HR7225-119

What This Bill Does

The Protecting Child Sex Trafficking Victim Witnesses Act focuses on children who testify against human traffickers. The Attorney General, consulting federal law enforcement agencies, prosecutors, and other stakeholders, must develop and publish victim-centered guidance within 18 months. The guidance must address minimizing adverse consequences of testimony, safe travel, lodging, accompaniment, use of child advocacy centers and family justice centers where appropriate, and safety planning including post-trial safety planning. Within 180 days after publication, DOJ must disseminate the guidance and train every U.S. Attorney's Office. The bill also amends the victim-centered child human trafficking deterrence block grant statute so grants can strengthen protections for child sex trafficking victim witnesses and use other authorized trafficking-victim grant tools. Finally, it updates 18 U.S.C. 3509 by replacing older child-prostitution terms with child sex trafficking and commercial sex act language, adding victim advocacy to multidisciplinary child-abuse teams, and allowing digitally recorded statements wherever the statute previously referred to videotape.

Who Benefits and How

Child sex trafficking victim witnesses, child advocacy centers, family justice centers, victim advocates, federal prosecutors, trafficking task forces, and grant-funded service providers benefit from national guidance, training, safer travel and lodging practices, accompaniment, safety planning, grant eligibility, and updated digital-recording rules. Human trafficking prosecutions may benefit if child witnesses are better protected and better able to testify.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Attorney General, DOJ training staff, U.S. Attorney offices, federal law enforcement agencies, trafficking-grant administrators, prosecutors, and child-witness coordinators must develop guidance, consult stakeholders, train offices, update grant terms, revise witness-protection practices, and modernize child-witness recording procedures. Defendants and courts may encounter more digitally recorded child-witness evidence and updated terminology in trafficking prosecutions.

Key Provisions

• Requires Attorney General victim-centered guidance for protecting child sex trafficking victim witnesses within 18 months.
• Requires guidance on testimony harms, safe travel, lodging, accompaniment, child advocacy centers, family justice centers, and safety planning.
• Requires training for every U.S. Attorney's Office within 180 days after the guidance is published.
• Expands child human trafficking deterrence block grant uses to support victim-witness protections.
• Adds other trafficking-victim grant uses to the block grant statute.
• Modernizes federal child-victim and child-witness rights to include child sex trafficking, victim advocacy, commercial sex acts, and digital recordings.