Assembly Considers Letting Human Trafficking Victims Sue Perpetrators

The state Assembly held a hearing this week for a bill allowing victims of human trafficking to take civil action against the people who exploited them.

Rep. Jill Billings, D-La Crosse, a sponsor of the bill, said the bill offers victims of human trafficking both the legal and financial means to get their lives back on track while holding their perpetrator legally accountable. Other victims that can sue their perpetrators in the bill include sexually exploited children.

Billings said she started pushing for the bill after attending a human trafficking conference in La Crosse last year where she was struck by the stories she heard from victims.

“They were robbed of years in their lives,” said Billings. “In my life, I’ve had the opportunity to build a healthy job resumé, be in healthy relationships with my family members and friends, join a church, join a book group, have kids – these things that I just take for granted in my life, and some of these women never have the opportunity to do that.”

Rep. LaTonya Johnson, D-Milwaukee, is a member of the Assembly’s Criminal Justice Committee, which heard the bill. She said she hopes it gives the victims options.

“The reality of the situation is that it’s the victims who are enduring this abuse, so giving them an avenue saying ‘Yes they can sue their perpetrators and they can get access to those assets,’ I think is only fair,” said Johnson. “It’s something that should have taken place a long time ago.”

According to the Polaris Project, a nonprofit that fights human trafficking, 29 states and the District of Columbia offer some type of civil remedy specifically for victims of human trafficking.