Webinar: A SANE Approach to Human Trafficking Cases

Publication Date: 2022

Sexual Assault Nurse Examiners (SANEs) are invaluable collaborative partners in a prosecutor’s response to human trafficking. Victims of sex and labor trafficking are at risk of serious injury, as well as short- and long-term physical and psychological health consequences, and SANEs provide much-needed medical care to these patients. Trafficking investigations and prosecutions are also enhanced by the addition of SANEs to a multidisciplinary team. SANEs document injury, collect evidence, and provide critical insight into medical issues and survivor responses to trauma that can educate criminal justice practitioners and jurors alike.

Co-presented by SANE and prosecutor subject-matter experts, this presentation demonstrates the value of collaboration in trafficking cases. The SANE explains the health risks associated with sex and labor trafficking, the content of a medical forensic examination, and documentation of victim statements and demeanor. The prosecutor provides strategies to improve the investigation and prosecution of trafficking cases by using SANEs as fact and expert witnesses and litigating the admissibility of victim statements under the medical hearsay exception.

---

Topic(s):

Collaboration and Partnerships Documentation and Report Writing Investigations Trauma

VAWA Crime(s):

Trafficking in Tribal Nations/Communities

Role(s):

Chief/Sheriff/Executive First Line Supervisor Investigator/Detective Other Role Patrol Officer/Deputy Prosecutor Special Victims Unit

Jurisdiction(s):

Alaska Rural Suburban Territories Tribal Nations/Tribes Urban