Texas bill protecting sex trafficking victims from some criminal charges heads to governor’s desk

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Almost eight years ago, Elizabeth Henneke received a call about a 16-year-old who had been convicted of the crimes of her 32-year-old sex trafficker and sentenced to 20 years in an adult prison. The teenager, who had been forced to sell sex while her trafficker stole from her clients, was charged with aggravated robbery as an accessory to the crime.

“I was quite astounded that a survivor, especially a child survivor, of sex trafficking could end up charged… with the crimes of her trafficker,” said Henneke, a lawyer who has been working for trafficking survivors for almost 20 years and the founder of Lone Star Justice Alliance, a nonprofit that represents youths in the justice system.

She quickly discovered that this was a recurring problem — law enforcement often prosecute trafficking victims for crimes they committed or assisted with under the influence of their trafficker — so she reached out to lawmakers to start working on a bill to address the issue.

The goal was to create an affirmative defense, where a defendent doesn’t deny a crime but provides additional explanation to avoid liability, for human and sex trafficking victims who commit crimes under force, fraud, or coercion from their trafficker. After failing to pass in 2021 and 2023, the bill passed in the 2025 regular session before it was vetoed by Gov. Greg Abbott, who expressed concerns that it was too broad.

Abbott put the issue on the agenda for two subsequent special sessions. The Senate cleared the proposal, Senate Bill 11, on Aug. 18. The Texas House on Tuesday passed the bill, 137-1, sending it to the governor’s desk. If Abbott signs it, the bill would go into effect three months after the special legislative session ends.

Advocates say the legislation, authored by Republican state Sen. Tan Parker of Flower Mound, isn’t a get out of jail free card for trafficking victims, but rather a key tool to protect victims from criminal records that can make it even harder for them to leave their traffickers.

“This is allowing them to rightfully be able to move on with their lives,” said Caroline Roberts, the senior director of public policy at Children at Risk.

How traffickers force victims to commit crimes

Prostitution isn’t the only type of crime that trafficking victims are forced to commit.

Four of the most common crimes that victims are pressured to commit are theft, assault, money laundering and drug crimes, according to Vanessa Bouché, chief impact officer at Allies Against Slavery.

For example, a trafficker may pressure a victim to steal from a client who is paying for sex, and they can also be pressured into buying and selling drugs for the trafficker or have businesses opened under their names so the trafficker’s money appears clean, Bouché explained.

“[Traffickers] do not want to take risks,” Roberts said. “They are going to use their victims to take all their risk for them.”

The goal, advocates said, is to protect victims from criminal records that can follow them for a lifetime, preventing them from finding housing or a stable job, which makes it even harder for them to leave their traffickers.

Henneke and other advocates added that when victims are protected from prosecution, they’re more likely to cooperate with the police and prosecutors in pursuing charges against their traffickers.

Changes and compromises

After Abbott vetoed the previous version of the bill in June, the bill’s authors made two key changes, making it more clear that the legal defense is only available to victims who committed a crime due to coercion from their trafficker.

“We wanted to make sure that it was clear that the survivor was acting because of strong coercion and force being done to her, not simply because of their overall relationship,” Henneke said.

The second change limits the types of crimes for which affirmative defense for victims can be used — eliminating aggravated offenses such as murder, trafficking of a person or child, sexual assault or burglary.

State Rep. Ann Johnson, who sponsored the bill in the regular session but is not sponsoring or co-authoring the proposal in the first special session, said she was unhappy with Abbott’s veto and did not want to limit the crimes for which trafficking victims have protection.

“The problem is, the pimps are really smart,” Johnson said, adding that they will likely try to force their victims to commit crimes excluded from the new version of the bill.

How often trafficking victims commit aggravated crimes such as murder is not tracked, but Henneke said she has represented at least eight child survivors who have been charged with aggravated offenses throughout her career.

“While I still have some trepidation that we're not going to reach everyone, I think it's such a critically important step,” Henneke said, adding that she’s ultimately “very proud of this piece of legislation” and hopes that it will pass this year with support from both parties.

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