Victims Are Not Criminals: A Federal Step Toward Survivor-Centered Justice

Last week marked an important moment in the movement toward a more just and humane legal system.

After nearly ten years of survivor-led advocacy, the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act became law at the federal level. While no single statute can undo the harm survivors have endured, this legislation represents a meaningful shift in how our legal system understands human trafficking, coercion, and accountability.

For decades, survivors of trafficking have been arrested, prosecuted, and left carrying criminal records for non-violent offenses they were forced or coerced into committing as part of their exploitation. Crimes such as fraud, drug offenses, or identity-related offenses were treated as evidence of criminality rather than survival.

The Trafficking Survivors Relief Act begins to correct that injustice.

At the outset of a prosecution, the law establishes a federal affirmative defense for certain non-violent offenses that arose directly from trafficking victimization. For survivors who were already convicted, it creates pathways to seek vacatur, expungement, and sentencing relief for criminal records tied to their exploitation.

This matters not only symbolically, but practically.

Criminal records create lifelong barriers to housing, employment, education, and stability. Clearing those records can be the difference between continued marginalization and a real opportunity to rebuild.

At its core, this law affirms a truth survivor advocates have long fought to make visible: coercion is not choice. Victims are not criminals. Accountability lies with the perpetrators, not with the people they exploited.

This law did not pass quickly. It took nearly a decade of persistence, coalition-building, and survivor leadership. It required people to stay in the work even when progress felt slow or uncertain.

That is worth naming.

In a time when systems change can feel impossible, the passage of the Trafficking Survivors Relief Act is a reminder that transformation often happens incrementally, through sustained effort and collective commitment.

There is still much to do. Relief must be accessible. Survivors must be supported through the process. Systems must continue to evolve. But this moment deserves recognition, not just as a legislative win, but as an affirmation of survivor dignity and humanity.

Justice begins when the law stops blaming the exploited. This law is one step in that direction.