Identically is the case of Cyntoia Brown, a woman that was forced into prostitution and sentenced as an adult when she was a minor. As specified by the article, “Cyntoia Brown, Trafficking Victim Serving Life Sentence for Murder, Will Get Clemency Hearing,” by Christine Hauser, a reported from The New York Times, she specifies that Cyntioa Brown would have a hearing after being sentenced for the murder of a 43-year-old man who took her to his home to have sexual contact while Brown, as a minor, was forced to prostitution by a pimp named “Kut Throat.” The incident happened in 2004 and recently caught the attention of celebrities throughout social media. The author asserts, “she was a victim of a man who picked her up when she was sixteen” (Hauser). …show more content…
The importance here lies in the fact that criminalizing victims of human trafficking is a step backwards to a democracy. It is relevant to take into consideration that most of the victims of human trafficking are prosecuted for crimes that most of the time the victims are forced to commit. As supported by the research, “Decriminalizing Victims of Sex Trafficking,” by Michelle Madden Dempsey, an Associate Dean for Faculty Research and Development and Professor of Law for Villanova University in Pennsylvania, the author specifies that there are many victims of sex trafficking that are prosecuted as criminals in the US and explains that this is an issue that needs to be address. Dempsey asserts, “thirty-two states within the U.S. continue to treat child victims as criminals, and no states have comprehensively decriminalized adult victims of sex trafficking” (Dempsey). This statement reinforces the idea that the criminal justice system must spend their time and resources tracking the actual criminals instead of targeting the