This brief published by the International Association of Chiefs of Police and Aequitas provides guidelines for establishing a prosecution review process.
This publication of the International Association of Chiefs of Police and Aequitas aims to assist multidisciplinary anti-human trafficking task forces to develop a process that details how they will work with local, state, and federal prosecutors to conduct case reviews and referrals for both state and federal prosecutions. This guidance helps stakeholders to evaluate federal and state criminal justice systems in order to make informed decisions on the most effective route to pursue prosecution based on a thorough analysis of each legal system’s statutes, policies, and procedures. The best way to complete this analysis is to have federal and local stakeholders jointly discuss each step. This analysis will assist anti-human trafficking task forces to maximize offender accountability by leveraging state and federal criminal statutes; consider how legal processes impact victim’s privacy, safety, and autonomy; and mitigate collateral consequences to victims. A prosecution case review process will be uniquely created by each inter-agency, multidisciplinary task force. The guidance offers thoughtful evaluation of the prosecution tools available to task forces in order to maximize offender accountability and mitigate collateral consequences for victims. The considerations outlined in these steps may not be exhaustive. Evaluation of the elements of steps 1-5 goes beyond considering any single step alone; but rather, how those elements intertwine to create a prosecution landscape as unique as each individual community. The goal is to analyze all information gathered through steps 1-5 in order to make the best charging decisions possible to provide the highest level of justice for all parties to the case. The publication includes a statutory analysis worksheet at the end.