My name is Seth Craig. I am a 2L from California interested in advocating for people’s rights. My time working for the Center for Global Justice and Shared Hope International has been extraordinary. Initially established in 1998, Shared Hope’s mission was to target the international child sex trafficking industry, particularly women enslaved in the brothels of Mumbai. Today, Shared Hope has expanded to the United States, leading the fight in legal prevention strategies, restoration programs, and avenues of justice to combat child sex trafficking.
Working with Shared Hope has opened my eyes to the measure of work required to improve the statutory law to protect the victims of human trafficking. As a student staff member, I performed state survey research for the “Report Cards on Child & Youth Sex Trafficking” project. The Report Card project focuses on current statutory provisions and how to encourage meaningful and sustainable prevention efforts.
Shared Hope’s Report Card project aims to utilize a state survey framework to draft each state’s current legal strategy to further statutory protections for sex trafficking victims. The Report Card project focuses intensely on survivor-centered and trauma-informed approaches for responding to exploited youth. In the past, Shared Hope has acted and contributed to ten states revising statutory law that expanded the legal protection for minors involved in sex trafficking. Since then, The Report Card Project has responded to the call to “raise the bar” for states, furthering the foundational work that Shared Hope established.
It is enriching to put my studies here at Regent Law into action. I highly recommend the Center for Global Justice for anyone called to advocate for people’s rights. I am proud to stand with Shared Hope and assist in their projects that fulfill their initiative to combat trafficking in the U.S. and abroad. After learning about this issue, I could no longer ignore this injustice and will continue to be a proponent of Shared Hope as I continue my legal studies.
I fully back the vision of Shared Hope, “to coordinate a national U.S. network of protection to improve the response of victims of trafficking.” As advocates of Christ, we can create a world where trained professionals and appropriate shelter options will assist every sex trafficking survivor. I am proud to be a part of the Report Card Project and Shared Hope’s efforts to improve existing legal protections for child sex trafficking victims.
This post was written by a Center for Global Justice Student Staff member. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of Regent University, Regent Law School, or the Center for Global Justice.