BY CAROLINE ACKERMAN, ESQ., ERICA MCKNIGHT, ESQ., AND SARAH ZALONIS The article was featured in the Maryland Bar Journal - Spring 2024 edition....

By Nicole Clay News headlines, articles, cases, broadcasted evidence- the loudest part, but still only one part of what a survivor may go through....

By Danielle Baron Homelessness is a cause and a consequence of human trafficking. Although anyone can be trafficked, traffickers disproportionately...

By Danielle Baron Because human trafficking happens covertly and the amount of public information on the prevalence of human trafficking is limited,...

On Juneteenth, we join the nation in commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans and celebrating the resilience and strength of our...

By Danielle Baron Vulnerabilities to all forms of human trafficking can be a consequence of gender-based violence (“GBV”), and common forms of GBV,...

By Mary Ameringer The Murder in Big Horn documentary brings to light the epidemic of Missing/Murdered Indigenous Women (MMIW) in and around Big Horn...

If you were not able to attend the September 8th Amara Honors Event, there is an opportunity to view the recording, donate, and purchase a signed...

By Olivia Mania, Legal Intern at Amara Legal Center “The story of Pieper Lewis, an Iowa teenager, is all too familiar . . . Lewis is not the first...

By Sarah Kolick, Former Amara Legal Intern, George Washington University of Law Graduate, Smith College Graduate *All views expressed in this blog...

The problems creating a toll to the experiences of survivors of sex trafficking is already alarming. But an issue with how it’s looked at is that it...

Human trafficking is a major concern of world governments and communities. Hundreds upon hundreds of humans are trafficked widely. In the 1990s, the...

By Sarah Kolick, JD Candidate 2022,The George Washington University Law School*All views expressed in this blog are my own and do not necessarily...

Two alarming incidents have recently come to the Amara Legal Center’s attention. The first concerns a Metropolitan Police Department (MPD)...

~ SB664 prevents minors from being prosecuted for prostitution and directs juvenile sex trafficking victims to non-punitive specialized services in...

Click HERE to read the original article By Carole Bernard “Grooming” is a standard practice for many sex traffickers. It is often the main tool in...

Click HERE to read the original articleBy Carole Bernard Last week, a New York jury found R&B singer R. Kelly guilty of sex trafficking, along...

WMATA's Proposed Policy Rule Changes Could Disproportionately Harm Marginalized Populations in the DMV Area~Survivors of Sex Trafficking, Sex...

By Theresa Vargas Original...

~ Survivors of Human Trafficking Are Not Criminals ~ Click HERE to download the original Press Release (March 22, 2021 – Washington, DC) Sex...

#StopAsianHate Centering the AA/PI Community Eight people were killed on March 16th in Atlanta, including 6 Asian-American/Pacific Islander (AA/PI)...

Original Article on the Roanoke...

Kids in the justice system or foster care system are very disproportionately at risk for trafficking compared with the general population of...

Amara Legal Center (Amara) opposes and condemns yesterday’s violent insurgency led by Trump loyalists, right-wing operatives, and neo-Nazis that...

Washington, DC – Today, Amara Legal Center’s Board of Director announced the appointment of Carole Bernard to the role of Executive Director. Carole...

Washington, DC – Today, the Amara Legal Center accepted the resignation of its Executive Director, Llamilet Gutierrez, and began the search for her...

After the passage of the DC Trafficking Survivors Relief Amendment Act of 2018 (D.C. Law 18-2391), Amara began working on guidance to make sure the...

"I hate most prostitutes and I did not want to pay them for sex ... I also picked prostitutes as victims because they were easy to pick up without...

Amara urges DC Council to decriminalize Fare Evasion The Amara Legal Center joined a sign on letter addressed to the DC Council in an effort to...

On July 11, 2018, the D.C. Council Committee on the Judiciary and Public Safety held a public hearing on the Protection from Sexual Extortion...

On June 18, 2018, New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand hosted the National Survivor Network (“NSN”) at the U.S. Capitol, a trafficking survivor...

On June 21, 2018, the DC Council Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety held a public hearing to discuss the Intrafamily Offenses and...

In a shocking policy change, the Department of Justice’s Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) recently dealt a significant blow to legal services for...

June 18, 2018. The Board of Directors of the Amara Legal Center is pleased to announce that they have named Llamilet Gutierrez as their next...

The Office for Victims of Crime (“OVC”), located within the U.S. Department of Justice, provides funding to organizations that support survivors of...

BackgroundOn April 11, 2018, President Donald Trump signed the bill generally known as SESTA/FOSTA into law. The Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act...

(CN) – The Justice Department’s Office for Victims of Crime boosted its budget this year but nixed funding for a vital legal service that helps...

A pair of bills that would make it easier to hide or delete some criminal records is dividing D.C. watchdog groups and victim advocates. During a...

Ask nearly any professional whose work deals with the wide orbit of commercial sex—lawmakers, psychologists, public health advocates, lawyers,...

Author’s Note: This is the first part in a multi-part blog series exploring sex work in the DC metro area. Stay tuned for more posts about different...

What’s your background?I'm originally from east of the river in South Dakota. I became a lawyer because of a combination of civil and human rights...

What’s your background?I am from Charles County, Maryland. I attended law school at Florida Coastal School of Law where I focused on criminal law. I...

As Capitol Hill backslides into dysfunction and bickering, the capital city is taking matters into its own hands to get work done: Washington, DC,...

SummaryThe Amara Legal Center provides free legal services to both survivors of sex trafficking and to sex workers. In approaching the debate on the...

