By: Lauryn Eason, Regent Law Legal Fellow
Last week, Director of Regent Law’s Center for Global Justice, Meg Kelsey and I traveled to Richmond with the Virginia Coalition Against Human Trafficking (VCAHT) for the annual General Assembly. Our team met with legislators to discuss an amendment to Virginia’s 2021 Vacatur Law that will expand criminal record relief for survivors of human trafficking and change the legal definition of trafficking to include both sex and labor if enacted.
As the law stands, only two prostitution-related misdemeanors are eligible for vacatur, but victims of trafficking are frequently forced to commit a variety of crimes ranging from petit theft to felony drug possession or fraud. The result is a criminal record that revictimizes survivors & makes them vulnerable to re-exploitation and recidivism. It also cuts off survivors’ access to critical resources like housing, education, and employment. If the bill is enacted, it would expand vacatur and expungement relief from 2 offenses to potentially more than 35 – making the path to restoration, healing, and freedom more accessible.
The bipartisan Consensus Bill was drafted by a legislative workgroup Co-Chaired by VCAHT and CGJ Director, Meg Kelsey, and included representatives from the Virginia Office of the Attorney General, the Virginia Association of Commonwealth’s Attorneys, the Virginia Indigent Defense Commission, the Virginia Beach Police Department, several national and statewide nonprofit antihuman organizations and lived-experience survivor experts.
As of the day this post has been made, the bill has passed unanimously in the House and will be heard in the Senate early next week! If the bill becomes law, the Human Trafficking Clinic at Regent is prepared for an influx of cases from clients who weren’t previously eligible for relief but now have access to justice.
This post was written by an individual at Regent University School of Law. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of Regent University, Regent Law School, or the Center for Global Justice.