A defendant may establish duress by showing they were a victim of trafficking at the time
To provide for the vacating of certain convictions and expungement of certain arrests of victims of human trafficking, section 6, Sec. 6.
Written by .
A defendant may establish duress by showing they were a victim of trafficking at the time
The document says “can”Who acts: criminal defendants, United States district courtsHow: statuteSec. 6 in the PDF
What the document says
“In a prosecution for a covered Federal offense, a defendant may establish duress by demonstrating that the defendant was a victim of trafficking at the time at which the defendant committed the offense.”
The operative provision. In a prosecution for a level A or level B offense, a defendant may establish duress by demonstrating that they were a victim of trafficking at the time the offense was committed. The section states the route to establishing duress and does not set out a burden of proof.
What the document actually says
“In a prosecution for a covered Federal offense, a defendant may establish duress by demonstrating that the defendant was a victim of trafficking at the time at which the defendant committed the offense.”
That sentence, in plain words
A person on trial can show they acted under force. They do this by showing they were forced at the time of the crime.
What this is about
Duress means a person acted because someone made them do it. Here, having been a forced worker is the way to show it.
No action is recorded against this proposal. That is not evidence that none has been taken, and nobody has yet read it against the record. See what the tracker does not yet cover.
Trafficking Survivors Relief Act, Public Law 119-73, sec. 6, 139 Stat. 2009 (2026). https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/PLAW-119publ73/html/PLAW-119publ73.htm
This page
“A defendant may establish duress by showing they were a victim of trafficking at the time,” Trafficking Survivors Relief Act, section 6, Sec. 6. Read the Mandate, https://readthemandate.org/trafficking-survivors-relief-act/proposal/sec06-duress-established-by-being-a-victim/ (retrieved October 10, 2026).
Cite the document when the claim is about what the document says. Cite this page when the indexing, the wording or the record of what has happened is what is being relied on.
How to Read This Page
The quotation is the document's own words, exactly as printed, checked against the page
number against the Act itself before publishing. The paragraph underneath is our summary,
not the document's words. So is the plain English version, which is why it sits beside the
quotation rather than replacing it.
