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Overcoming Jury Misconceptions in Human Trafficking Cases: The Role of Survivor Expert Witness Testimony
By Sheri Lopez
One of the most significant challenges in prosecuting human trafficking cases is not always proving what the trafficker did—it is helping jurors understand why the victim behaved the way they did.
Jurors often enter the courtroom with expectations shaped by common myths. They may expect victims to attempt escape, refuse contact, or immediately report their trafficker. When victims instead maintain communication, return after leaving, or delay disclosure, defense counsel may use these behaviors to suggest consent or undermine credibility.
Without context, these arguments can create reasonable doubt.
Survivor expert witness testimony can help prosecutors address this challenge by providing jurors with a framework to understand victim behavior within the realities of trafficking.
I was trafficked at the age of 15 and exploited for seven years. Today, I serve as a lived-experience expert witness in human trafficking prosecutions. My role is not to offer opinions on the specific victim or the defendant, but to provide general educational testimony about common trafficking dynamics, including coercive control, trauma bonding, delayed disclosure, and continued attachment to the trafficker.
This testimony helps jurors understand that victim behavior in trafficking cases often reflects survival strategies rather than consent.
Traffickers frequently rely on psychological manipulation rather than physical force. They build trust, create emotional dependence, and exploit vulnerabilities such as youth, prior trauma, homelessness, or isolation. Victims may come to rely on the trafficker for perceived protection, stability, or emotional connection.
As a result, victims may not initially identify themselves as victims. They may remain connected to the trafficker, defend them, or hesitate to cooperate with law enforcement. These realities can be confusing to jurors without proper context.
In a recent trafficking prosecution in which I testified, the jury heard explanations about how traffickers establish and maintain control through manipulation rather than overt violence. This helped clarify why the victim had remained in contact with the trafficker. The defendant was ultimately convicted.
While survivor expert testimony is only one part of a prosecution, providing jurors with this context allows them to evaluate victim behavior more accurately.
Survivor expert witnesses offer experiential insight that complements clinical and investigative testimony. Clinical experts provide diagnostic and research-based explanations. Survivor experts provide practical insight into how trafficking unfolds in real-world situations.
This can be particularly valuable when prosecutors anticipate defense arguments focused on victim credibility.
Explaining concepts such as trauma bonding, coercive control, and delayed disclosure can help jurors understand why victim behavior may appear inconsistent with their expectations.
Survivor expert testimony can also assist prosecutors in reframing juror assumptions during trial.
When jurors understand that trafficking is a crime of control—not necessarily confinement—they are better able to evaluate the totality of the evidence.
My work as a survivor expert witness is part of a broader effort to improve understanding of trafficking within the justice system. I am the founder of Pearl at the Mailbox and serve as President of the Arizona Human Trafficking Survivor Coalition. I have also testified before lawmakers in Washington, DC, to support legislation strengthening protections for trafficking victims, and I am the author of multiple books on trafficking prevention and survivor education.
These experiences reflect the increasing recognition that survivor-informed expertise can support the justice system.
It is important to emphasize that survivor expert testimony is not advocacy for a specific outcome. Its purpose is to provide general education that assists the trier of fact.
When jurors understand the realities of trafficking, they are better equipped to evaluate evidence fairly and reach informed verdicts.
Human trafficking cases often depend on jurors’ ability to understand behavior that may initially seem counterintuitive.
Providing jurors with accurate context can help ensure that verdicts are based on evidence rather than misconceptions.
Survivor expert testimony is one tool prosecutors can use to help support that understanding.
As trafficking prosecutions continue nationwide, improving juror understanding remains essential to achieving justice.
The Forgotten Victims: Elderly Adults Are Being Trafficked Too
By Sheri Lopez
When most people hear the words human trafficking, they think about children or teenagers. And believe me, protecting children is incredibly important. But there is another group of people we rarely talk about, and that's older adults.
The truth is that people don't age out of vulnerability.
As a survivor of human trafficking in my teens, I've spent years speaking about trafficking, and one thing I've learned is that traffickers don't care how old someone is. They look for vulnerability and opportunity. And unfortunately, many elderly adults have vulnerabilities that can make them targets.
According to the United Nations, human trafficking affects people of all ages, and data from the Counter-Trafficking Data Collaborative actually shows that most identified trafficking victims worldwide are adults.
Yet somehow, when we have conversations about trafficking, seniors are often left out, and I think that's a mistake.
As we age, many people become more dependent on others. Some struggle with physical health problems. Some have memory issues or dementia. Others live alone and become isolated. Some depend on caregivers. Others may have limited finances or no family support, and those vulnerabilities can be exploited.
In fact, researchers are now talking about something called "benefits trafficking." This is when someone targets elderly or disabled adults because they receive Social Security, Veterans benefits, Medicare, Medicaid, or other forms of assistance.
These offenders may present themselves as helpers or caregivers. They move into a person's life, gain trust, and slowly take control. In some cases, victims are isolated, neglected, moved from place to place, denied proper care, and stripped of their benefits while someone else profits from them, and that should concern all of us.
Human trafficking involving older adults doesn't always look the way people imagine.
In some cases, older adults are forced to work or provide services for little or no pay. In others, they may be living in situations where someone has taken complete control over their daily lives, creating a form of domestic servitude. Financial exploitation is also common, with offenders manipulating or stealing Social Security checks, pensions, or other benefits.
And while it's something many people are uncomfortable discussing, older adults can also be sexually exploited. The reality is that vulnerability does not disappear with age, and neither does the potential for someone to take advantage of it.
