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WPIC 39A.00 Human Trafficking—Introduction

11 WAPRAC WPIC 39A.00Washington Practice Series TMWashington Pattern Jury Instructions--Criminal

11 Wash. Prac., Pattern Jury Instr. Crim. WPIC 39A.00 (5th Ed)
Washington Practice Series TM
Washington Pattern Jury Instructions--Criminal
January 2024 Update
Washington State Supreme Court Committee on Jury Instructions
Part VI. Crimes Against Personal Security
WPIC CHAPTER 39A. Human Trafficking
WPIC 39A.00 Human Trafficking—Introduction
This Chapter has been revised and reorganized for this edition. New definitions for Human Trafficking, Forced Labor, Sexually Explicit Act, Commercial Sex Act, Serious Harm and Coercion have been added. See WPIC39A.005– .13.
In 2003, following closely the national anti-human trafficking movement Washington became the first state in the nation to criminalize human trafficking. RCW 9A.40.100. See Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), 22 U.S.C. § 7102 (2019). Also, see generally the Washington State Attorney General website: http://www.atg.wa.gov/human-trafficking for a history of Washington state activity surrounding intervention against human trafficking.
RCW 9A.40.100 has been amended frequently. Laws of 2011, Chapter 111, § 1; Laws of 2012, Chapter 144, § 2; Laws of 2012, Chapter 134, § 1; Laws of 2013, Chapter 302, § 6; Laws of 2014, Chapter 188, § 1; Laws of 2017, Chapter 126, § 1.
The title of this chapter, Human Trafficking, is intended for clarity and to distinguish between trafficking in persons for sex or labor and other forms of trafficking, such as in drug trafficking (RCW Ch. 69 and Laws of 2011, Chapter 241, § 1) or trafficking in stolen property (RCW 9A.82.050–.055). The Legislature simply used the word “trafficking” in the statute, and the instructions themselves are written to track the statutory language.
The phrase Human Trafficking is commonly used in the civil statutes: RCW 19.320.010(5) (Human trafficking defined), RCW 7.68.360 (Human trafficking—Coordinated state agency protocols), RCW 43.280.095 (Statewide training on Washington's human trafficking laws), and in the legal literature on the topic. By resolution on January 29, 2018, the Washington State Senate recognized the scourge of human trafficking. S. Res. 8694, 65th Leg., 2018 Reg. Sess. (Wash. 2018).
Washington State Pattern Forms refer to Human Trafficking. See Plea of Guilty, CrR 4.2(g). Washington courts have also referred to similar conduct generally as sex trafficking or human trafficking. In a civil case alleging state law claims for a violation of the federal Communications Decency Act of 1996, the Washington Supreme Court referred to this type of conduct as sex trafficking. J.S. v. Village Voice Media Holdings LLC, 184 Wn.2d 95, 359 P.3d 714 (2014). In State v. Clark, 170 Wn.App. 166, 283 P.3d 1116 (2012), the Court of Appeals referred to a criminal violation of RCW 9.68A.101 as a human trafficking conviction.
For these reasons, the WPI Committee has denoted the crime as Human Trafficking throughout this Chapter.
[Current as of May 2019.]
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