{"id":31420,"date":"2022-02-04T10:26:14","date_gmt":"2022-02-04T16:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=31420"},"modified":"2022-02-04T14:54:19","modified_gmt":"2022-02-04T20:54:19","slug":"sexual-assault-sex-trafficking-identity-protection-considered","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/?p=31420","title":{"rendered":"Sexual assault, sex trafficking identity protection considered"},"content":{"rendered":"

The identity of an individual alleging sexual assault or sex trafficking would remain confidential in the period immediately following a reported crime under a bill heard by the Judiciary Committee Feb. 3.<\/span><\/p>\n

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

LB1246, sponsored by Lincoln Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks, would require attorneys and criminal justice agencies to withhold any personal identifying information of an alleged victim from the public record until charges are filed. Under the bill, relevant information could be shared between criminal justice agencies, attorneys and victim advocacy agencies under certain circumstances.<\/span><\/p>\n

Pansing Brooks said the most frequent reason an individual doesn\u2019t report crimes of sexual violence is the fear of retaliation. The state should create an environment where victims feel safe to come forward, she said, to protect themselves and others.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen identifying information of victims in these cases is available to the public, it can leave them vulnerable to intimidation, threats or harm,\u201d Pansing Brooks said. \u201cThere have been instances in Nebraska where victims of trafficking have been physically harmed or received death threats from their traffickers after reporting to law enforcement.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Under LB1246, an individual\u2019s identity could be released if he or she waives their right to confidentiality or dies as a result of their abuse or if charges are filed against an alleged perpetrator. An alleged victim\u2019s identity also could be released as part of a child abduction alert system.<\/span><\/p>\n

In support of the bill was Molly Nocita, an advocate for survivors of sex trafficking. She said LB1246 would provide time for an individual to heal, seek justice and move forward.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIn abusive situations, the most dangerous time for a victim is when a person attempts to leave,\u201d Nocita said. \u201cIf the perpetrator sees the victim\u2019s name on a public report, what\u2019s to protect them from further abuse?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Capt. Tracy Scherer testified in support of the bill on behalf of the Omaha Police Department. Individuals who report an assault may be contacted by the local media, Scherer said, which can impact their ability to participate in an investigation and may alert a suspect that an investigation is being conducted.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Glen Parks, coordinator for the Nebraska Human Trafficking Task Force, also spoke in support of the bill on behalf of the Nebraska Attorney General\u2019s Office. LB1246 would help mitigate the fear of retaliatory violence that keeps victims from coming forward, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jo Giles, executive director of the Women\u2019s Fund of Omaha and board member of the Nebraska Journalism Trust, testified in support of LB1246. She said the bill could alleviate embarrassment for an individual making an allegation by limiting contact from\u00a0<\/span>unwanted parties \u2014 such as the media \u2014 when they are at their most vulnerable after filing a report.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhile it\u2019s best practice [for journalists] not to publish or report the names of minors, there can be inconsistencies with adults,\u201d Giles said. \u201cLB1246 would provide confidentiality for victims while not jeopardizing journalistic efforts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

No one testified in opposition to the bill and the committee took no immediate action on it.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The identity of an individual alleging sexual assault or sex trafficking would remain confidential in the period immediately following a reported crime under a bill heard by the Judiciary Committee Feb. 3.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31406,"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-31420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-judiciary","tag-sen-patty-pansing-brooks"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/LB1246PansingBrooks2-3-22a.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31420","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=31420"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31443,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31420\/revisions\/31443"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/31406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=31420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=31420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/update.legislature.ne.gov\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=31420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}