{"id":24033,"date":"2018-04-11T05:43:01","date_gmt":"2018-04-11T11:43:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=24033"},"modified":"2018-04-11T05:43:01","modified_gmt":"2018-04-11T11:43:01","slug":"convictions-to-be-set-aside-for-sex-trafficking-victims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=24033","title":{"rendered":"Convictions to be set aside for sex trafficking victims"},"content":{"rendered":"

Victims of sex trafficking can have their convictions set aside and their court records sealed under a bill passed by the Legislature April 11.<\/p>\n

\"Sen.
Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Under LB1132, a bill introduced by Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks, a victim of sex trafficking can file a motion to set aside a criminal conviction or adjudication of a prostitution-related offense.<\/p>\n

The victim will be required to submit evidence proving that he or she was a victim of sex trafficking at the time the crime was committed. Evidence considered by the court can include a copy of an official record, certification or eligibility letter from a federal, state, tribal or local proceeding indicating that the person was a victim of trafficking.<\/p>\n

The court also can consider an affidavit or sworn testimony from an attorney, member of the clergy, a medical professional, staff member of a victim services organization or other professional from whom the victim sought assistance in addressing trauma related to trafficking.<\/p>\n

A judge can consider additional evidence in determining the credibility of the person as a victim of trafficking, such as:
\n\u2022 branding or other tattoos on the person that identify him or her as having a trafficker;
\n\u2022 testimony or affidavits from those with firsthand knowledge of the person\u2019s involvement in the commercial sex trade;
\n\u2022 financial records showing profits from the commercial sex trade;
\n\u2022 internet listings, print advertisements or business cards used to promote the person for commercial sex; or
\n\u2022 emails, texts or voicemail records between the person and the trafficker or solicitors of sex.<\/p>\n

If a set aside is granted, it will nullify the conviction and remove all civil disabilities and disqualifications imposed as a result of the conviction. Upon receiving a set aside, the victim can file to have his or her criminal record sealed.<\/p>\n

The bill includes provisions of LB855, introduced by Omaha Sen. Brett Lindstrom. These allow a person who has received a pardon to file to have his or her criminal record sealed.<\/p>\n

Provisions of Omaha Sen. Sara Howard\u2019s LB897 also are included in the bill. These remove a mandatory reporting requirement that medical professionals contact law enforcement when a patient is suspected to be a victim of sexual assault.<\/p>\n

The medical professional now must secure written consent from the patient before contacting law enforcement.<\/p>\n

The bill passed on a 45-0 vote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Victims of sex trafficking can have their convictions set aside and their court records sealed under a bill passed by the Legislature April 11.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[13],"tags":[146],"class_list":["post-24033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-judiciary","tag-sen-patty-pansing-brooks"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24033","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24033"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24033\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24034,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24033\/revisions\/24034"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24033"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24033"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24033"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}