention into more holistic, trauma-informed, empowerment models emphasizing safety and self-determination, harm reduction principles become increasingly important for us to understand and incorporate into our work. Harm reduction in sex trafficking prevention starts from the position that any steps toward a person’s safety are worth making, allowing for incremental improvement toward safety and self-determination rather than holding out on “rescue” as our primary indicator of success. In this workshop, attendees will learn harm reduction principles, why they are needed in our work in sex trafficking prevention and response, and how to incorporate them into outreach, direct service programs, and policy.

Presentation Objectives:

·  Identify the 8 principles of harm reduction as outlined by the Harm Reduction Coalition

·  Translate these principles from use in addressing substance use disorders to sex trafficking policy and response

·  Name 5 ways these principles might lead to more effective policy, outreach, and direct service programming for survivors of sex trafficking

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Psychosocial, human, and health services are seldom equipped to address the unique needs of people with lived experiences in the commercial sex trade (Aron, Sweig, & Newmark, 2006; Hemmings et al., 2016). A prominent issue is the struggles that people experience(d) to exit from the trade (Baker, Dalla, & Williamson; Reid & Piquero, 2014). The stigma associated with involvement in the trade often deters those caught up in it from services (Macy & Johns, 2011; Silver, Karakurt, & Boysen, 2015); a missed opportunity for providers to engage a population highly vulnerable to exploitation, violence, trafficking, prostitution and other forms of human rights violations. Hence, this presentation will describe a study whose primary objective is to better understand the challenges that people face to exit. Another study objective is to generate knowledge to inform best practices to work with people who are at different points of experience and relationship to the commercial sex trade: still in the sex trade; out of the sex trade; and with or without a history of cycling in and out of the sex trade. The team will discuss their preliminary findings in relation to the study objectives based on qualitative and quantitative data gathered across Massachusetts in 2018 from 50 interviews with adult participants who reported they had exchanged sex for something of value during their lifetime. The study participants are diverse by their age (18-34, 35%; 35-44, 45%; 55+, 20%);  gender (male, 14%; female, 84%, other 2%); race (Black & African American, 41%; White, 47%; other, 12%); ethnicity (12% Latino); sexual orientation (Heterosexual, 59%; Homosexual/Gay/Lesbian, 10%; Bisexual, 25%; other, 6%); income (51%, $12,000 or less); and childbearing status (74%, have children).

Presentation Objectives:

·  Discuss preliminary study findings related to participants' relationship to the commercial sex trade correlated across exiting status and measures involving spirituality, wellness, dissociation, PTSD, and Adverse Childhood Experiences

·  List potential practice applications of the data that may inform improved clinical and peer services to people with lived experience in the commercial sex trade

·  Engage attendees in helping the researchers identify how these preliminary findings might be helpful to better serve the population

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Numerous United Nations bodies, such as the Committee Against Torture, the Committee for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, contend that it is a human rights violation to make survivor assistance contingent upon cooperation with law enforcement. The fact that the U.S. Trafficking Victims Protection Act does so has been decried as placing an “onerous, discriminatory burden on alien victims” (Chakraborti, 2014). We will discuss this allegation in light of three factors: (1) that the objections to the TVPA’s Contingency Clause are utilitarian rather than based upon human rights, (2) that existent human rights law grants discretion to utilize some version of the Contingency Clause, and (3) that the history of human rights as well as international and regional practice implies a reciprocity of duties among rights-holders, which suggests the Contingency Clause may in fact be justified on the basis of human rights. Discussants will be asked to consider how contingency, if re-construed as reciprocity, affects the relationship between such (sometimes) competing therapeutic goals as enhancing autonomy and effecting a willingness to proactively serve other potential survivors.

Presentation Objectives:

·  Examine the claim that the TVPA's contingency requirement violates survivors' human rights

·  Describe international and regional human rights law regarding survivor services

·  Discuss the implications (e.g., for therapeutic goals) if contingency is compatible with human rights

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