To provide for the vacating of certain convictions and expungement of certain arrests of victims of human trafficking.
Sponsors
Legislative Progress
Enrolled (Passed Congress)Additional sponsors: Mr. Thompson of California, Mr. Lieu, Mr. Owens, …
Reported with an amendment, committed to the Committee of the …
Passed House (inferred from enr version)
Passed Senate (inferred from enr version)
Enrolled Bill (inferred from enr version)
Mr. Fry (for himself, Mrs. Wagner, and Mr. Johnson of …
Summary
What This Bill Does
This bill creates a new federal legal process allowing victims of human trafficking to clear their criminal records. Trafficking survivors can petition courts to vacate (cancel) convictions and expunge (erase) arrest records for crimes they were forced to commit while being trafficked.
Who Benefits and How
Trafficking survivors benefit directly by gaining the ability to remove criminal records that resulted from their exploitation. This removes barriers to employment, housing, and education. Anti-human trafficking service providers and clinicians gain formal recognition as evidence sources in court proceedings. Federal courts receive clear procedural guidelines for handling these cases.
Who Bears the Burden and How
The Federal Government/Prosecutors must respond to motions within 30 days and conduct particularized inquiries for sentence reduction requests. Federal government employees handling court records must maintain confidentiality under seal requirements.
Key Provisions
- Victims can vacate convictions for non-violent federal offenses (Level A) committed due to trafficking
- Arrest records can be expunged for both non-violent and violent offenses under certain conditions
- No filing fees charged for trafficking survivors seeking relief
- All motions and related documents filed under seal to protect victim privacy
- Law applies retroactively to any conviction or arrest before, on, or after enactment
Evidence Chain:
This summary is derived from the structured analysis below. See "Detailed Analysis" for per-title beneficiaries/burden bearers with clause-level evidence links.
Primary Purpose
Creates a federal process for human trafficking victims to vacate criminal convictions and expunge arrest records for offenses committed as a direct result of being trafficked
Policy Domains
Section 2 - Federal Expungement for Victims of Trafficking
Likely Beneficiaries
- Human trafficking survivors
- Anti-human trafficking service providers
- Defense attorneys representing trafficking victims
Likely Burden Bearers
- Federal prosecutors
- Federal court clerks and employees
Bill Structure & Actor Mappings
Who is "The Secretary" in each section?
- "the_court"
- → Federal District Court
- "the_government"
- → United States Government/Federal Prosecutors
Key Definitions
Terms defined in this bill
An individual who has not attained 18 years of age
An individual who was convicted of a level A or level B offense, sentenced to imprisonment, and is or was previously imprisoned under such sentence
An offense that is punishable under Federal law
A Federal offense that is not a violent crime
A Federal offense that is a violent crime, but does not include a violent crime of which a child was a victim
Has the meaning given in section 103 of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 (22 U.S.C. 7102)
Has the meaning given the term crime of violence in section 16(a) of title 18
We use a combination of our own taxonomy and classification in addition to large language models to assess meaning and potential beneficiaries. High confidence means strong textual evidence. Always verify with the original bill text.
Learn more about our methodology