This webinar will provide participants with an introduction to family-facilitated human trafficking and how it compares to other types of trafficking, including a discussion of high risk factors and challenges with prosecution and investigation of these cases.
The webinar will include an introduction to the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit at the Department of Justice, a discussion of challenges in prosecuting human trafficking cases, and additional challenges presented by prosecuting cases involving family members. This will be followed by a case study involving a successful prosecution of a stepfather who compelled the labor of his stepchildren, while also sexually abusing them. There will be a discussion about role of local governments, federal governments, non-governmental organizations, schools, and DSS and some lessons learned from working this case.
Featured Speaker: Mimi Zhuravitsky is a Trial Attorney in the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit, where she focuses primarily on forced labor and adult sex trafficking cases based on coercion. Mimi secured a 35-year plea in Louisiana in United States v. Fulton, a case in which the defendant pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit forced labor of three minors and to transporting a minor with intent to engage in criminal sexual activity.