| When sex trafficking survivors are arrested for crimes they say they were forced to commit, they are often treated like manipulative offenders, rather than victims being controlled by their abusers. There are very few laws to keep them from being locked up because many police officers, lawyers and judges don’t understand the psychological control traffickers have over their victims. These survivors occupy a legal gray zone in a criminal justice system that prefers to see things as black or white. Last fall, Angelina Chapin explored what happens to underage girls who are caught in the criminal justice system. The result was two stories, one about Lici who is still in prison, and Mia, who got out.
What was the seed of this story?
While reporting the first piece in our sex trafficking series, I became really interested in the question of how the legal system should treat victims who are coerced into commiting crimes. On the one hand, these survivors harmed someone else. But on the other, they were forced to commit these crimes by their abusers, who control them through physical abuse and psychological manipulation.
Throughout my research I discovered a combination of startling facts: The majority of sex trafficking victims are arrested for crimes that have nothing to do with prostitution, yet only three states have laws to could protect them from being convicted of felonies. In most of the U.S., these vulnerable children are treated like offenders.
When I came across Mia’s story, it was the perfect example of how a rigid system fails to account for the gray areas. She was sentenced to 20 years in prison because there is no legal defense that accounts for the way victims are controlled by their traffickers.
Why is the topic original and important?
The heart of this issue is that the legal system, and the public, don’t understand how sex trafficking works. Many people, including police officers, lawyers and judges, still think trafficking victims are kidnapped by strangers, chained to beds, and beaten into submission. The reality is much more nuanced.
Most victims are lured into trafficking by people they know and trust, like family members, boyfriends or in Mia’s case, a best friend. Of course physical violence is involved. But a trafficker’s most powerful weapon is the psychological control they have over someone vulnerable who depends on them for affection, security and in some cases, food and shelter.
Despite this reality, the only legal defense available to survivors like Mia is duress, which requires a person to feel “the threat of imminent death or serious bodily harm” when they commit a crime. Her lawyer tried to make that argument, but the prosecutors rightly pointed out that Mia’s case didn’t meet the requirements of duress.
Her story shows the need for laws that recognize how traffickers victims live in a constant state of fear and manipulation, even if they don’t have a gun to their heads.
How did you report the story?
I spent a few weeks last summer convincing Mia’s lawyer that I was the right person to tell it based on my previous work. At that point, she had just turned 19 and been transferred from juvenile detention to an adult prison. At her transfer hearing, a judge had told her she she went “more or less” willingly along with her traffickers who provided her a “certain sense of excitement.” She was feeling pretty desperate and beaten down.
I flew to Fort Worth to meet with her lawyer in person and the next day I drove a few hours to a prison in Gatesville, Texas to interview Mia. I also spent an afternoon with her parents, who were completely distraught, and combed through many, many legal files involving her case.
What were the obstacles in telling it?
I didn’t have much access to Mia while doing the bulk of my reporting because she was in prison. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice allows reporters to meet with inmates for one hour every three months. I knew I had to pack a lot into those 60 minutes while also being conscious of her trauma. On top of that I had to leave time for the photographer to take the heartbreaking photos featured in the piece, which he had to do from behind a glass divider.
Her case was also extremely complicated. It involved 6 other co-defendants, one of whom was a well-known rapper who goes by Tay-K, and there were competing narratives about Mia’s involvement in the robbery.
All of the young people involved in this crime were also in prison, so I couldn’t easily interview them. I went through all the available court transcripts to figure out what happened that night, and tried to be as transparent as possible in the piece about what I didn’t know.
Did the story create any impact?
To avoid any spoilers, I will just say that the impending publication of this story did put some pressure on the prosecutors involved in Mia’s case. And the series as a whole definitely had an impact. The first piece helped the survivor I profiled receive her psychiatric medication and get moved out of isolation. Her lawyers are also using the article to help appeal her sentence and to advocate for a clemency bill dedicated to trafficking victims.
Anything else you would like to add?
Public opinion does so much to influence what happens in courts. One legal expert told me that lawyers and judges aren’t from Mars--they internalize all the stereotypes that exist in society. It’s important for people to educate themselves about the realities of complex crimes like sex trafficking and domestic violence so they don’t make false judgements about a survivor’s behavior. In sum: Please don’t take your cues about trafficking from the Liam Neeson movie ‘Taken’!
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