Definitions of Human Trafficking - New York

Defined in Child Protection Law

Citation: Family Court Act § 1012

The term 'abused child' includes a child younger than age 18 whose parent or other person legally responsible for his or her care does the following:

• Commits or allows to be committed any sex offense against the child, as defined in article 130 of the penal law, including sexual misconduct, rape, and sexual abuse
• Allows, permits, or encourages the child to engage in child prostitution, as described in §§ 230.25, 230.30, and 230.32 of the penal law
• Commits incest against the child
• Allows the child to engage in acts or conduct to produce, promote, or possess child pornography, as described in article 263 of the penal law
• Permits or encourages the child to engage in any act or commits or allows to be committed against the child any offense that would render the child either a victim of sex trafficking or a victim of severe forms of trafficking in persons, pursuant to 22 U.S.C. § 7102

Definitions of Labor Trafficking

Citation: Penal Code §§ 135.35; 135.37

A person is guilty of 'labor trafficking' if he or she compels or induces another to engage in labor or recruits, entices, harbors, or transports such other person by means of intentionally doing the following:

• Requiring that the labor be performed to retire, repay, or service a real or purported debt that the actor has caused by a systematic ongoing course of conduct with intent to defraud such person
• Withholding, destroying, or confiscating any actual or purported passport, immigration document, or any other actual or purported government identification document of another person with intent to impair that person's freedom of movement
• Using force or engaging in any scheme, plan, or pattern to compel or induce that person to engage in or continue to engage in labor activity by means of instilling a fear in the person that, if the demand is not complied with, the actor or another will do one or more of the following:
  • Cause physical injury, serious physical injury, or death to a person
  • Cause damage to property, other than the property of the actor
  • Engage in other conduct constituting a felony or unlawful imprisonment
  • Accuse some person of a crime or cause criminal charges or deportation proceedings to be instituted against such person
  • Expose a secret or publicize an asserted fact, whether true or false, tending to subject some person to hatred, contempt, or ridicule
  • Testify or provide information or withhold testimony or information with respect to another's legal claim or defense
  • Use or abuse his or her position as a public servant by performing some act within or related to his or her official duties, or by failing or refusing to perform an official duty, in such manner as to affect some person adversely

A person is guilty of 'aggravated labor trafficking' if he or she compels or induces another to engage in labor or recruits, entices, harbors, or transports such other person to engage in labor by means of intentionally and unlawfully providing a controlled substance to such person with intent to impair that person's judgment.

Definitions of Sex Trafficking of Minors

Citation: Penal Code §§ 230.33; 230.34-A

A person is guilty of 'compelling prostitution' when, being age 18 or older, he or she knowingly compels a person younger than age 18, by force or intimidation, to engage in prostitution.

A person is guilty of sex trafficking of a child when he or she, being age 21 or older, intentionally advances or profits from prostitution of another person and such person is a child younger than age 18. Knowledge by the defendant of the age of the child is not an element of this offense, and it is not a defense to a prosecution that the defendant did not know the age of the child or believed the child's age to be 18 or older.