By: Jeremiah Moniz
Having the opportunity to experience the SKIP class at Chesterfield County Jail was an enlightening experience as to how individuals process through education that the experiences they have been through fall under the umbrella of human trafficking. In addition, it was encouraging to see law enforcement systems actually take the issue of human trafficking in their communities seriously from more than a simple prosecutorial stance. The hope that those running the SKIP class have of providing a way out from the cycle of trauma-bonded relationships, coercion, and trafficking in helping women find new lives and the freedom that they deserve.
The experience that impacted me the most was when the class played the Ted Talk by Karly Church on the stages that individuals go through when they are being domestically sex trafficked, and how traffickers prey on the vulnerabilities and wounds of individuals to entrap, coerce, and traffic individuals in order to usually gain either money or drugs. The video highlighted the steps that these individuals take, which go from making an individual seem special and wanted, to taking care of the individual, to growing isolation, and finally exploiting the individual for their own gain. The impact of seeing individuals relating to the real-life experiences of the speaker in the video and having the realization that those experiences they have encountered were situations of trafficking.
The SKIP class is a methodology that should be modeled after by many other counties, not only in the state of Virginia, but across the country. As the movement to provide survivors post-conviction relief gains steam, it is also necessary to provide those individuals with the tools, resources, and education necessary to be best prepared to succeed and avoid similar situations once they are released from incarceration. The experience at the SKIP class was an encouraging sign that in Chesterfield County, individuals are being given those skills and an opportunity to rewrite the future.
This post was written by a student 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.