Exploitation often hides behind what appears normal, which is one reason older victims are so frequently overlooked. People may assume an older person is simply confused, or that they're dependent on a caregiver because of age, or that they would speak up if something was wrong. But it's not always that simple.
Many elderly victims are afraid. They're afraid of losing their housing. They're afraid of being placed in a nursing facility. They're afraid of being alone, and some are embarrassed.
Some don't recognize that what is happening to them is exploitation, and some have no one left to advocate for them.
There are some warning signs people should pay attention to. Maybe an older adult seems fearful of a caregiver. Maybe they suddenly become isolated from friends and family.
Perhaps they have poor hygiene, unexplained weight loss, untreated medical conditions, or missing medications. Maybe someone else always speaks for them and never allows them to be alone.
No one sign proves trafficking or exploitation, but patterns matter.
As a survivor, I can tell you that traffickers look for opportunities. They look for people they believe no one is paying attention to, and sadly, elderly adults can fall into that category.
I think it's time we broaden the conversation because human trafficking isn't just a crime against children. It's a crime against vulnerability, and vulnerability doesn't disappear when someone turns 65, 75, or even 85 years old.
Older adults deserve dignity. They deserve protection. They deserve to be seen, because no one is ever too old to be exploited, and no one is ever too old to deserve safety.
If we truly want to protect the vulnerable, then we cannot forget our aging population.
They matter, and they deserve to be part of the conversation.
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Aging, the Body, and the Return of Trauma: A Survivor's Journey Through Healing
By Sheri Lopez
When people talk about human trafficking and exploitation, the focus is often on what happened during the years of victimization. Far less attention is given to what happens decades later, when survivors are navigating aging, chronic health conditions, and life transitions that can unexpectedly awaken memories and emotions they believed had long been resolved.
Many survivors discover that healing is not a straight line. In fact, some of the most difficult emotional challenges may emerge long after exploitation has ended.
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As a human trafficking survivor, author, and advocate, I have spent years educating others about grooming, exploitation, trauma, and healing. Yet one lesson I never expected to learn was how profoundly aging itself could reopen emotional wounds I believed had largely healed.
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I was groomed at fifteen years old and trafficked for seven years. Like many survivors, I rebuilt my life. I became a wife, a mother, a grandmother, an author, and an advocate. From the outside, it might appear that those years are far behind me.
But trauma does not always remain in the past.
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Growing older brings changes that none of us can avoid. Chronic pain, fatigue, sleep disturbances, illness, medical procedures, reduced mobility, and other age-related challenges become part of life. While these experiences are common, survivors may discover that they affect far more than their physical health.
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Moments of pain, vulnerability, or dependence on others can unexpectedly stir emotions and memories connected to times when they once had little control over what happened to their bodies.
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I know this personally.
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Over the years, I have undergone fourteen surgeries to repair the damage done to my body. Each procedure brought physical pain and recovery, but also unexpected emotional challenges. There were times when being vulnerable, depending on others for care, or facing yet another surgery brought back feelings I had not experienced in years.
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What surprised me most was that these emotions did not mean I was reliving the trafficking itself. Rather, they reminded me that healing is layered.
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Trauma experts often speak about the ways trauma is stored in the body and nervous system. Even when survivors know intellectually that they are safe, the nervous system does not always receive that message. Long after the exploitation has ended, the body can continue to react as though danger is still present.
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Anxiety, hypervigilance, nightmares, emotional numbness, panic attacks, grief that seems to come from nowhere, flashbacks, and unexpected sadness or anger can reappear later in life.
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Many survivors wonder:
"Why is this coming back?"
"Did I not heal?"
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The resurfacing of trauma does not mean a survivor is broken, nor does it erase decades of progress. Often, it means the mind and body finally have enough safety and stability to process what could not be processed during the years spent simply trying to survive.
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Aging can also bring new layers of grief. As survivors grow older, there may be moments of mourning for childhood experiences they never had, relationships that were damaged, years stolen by exploitation, and opportunities that were lost along the way. Some grieve health problems connected to years of chronic stress. Others carry sadness over dreams that were delayed or loved ones who never fully knew their story.
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These losses are real. And grief does not have an expiration date.
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Life transitions can also awaken memories. Retirement, becoming a grandparent, serious illness, losing loved ones, major birthdays, and changes in physical ability often create space for reflection. And with reflection frequently comes remembrance, which can be unsettling, but it should not be mistaken for failure.
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Too often, society assumes that trauma belongs to the past—that after enough years have passed, survivors should simply move on, but survivors do not stop being survivors simply because they grow older.
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Healthcare providers, counselors, faith communities, family members, and caregivers should recognize that aging survivors may require trauma-informed support that respects the lasting impact of trauma and the importance of dignity, choice, and compassion.
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Aging and trauma are often discussed separately, but for many survivors, the two are deeply intertwined. Understanding this reality can help create more compassionate and effective support systems for older adults who carry histories of trauma.
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Perhaps one of the greatest myths surrounding trauma is the belief that healing happens once. In my experience, it happens again and again. Through fourteen surgeries, physical changes, grief, and unexpected memories, I have learned that survival is not just about escaping exploitation. It is about continuing to choose hope and extending ourselves grace.
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Growing older has not made me less of a survivor. If anything, it has taught me that healing has no expiration date. And perhaps one of the greatest lessons I have learned is this:
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Survivors do not stop healing because they age.
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Sometimes, with age, we finally give ourselves permission to heal more deeply than ever before. And perhaps that, too, is part of what it means not only to survive—but to continue becoming whole.