Union Leader                                                                                                                  April 25, 2019

“People underestimate how important issues of domestic and sexual violence are to voters in New Hampshire and across the country. A recent bipartisan poll shows that an overwhelming majority of voters in the Granite State believe that victims of crime deserve meaningful rights,” said Amanda Grady Sexton, director of public affairs for the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.
Every candidate needs to focus on this issue, she said.
“We’re all evolving in our understanding of these issues and the coalition looks forward to having a conversation with every candidate about how they can address domestic and sexual violence in a way that is trauma-informed and considerate of survivors’ experiences,” Grady Sexton said. “It’s critical that each candidate understand the importance of enacting policies that support the rights of victims and prioritizes public safety.”

After launching his presidential bid with a national media blitz on Monday, Moulton worked the ground game Tuesday in New Hampshire -- at one point even getting his hands dirty spreading mulch outside a transitional home for veterans in Manchester. He followed up an hours-long stop at Liberty House -- where he spoke to veterans individually about their service -- with a roundtable with AmeriCorps volunteers and the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence in Concord.

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“This model CAC replicates other successful models around the country that embrace healing support on site.”
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Additional clinical support will be provided through the Pediatric Sexual Assualt Nurse Examination program coordinated by the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence.

These victims are manipulated and often don’t realize they’re being trafficked for sex or labor or both until they’re cut off from the world, threatened with violence and told to fear the consequences should they ever dare to leave.
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“At first, they may see themselves as doing something for someone they care about; they see themselves as being in a relationship with the person who trafficked them,” said Linda Douglas, trauma specialist for the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence. “For a long time, there is a strong sense of denial, and they’re unable to see that they were coerced from the beginning. What they thought was their choice was, in fact, not, and now they’re someone’s property.”

The Senate also unanimously passed SB 235, which would establish an independent human resources position to handle sexual harassment complaints against legislators.

Senate President Donna Soucy, D-Manchester, a co-sponsor, said creating the position would give the public and “our employees the confidence in the system they need to come forward without fear of retribution.”

Soucy said it is “beyond time to take sexual harassment in the State House seriously and I’m grateful to my Senate colleagues for unanimously supporting this common-sense measure.”
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Amanda Grady Sexton, director of public affairs for the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, added: “Today’s vote is a strong signal that the Senate acknowledges the inherent power dynamic in play and takes seriously its responsibility to foster a safe and healthy work environment for their employees and the public. We are grateful for the leadership of Senators Soucy, Feltes, and Hennessey for bringing this initiative forward.”

Since fiscal year 2014, lawmakers have allocated anywhere between $52,781 to $643,456 to the prevention fund, with the largest-ever appropriation approved during the last budget cycle thanks to bipartisan leaders in the House and Senate who advocated for the increase, said Amanda Grady Sexton, the coalition’s director of public affairs.

Considering all funding sources, the coalition and its crisis centers would receive about $2.4 million annually under Sununu’s budget proposal which includes the $1.2 million state contribution.

New Hampshire’s crisis centers continue to turn away victims from its domestic violence emergency shelters due to lack of capacity. In the past two years, a total of 1,854 adults and 1,310 children were denied housing. That was during the same time the state contributed more than half a million in support services to the Domestic Violence Prevention Program.
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“Finding the strength to leave an abuser and seek support should never be met with a closed door, but rather open arms and adequately funded services,” Grady Sexton said. “Our hope is that no survivor is ever turned away due to a crisis center being underfunded. We must show victims and their children that the state of New Hampshire prioritizes their safety, and that starts by allocating funds to support the lifesaving work being done by our state’s crisis centers.”

​Investigators and advocates alike are expressing relief that, because Baker moved out of New Hampshire years ago, the investigation could move forward.
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"The passage of time in no way mitigates the harm done to these victims, and we hope that this is step towards healing and towards justice,” said Madison Lightfoot, of the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic & Sexual Violence.

"Human trafficking, specifically sex trafficking, is modern slavery in which victims become involved in the commercial sex industry through force, fraud and coercion," said Madison Lightfoot of the New Hampshire Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence.

New Hampshire became one of the first states to make human trafficking a felony in 2014. Frantzer Fleurimond, 28, was the first person successfully prosecuted under the new statute when he pleaded guilty to subjecting four women to prostitution on the Seacoast by controlling their access to heroin.

Lightfoot said traffickers prey on the most vulnerable.

"Whether it's a child being trafficked by their own family member out of their own home or a trafficker advertising for sex services on social media or on the Internet," she said.

Advocates said human trafficking is happening across the state, most often in motels and private homes.

"Human trafficking oftentimes goes undetected because human traffickers are experts at moving constantly without detection, and victims are oftentimes reluctant to come forward," Lightfoot said.

The sting in Florida that resulted in charges being filed against Kraft is an opportunity for awareness to hit home, she said.
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"The more we can continue to shed light on these realities and know what human trafficking does, in fact, look like here in New Hampshire, the better equipped we will be to combat these crimes, to help victims seek safety," she said.