Human Trafficking Research Lab @Millikin

We had Millikin homecoming last weekend and the Human Trafficking Research Lab participated in the Homecoming Makers Market sponsored by Millikin's Women in Business student organization. The market was on the quad and lots of alumni, students, community members and staff stopped by to chat about our work and get some coveted fair trade chocolate. I also sold a bunch of bath bombs, buttons, and keychains and raised money to support student research assistant salaries in the lab. The candles had a lot of competition at the market and it was interesting to see what other sellers had and how they displayed their items. I also got some ideas to make magnets and possibly t-shirts in the future. Thanks so much to everyone who stopped by to support the Human Trafficking Research Lab and learn more about our work!

Since our DOJ grant ended last year I have been looking for more sources to revenue to continue funding student research assistants in the Human Trafficking Research Lab. First, I made bags and then I made key chains and over the weekend I made some glass cabochons buttons. We will have a table at the Millikin Maker's Market on the Saturday of Homecoming from 10:00-2:00 sponsored by the Women in Business student organization.  I also thought it might be a good opportunity to start selling some small items (bath bombs, lotion and candles) from Freedom Studios a small business which helps survivors of human trafficking rehabilitate and heal through meaningful employment. After learning abut them at the Liberator Awards, I wanted to see if the lab could sell some of their products with proceeds going to help my students research human trafficking. Every product that they make is created in their studio and made by a survivor. Their mission is to give survivors the keys to unlock a new...

Today I attended an interesting training webinar from Freedom Network USA on criminal record relief. Many of the students who work in my Human Trafficking Research Lab become lawyers and so I was interested in learning more about how we can do this for survivors in our community! I learned more about older laws on human trafficking that still on the books including The Mann Act (White-Slave Traffic Act of 1910 of its official title An Act to further regulate interstate and foreign commerce by prohibiting the transportation therein for immoral purposes of women and girls, and for other purposes) which criminalizes transporting women for prostitution or immoral purposes, using interstate or foreign commerce (named after Congressman James Robert Mann of Illinois who introduced the bill in the House of Representatives). They also spoke about the differences between vacatur laws, sealing records, and expungement laws. It was interesting to see the differences across the US on Post-Convictio...

Since the Enhanced Collaborative Model (ECM) Task Force to Combat Human Trafficking funding ended in October 2024 there have been questions as to whether the Central Illinois Human Trafficking Task Force would continue. Several key players had people move on to different positions and so I was really debating if we should continue the task force. I met with colleagues at the Legal Aid Society office in Decatur and we agreed to continue the task force with Millikin and the lab organizing the agendas and minutes from the meeting and then Legal Aid Society would run the meetings. Then in early September we sent out a survey to members to ask if they wanted to bring the task force back together and the response was an overwhelming yes. So now we are working on the results and preparing for our next meeting in November. I think there are a lot of expectations on what the task force should do so we are going to have to bring those in line with a largely volunteer task force but I am hoping w...

I am teaching my human trafficking class again and so our first assignment was participating in the Red Sand Project on campus and around town. I first learned about this all the way back in 2015 in Atlanta when I participated in human trafficking workshop geared towards college students at the National Center for Civil and Human Rights in Atlanta The Red Sand Project is a participatory artwork created by Molly Gochman that uses sidewalk interventions and earthwork installations to create opportunities for people to question, connect and take action against vulnerabilities that can lead to human trafficking, modern slavery, and exploitation . Every time I teach my human trafficking I use this project as a starting off point to critically discuss human trafficking awareness projects and what we can do to improve them. So if you see some red sand around campus that is from my students. Here are a few of my favorite photos from students in my class this year from around Millikin!

Big human trafficking policy news in Illinois! Governor Pritzker signed the Illinois Statewide Trauma-Informed Response Human Trafficking Act into law last week with several other bills. This law  focuses on improving prevention and intervention efforts while and establishing standards for survivor support services within several state agencies ( Illinois State Police, Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS), Illinois Department of Human Services (IDHS), Illinois Department of Labor (IDOL), Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice (IDJJ), Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC), Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board (ILETSB), Children’s Advocacy Centers (CACs), the Office of the State’s Attorneys Appellate Prosecutor, the Illinois Secretary of State, and other stakeholders ).  Part of the law requires the development of a single statewide plan to identify and respond to survivors and we have already been working on that all summer as part o...

July 30 is World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. It is a day proclaimed in 2013 by the United Nations General Assembly in resolution A/RES/68/192. The day aims to “raise awareness of the situation of victims of human trafficking and for the promotion and protection of their rights.” We usually post something on the HTRL blog today about our work in recognition of this day but this year with all of the discussions on human traffickers in the media and budget cuts to the trafficking work around the world I have felt nothing but dread and apprehension about the future of the movement. The United States has been the leader in the anti-trafficking movement and has made counter trafficking a policy priority since the bi-partisan adoption of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000, devoting resources and chronicling progress and setbacks around the world through the Trafficking in Persons Report. As I wrote about in a previous article the TVPA built the foundation for traffi...