ADDRESSING LABOR TRAFFICKING: THE NEXT STEP IN THE ANTI-TRAFFICKING MOVEMENT

Modern human trafficking law is a new and emerging legal field in our country and across the world,and, and in Colorado, human trafficking law is less than ten years old. While the Colorado legislature takes its role in the anti-trafficking movement seriously and has reformed the law when it sees a need, the law is not perfect. The purpose of Colorado's human trafficking statute-to protect victims and survivors of human trafficking-is not yet fully effectuated. Key reforms will elevate the ability of the anti-trafficking community to end this terrible crime. This Comment endeavors to define and contextualize human trafficking and chronicles crucial developments in federal and state-level human trafficking law, an area that has seen rapid growth in recent years. This Comment next addresses an area of law-employer-provided housing-that currently stands in the way of complete effectuation of the policy underlying Colorado's human trafficking law. Some current employer-provided housing provisions favor employers over workers, which can have the inadvertent effect of exposing victims of labor trafficking to unlivable housing and coercion. Building on recent recommendations proposed by the Colorado Human Trafficking Council, this Comment provides the first scholarly analysis of these statutory provisions through a human trafficking lens and argues that the Colorado legislature must reform these provisions as a matter of policy to better protect victims and survivors of labor trafficking.