Examining Life Sentences of Federal Human Trafficking Defendants

• In Event: Perceptions and extent of life sentences

Abstract

Prosecuting and securing harsh sentences have been critical to anti-human trafficking efforts in the United States. An additional, distinct aspect of the United States criminal justice system is the sentencing of defendants to life imprisonment. The purpose of this research is to examine the prevalence of life sentences for convicted human trafficking defendants, characteristics of convicted human trafficking offenders who received life imprisonment sentences, and the components that sentencing judges may consider important in sentencing defendants to life imprisonment for this newly criminalized crime.

Author

• Monica DeLateur, Massachusetts Appeals Court