What’s your background?My passion for this work began at an internship for Veronica’s Voice, an organization assisting women in the commercial sex...

The University of Maryland Support, Advocacy, Freedom and Empowerment (SAFE) Center for Human Trafficking Survivors and the Prince George’s County...

On September 21, the DC Council Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety held a public hearing to discuss the Trafficking Survivors Relief Amendment...

On September 18th 2017, the Amara Legal Center and Courtney’s House hosted the book launch of Jessica L Voker’s book “Welcome to the Game: Then She...

A new bill from At-large Councilmember David Grosso would decriminalize sex work in the District. "The reason I want to do it, in a nutshell, is I...

On September 14, Councilmember David Grosso hosted the Sex Worker Advocates Coalition (SWAC) for a briefing on Decriminalization of Commercial Sex...

Defense attorneys, child and anti-trafficking advocacy groups and the DC Council are continually grappling with a proper balance between fairness...

On July 25, 2017, the Executive Director of the Amara Legal Center, Stacie Reimer, was honored as the recipient of the J. Franklyn Bourne Award by...

On June 26, the American Bar Association (ABA) honored six leaders who are at the forefront of the international fight against human trafficking. In...

Driver Keith Avila began his Über shift after work on December 26, 2016. That shift began like most other days. That was, until he picked up two...

Backpage, the world’s second largest classified ad website, censored its adult content pages on the eve of a scathing Senate subcommittee report...

In addition to providing free legal services, the Amara Legal Center advocates for policies that protect the rights of our clients in Washington,...

The Amara Legal Center is proud to announce that we have achieved GuideStar’s Platinum Status. Please check out our profile here. GuideStar is the...

D.C.'s mayor says the city has completed most of its six initiatives to help protect young people after false reports about missing teens went viral...

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Amara Legal Center is proud to stand alongside D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser today, along with the rest of the Mayor’s Working Group...

The Amara Legal Center was honored as part of the graduating class of the Fair Chance Partnership Program on April 24, 2017. Please read the remarks...

In honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM), DC’s City Council recognized the SAAM Resolution of 2017 during Tuesday’s meeting as an official...

On January 31, 2017, Howard University Law School's Human and Civil Rights Law Review, The National Bar Association, and the D.C. Human...

In 2007, the United States Senate designated January 11th as National Human Trafficking Awareness Day. Speaking alongside multiple Congress members,...

Human Trafficking is a widespread and complex problem that cannot be handled by survivor aid organizations alone. The challenge of identifying...

December 16, 2016 Dear Friend of Amara, Legal services change lives. I’ll never forget one of the most heart-wrenching moments of the year. I was...

The Amara Legal Center estimates that every year roughly 500 individuals seek services due to their victimization through sex trafficking in the...

On September 28, 2016, Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Rob Portman (R-OH), and Congresswomen Ann Wagner (R-MO) and Tulsi Gabbard (D-HI),...

Human trafficking, referred to by President Obama as “modern slavery,” is a devastating problem that exists all over the world, including the United...

A self portrait painted by Macy, a survivor of sex trafficking in the United States.Credit Andrea PowellEighteen-year-old Macy [1] has an infectious...

WASHINGTON (WUSA9) -- A former D.C. police officer who served as a pimp for teenage girls was sentenced to seven years in prison Thursday afternoon....

Interview with Stacie Reimer, Executive Director and Founding Partner of Amara Legal Center.

The story of one of our amazing survivors was highlighted this morning by Andrea Powell of Fair Girls in Nicholas Kristof's blog on the New York...

The Amara Legal Center showed its strong support for the Fair Criminal Record Screening for Housing Act of 2016 (Bill 21-0706) by submitting written...

The Amara Legal Center showed its support for the Comprehensive Youth Justice Amendment Act of 2016 (“CYJAA”) through oral testimony in a public...

On the one-year anniversary of the Justice for Victims of Trafficking Act (JVTA), the legislation has yet to see full implementation. On Wednesday,...

Do More 24 brings together nonprofit organizations, partners and donors committed to creating impact in our community. Amara Legal Center will be a...

*Author’s note: This blog post does not aim to discuss issues surrounding free speech and the Internet, but rather to discuss the posting of...

1. Sex trafficking goes on in the US and in your city: no border has to be crossed for a person to be trafficked. 2. Common signs of a sex...

Women are being sexually abused in exchange for basic housing repairs in a Baltimore area public housing complex. [1]. An article by...

Sex traffickers frequently use the Internet as a tool both to lure underage victims and to bring in potential clients. The United States Code...

The Amara Legal Center is advocating for the passage of a vacatur statute in D.C., which would greatly benefit survivors of human trafficking....

A recent D.C. Council hearing, led by Councilmembers Anita Bonds and Brianne Nadeau, brought together residents of the D.C. community and local...

For the adult victims of commercial sexual exploitation who face criminal charges for prostitution in D.C., a court-based diversion program would be...

On the 18th of November, the DC Council passed the first reading of the Sex Trafficking of Minors Prevention Amendment Act. The core of this act is...

While crime rates in Washington, DC have dropped to their lowest levels in over 20 years, crime continues to be a significant concern for most...

One of the key components of my legal training was the importance of defining terms. Please consider the term “victim” for a moment. How would you...

On the October 8, 2014, former DC Cop Linwood Barnhill was sentenced to seven years behind bars and ten years of supervised release for two counts...

On October 9th, all interested citizens will have the opportunity to witness the sentencing of Linwood Barnhill, the 48 year-old former D.C. police...