We Need Human Trafficking Courts Now

The legal system treats human trafficking cases like any other crime, but they require a specialized understanding.

The Merced County Sheriff’s Department in California discovered several migrants who were human trafficking victims living in “horrible” conditions and working as apparent indentured laborers at an illegal marijuana grow operation in Merced on July 26, 2023. Courtesy of Merced County Sheriff’s Department

Commentary

Human trafficking is one of the most horrific crimes imaginable. It’s an assault not only on a person’s freedom but on their identity, autonomy, and humanity. Yet in the United States, justice for survivors remains the exception rather than the rule. Despite increasing awareness and advocacy, the legal system is still fundamentally unequipped to address the complexity and trauma inherent in these cases.

Survivors often enter the courtroom having endured years of trauma. Instead of finding protection, they’re met with processes that retraumatize them: defense attorneys who question their credibility, prosecutors stretched too thin to fully investigate, and judges unfamiliar with the patterns of grooming and trauma bonding that define so many trafficking cases.

The legal system treats these cases like any other crime, when they require a specialized understanding of the emotional and psychological warfare traffickers use to maintain control. The courtroom, as it stands today, is often the last place survivors feel safe. As a result, many trafficking cases are dismissed, downgraded, or ignored, not because the harm isn’t real but because the system isn’t equipped to recognize or respond to it.

It’s time to change that. The United States needs specialized human trafficking courts staffed with expert judges that are open to state prosecutors. Trafficking cases demand specific expertise because our current legal and prosecutorial infrastructure is failing and, most importantly, because survivors deserve a justice process that protects and empowers them, rather than punishes their pain.

Trafficking Demands Specialized Courts

These cases are emotionally intense, legally complex, and rooted in deep trauma. Survivors often carry years of psychological manipulation. They may have been groomed, threatened, or convinced they were to blame. Some struggle to describe the abuse. These cases involve pain, coercion, and fear.

Courtrooms must be prepared.

Most judges are generalists. They try their best but often lack training in trauma bonding, grooming, or coercion. Many have never handled a trafficking case. Overloaded prosecutors may reduce charges, knowing the court won’t handle the full story. Survivors, already afraid, may shut down, especially when testifying in front of their trafficker.

This was evident in the case of People v. Brandie Charles, where the survivor recanted under pressure after being forced to testify in open court without trauma-informed protections. Despite clear indicators of trafficking, the judge dismissed key charges, and the trafficker received a reduced sentence. The case reflected how courtroom dynamics and a lack of trauma awareness can undermine justice for victims. Specialized human trafficking courts would change this.

These courts would have judges trained in the realities of trafficking. They would understand the psychological tactics traffickers use. The courts would use trauma-informed practices, including two-way video testimony, and offer a safer, more effective space for survivors and prosecutors.

We don’t ask heart surgeons to operate on brains. So why expect family or criminal courts to handle the unique damage of trafficking without training?

A Failing System

The justice system is failing survivors. Each year, more than 17,000 self-reported victims contact the National Human Trafficking Hotline. Yet only 200 cases are prosecuted. In some states, conviction rates drop to 16 percent.

Without specialized courts, even the most public allegations can be buried under procedure, power dynamics, and survivor silence.

Why? Federal prosecutors are selective. They focus on large networks and often decline cases involving adult victims, fewer traffickers, or no interstate movement. Even committed prosecutors face delays, uninformed judges, and a reliance on victim testimony that may not come.

My sister Ilonka experienced this firsthand.

She was trafficked at age 12. Years later, she pursued criminal charges, but she had no legal support. No attorney would take the case, not due to lack of evidence, but because there was no legal path. No system. No courtroom ready to take it on.

That’s what many survivors face: doors that close before they even have a chance to knock.

Special human trafficking courts would let state prosecutors access federal channels when the federal system won’t act. Congress already allows this under the Mann Act. We just need to expand it. That change could help thousands of survivors who currently have no options.

A Moral Issue

This is a moral issue. It’s not just about better court logistics; it’s about human dignity.

Survivors shouldn’t be retraumatized in courtrooms. They shouldn’t bear the burden of justice while the system stands by, and we can’t claim to fight trafficking if we don’t fix the place where justice is supposed to happen.

Creating special human trafficking courts sends a clear message: We see survivors, we believe them, and we will act.

We’ve done this before. When Congress created bankruptcy courts in 1979, filings doubled within a decade, not because bankruptcies increased but because people finally had a system built for them.

We can do the same for trafficking survivors—build courtrooms that recognize courage over trauma, empower prosecutors, train judges, and ensure that traffickers are held accountable consistently.

Some say this is too ambitious. But it’s too late to pretend that the current system works.

These aren’t just numbers. They’re children. Sisters. Brothers. Survivors. They’re in our churches, on our buses, in our neighborhoods. They’re waiting to be believed.

Justice isn’t just about punishment. It’s about restoration.

It’s time for the United States to have human trafficking courts.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.