Tuesday, May 19, 2015
NoVo Grant Helps Sex Trafficking Victims Fight Prostitution Charges
Since sex trafficking has existed, victims have been punished for the crimes their traffickers have forced them to commit,” Kate Mogulescu, a public defender at Legal Aid in New York City, told The Huffington Post.
But that system is starting to ease up for trafficking survivors, thanks in large part to Mogulescu’s efforts to develop a unit within Legal Aid that caters specifically to vacating the records of sex trafficking victims.
It’s a welcome reprieve considering that sex trafficking is the fastest-growing business of organized crime. The number of victims internationally is estimated as being somewhere in the millions, according to the FBI.
The unit has received funding from the NoVo Foundation, a group that aims to advance girls’ rights and protect them from violence. It has also got additional probono assistance from Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton, which has worked on 23 out of the 59 motions filed....