WorldWE Legislative Priorities

1. 1. We advocate for the Survivor Model (Equality Model), which seeks to decriminalize individuals who are exploited in the sex trade, while holding buyers, traffickers, and other bad actors accountable. This model centers the voices and needs of survivors, promoting safety, dignity, and opportunities for recovery.
   This model has been adopted by a host of countries that have prioritized human rights and gender justice, including Canada, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Iceland, France, Israel, and Norway. Countries that have adopted the Survivor Model see success in holding sex buyers accountable, supporting more women in exiting the sex trade, and helping them rebuild their lives. For example, France enacted the Survivor Model in 2016, and within the first three years of the law taking effect, criminal investigations into pimping and trafficking increased by 54%. Additionally, reported in 2023, 1,247 prostituted women have benefited from France's exit program for survivors, with a reintegration success rate of 95%. In 2023, WorldWE, in partnership with our national partners, policy champions, and survivor leaders on the ground successfully passed legislation in Maine that decriminalizes prostituted people and provides them avenues to seek criminal record relief, while maintaining penalties for pimps, sex buyers, and brothel owners. We continue to support efforts nationwide to pass comprehensive Survivor Model legislation. 
2. Survivor Model legislation has been introduced in Illinois, New York Massachusetts 

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The names Cyntoia Brown and Chrystul Kizer spent many months in the news. These are just two of the girls who were charged as adults for killing the men who raped and trafficked them. 

When child victims engage in violence against their abusers, courts should have as much flexibility as possible in creating a trauma-informed and age-appropriate response, including suspending any sentence or transferring a child victim into the juvenile or child welfare system for treatment and services.

World Without Exploitation and our partner organizations have introduced bills in states across the country that would allow judges sentencing discretion in these cases. Often known as “Sara’s Law,”, the legislation is named in honor of a child sex trafficking victim who killed her trafficker and rapist and was then sentenced to life without parole. Thankfully, Sara is no longer incarcerated and has become a champion and advocate for passing these laws around the country. 

These laws have recently been passed into law in Georgia, and Virginia. Illinois, California and Oklahoma have also passed child sex crimes victims protection laws. There is currently pending Sara’s Law legislation in New York, Washington, and Massachusetts. 

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1. 1. These laws allow survivors of trafficking to vacate criminal records related to offenses committed as a result of being trafficked. By clearing these records, we help remove barriers to employment, housing, and education, providing survivors with a genuine path to healing and independence. In recent years, several states have expanded criminal record relief laws to allow survivors to vacate felony and violent felony convictions resulting from their trafficking, recognizing that abusers often force victims to commit a wide array of crimes beyond prostitution. 
   Georgia, New York, and New Hampshire have passed strong vacatur laws in recent years and do not limit offenses eligible for relief. 

Demand accountability laws in the context of sex trafficking refer to legislative measures aimed at reducing or eliminating the demand for commercial sex, which is the driving force behind sex trafficking. These laws target the individuals who purchase sex (the "demand" side) rather than just focusing on prosecuting traffickers or victims, and they seek to address the root cause of the trafficking by reducing the market for it.  

Legislative initiatives to address demand across the U.S. include: 

• Stiffer Penalties for Buyers: 
  • In some jurisdictions, sex buying is now a felony, allowing for more severe penalties and greater deterrence. 
  • Codifying into the law mandatory fines for those arrested for buying sex - these fines are distributed into victim compensation funds that go towards services for those who have been exploited in the sex trade. 

Texas, Montana, Oklahoma, and North Carolina have recently passed laws making sex-buying a felony. Other states that introduced legislation that would raise the penalties for sex buying include Kansas, South Carolina, Florida and New Jersey.  

Rhode Island and New Hampshire have bills pending that would increase the fines for convicted sex buyers and require buyer accountability education.