Beginning in the summer of 2014, a
coordinated statewide effort took shape to
adapt our approach to human trafficking
and to address these difficulties. Five nonprofit organizations1 came together and
secured funding to establish a statewide
grassroots coalition called FUSE. FUSE
hired a full-time coordinator, put in place
an Advisory Committee with 25 members,2
and set to work on revising our state laws,
securing funding for increased capacity for
law enforcement and service providers, and
providing training and technical assistance
across the state. During the 2015 Legislative
Session, FUSE partnered with the Attorney
General’s Office to advocate for increased
funding and robust changes to our state laws.
The centerpiece of the legislative progress
made by FUSE was the Uniform Act on
Prevention of and Remedies for Human
Trafficking (UAPRHT) that went into effect
August 1, 2015. The law did many important
things to strengthen services for adult and
minor trafficking victims in North Dakota.
One of the biggest changes the law brought
about is a concept called Safe Harbor, which
is now found in N.D.C.C. § 12.1-41-12.
Safe Harbor mandates that a person who is a
minor and committed a prostitution offense
(and other related offenses that occurred
as a direct result of being trafficked) is not
subject to criminal liability or a juvenile
delinquency petition, but rather is identified
as a deprived child in need of social service
intervention. The Safe Harbor provision
allows law enforcement and court personnel
to provide a consistent message to the
victims they work with, that they are indeed
victims and will be treated accordingly, rather
than entering the court system with what can
feel like criminal charges. This formal policy
change mirrors what we’ve been seeing in
evolving practice by many law enforcement
agencies, juvenile court officers, and judges
in North Dakota. They recognize in order
to fight sex trafficking, we must focus on
those coordinating and benefitting from
the sale and purchase of commercial sex,
the traffickers, and the customers, and that
we are more likely to be successful in that
endeavor if we understand the nature of
the commercial sex industry as inherently
exploitative and coercive. The narrative of
the liberated sex worker and the harmless
exchange of sex between consenting adults
is largely a myth, and by instituting Safe
Harbor policies, we are recognizing that
myth and updating our policies acco