Colorado has robust laws against human trafficking — but it’s hardly using them
Colorado prosecutors landed a single conviction for labor trafficking and fewer than 50 convictions for sex trafficking in 17 years despite multiple efforts to strengthen state laws.
From 2006-2022, there have been 267 criminal cases involving trafficking, and within those cases there were 619 counts of labor trafficking and 10,813 counts of sex trafficking, according to a new report from the Laboratory to Combat Human Trafficking. But very few resulted in convictions.
Many of the people initially charged with trafficking ended up being convicted of other crimes, including child abuse, drug charges or “keeping a place of prostitution,” found the new report from the Colorado nonprofit.
All of the trafficking charges were filed in just 23 of Colorado’s 64 counties, which points toward the need for more widespread training among law enforcement and district attorneys’ offices to identify and prosecute trafficking, the report said. Its authors called on Colorado to strengthen local task forces that work to prevent trafficking and hold traffickers accountable in court. They also said Colorado needs to do more to include trafficking survivors, and those most vulnerable to trafficking, including LGBTQ people, Indigenous people and immigrants.