Tennessee holds on to top spot, A-grade for human trafficking laws in state report card
Tennessee is the best state in the nation for its response to the threat of human trafficking, according to the nation's leading experts.
Shared Hope International grades and ranks every state in the nation annually, assessing law enforcement approaches, legislation and survivor services.
The nation’s preeminent group fighting the sex trafficking of minors started rating states in 2011 and the nation as a whole received a failing grade.
In the most recent round of report cards released to the USA TODAY Network Wednesday morning by Shared Hope International, the overall average is a solid B – marking another year of rising scores.
Tennessee scored the highest, followed by Montana and Nevada, which has improved the most from when the grades began. That state went from an F to an A between 2011 to 2019, jumping 11.5 points just in the last year.
"This is probably the most important report of this nature that's out there. The experts working for the organization are at the forefront of the issue," said Caitlin Smith, senior assistant attorney general for Tennessee. "It's an important marker of how we've been doing and how we're addressing the issues."
Ranking focused on victims
How states compare on juvenile sex trafficking
Shared Hope International released its annual report cards ranking states' efforts to combat juvenile sex trafficking. Fifteen states received an A, while two states got a D. The national average is 84.7.
Despite the improvements, agency officials say a lot of work remains, focusing on the 20 states that still allow police to criminally charge minors with prostitution.
“It comes back to the word prostitute ... and it is biasing our laws when the act would be considered statutory rape because it involves a child if no money were exchanged,” said Linda Smith, who founded Shared Hope in the late 1990s after serving in the U.S. Congress for Washington state for four years.
The report comes after several high-profile sex trafficking cases nationally, including the solicitation charges against New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft as well as the infamous exploits of Jeffrey Epstein, the late former financier.
"We've still got core issues that allow the buyer in big part to get reduced sentences or no penalty at all while the child or youth still have big challenges to get justice," Smith said.
It is important, too, to recognize that human trafficking often begins as a domestic issue, advocates have said.
"A lot of this is the kid next door groomed by somebody in their acquaintance — a neighbor, family members, someone they meet when they run away. There's been this misconception that this happens to people form other places, but this can happen to anybody," Smith said.
Re-conceptualizing language
Tennessee revised legislation in 2011 and 2013 to reframe the language around human trafficking.
"You have to start as you mean to go on. In legislation and policy, that means clearly defining who good guys are, who the bad guys are. The bad guys are not our children, the children who are being trafficked," said Margie Quin, chief executive officer of End Slavery Tennessee.
"The types of crimes we’re talking about are not necessarily new but the way we define them within the criminal code is new."
Quin, who worked in law enforcement for 26 years and helped form the Tennessee Human Trafficking hotline through her work at the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, said it was critical to get the public, law enforcement and policy makers trained together.
"From Memphis to mountain city, we’re singing from the same sheet of music," she said.
End Slavery Tennessee launched a training program on Oct. 1 in cooperation with public schools that was made mandatory for educators. As of Nov. 19, more than 900 educators had completed the training.
Tennessee tops list again
The state's ranking went up from a 96.5 to a 98 this year, holding onto the top spot once again.
When the report was first released, Tennessee pulled in two C grades, in 2011 and 2012. Since then, the state has stayed in the 90s, pulling A grades and often making the top spot nationwide.
Those high grades are important to major stakeholders, but many say the work is far from finished.
"We've made a lot of strides, but we're not all done. We're not resting on our laurels. There are improvements that we can continue to make," Josh DeVine, a spokesperson for the TBI, said.
The report card is part of the Protected Innocence Project and involves an analysis of state laws to set a national standard of protection against domestic minor sex trafficking.
"This is rare for law enforcement today, but we fully realize we're never going to arrest our way out of the problem of human trafficking. We're happy to arrest people who commit this crime, and we will continue to do so. At the same time, we need to foster more of these conversations around what fuels demand," DeVine said.
Complicated issue to resolve
Responding to the problem is complicated, all parties have said, and requires buy-in from policy-makers, law enforcement and survivor services, often in the nonprofit world.
"Operating in silos does not work when you try to combat the issue of trafficking. Why we're No. 1 in the nation is because we have all the stakeholders — nonprofits, the public defender's office, the attorney general's office, the general assembly, sheriffs, police chiefs, survivors — all in the room, rowing in the same direction," Quin said. "There's an opportunity there for tremendous progress."
Fighting the commercial sexualization of minors and adults also requires action from the general public, advocates have said.
"We need people to care about this issue in big towns and in small towns. We need them to look for warning signs and to realize that if they saw something that they know in the pit of their stomach is suspicious, we hope they'd call the hotline that rings in here at the TBI headquarters," DeVine said.
Advocates also suggest supporting legislation that helps redefine victimization and supporting nonprofits that can provide the complex services needed to assist someone after they have been trafficked.
Those services can include helping victims get housing, therapy, medical attention, help with addiction, legal restitution from abusers and more, Smith said.
"It's inspiring to see how law enforcement, nonprofit agencies and the legislature have been putting their heads together, cooperating since 2011," she said. "They're all open-minded to reframing the issue."
"It's such an important issue, and there's such an injustice to be solved," DeVine said. "We need to help victims be survivors."
If you are in need of assistance or you suspect someone may be the victim of human trafficking, call the 24/7 Tennessee Human Trafficking Hotline 855-558-6484.