start the new year out right! make sure your contact information is correct in your hcBa member profile. Log in to your account at hillsbar. com.
finding JuStice fOr SurvivOrS Of huMan trafficking
Trial & litigation Section Chair: JenayE. Iurato – IuratoLawFirm, PL criminal record relief under section 943.0583 helps move florida’ s anti-trafficking framework from intention to action.
Florida recognizes human trafficking as“ a form of modernday slavery” and acknowledges that victims are subjected to force, fraud, and coercion for sex and labor. Survivors are often arrested for offenses like prostitution, theft, drug possession, or fraud— acts committed as a result of the trafficker’ s scheme to control the victim or at the trafficker’ s direction, not as free choices. The resulting criminal records follow them for life, keeping them captive long after the trafficker is gone. Ninety percent of survivors leave a trafficking situation with a criminal record, and ninety percent of survivors with a criminal record live in poverty. In a state that has documented very high levels of trafficking activity, criminal record relief is a practical necessity, not a luxury.
Passed in 2013, Florida’ s Human Trafficking Victim Expunction statute, section 943.0583, Florida Statutes, allows survivors to petition to expunge arrest records for offenses committed while they were
being trafficked. Expunged crimes they were involved in because convictions are deemed to be of trafficking. Expunging and substantively vacated. This relief vacating related convictions is broader than Florida’ s regular acknowledges that the legal system expungement laws and even allows initially made a mistake— that it petitions in multiple jurisdictions punished someone who was actually seeking to expunge multiple cases, under someone else’ s control. with most non-violent offenses That official recognition can be eligible. profoundly healing and can reduce The importance of this statute stigma in families, communities, starts with basic survival needs. and social spaces where a criminal A criminal record is a serious record might otherwise overshadow barrier to employment, safe the trafficking experience itself. housing, education, professional Criminal record relief supports licensing, and even some forms public safety and successful reentry. of public assistance. Landlords National research emphasizes that and employers routinely reject survivors with criminal records applicants with any criminal face overwhelming barriers that history, especially for prostitution increase the risks of homelessness, or drug-related offenses— exactly instability, and vulnerability to the charges many survivors carry. further exploitation. When Florida Record relief gives survivors a real clears those records, survivors are chance at sustainable employment more likely to access legitimate and housing, lowering the risks employment, education, and of re-exploitation. healthcare— protective factors that
Importantly, record relief helps make communities safer as a whole. shift the narrative from“ offender” to Florida also protects the“ victim.” Florida courts and agencies information contained in a petition expressly recognize that survivors can petition to expunge records for continued on page 61
start the new year out right! make sure your contact information is correct in your hcBa member profile. Log in to your account at hillsbar. com.
6 0 J A N- F E B 2 0 2 6 | H C B A L A W Y E R