For this individual, the case went to a mistrial. They recently announced that the new trial date would be in September 2014.
So after waiting a year and a half to testify against her five traffickers, a mistrial was declared. She will have to wait another year and a half to testify again.
In that time, she was going to school. As soon as she finished testifying, she was off her anxiety medication. She was excited to go back to school. She started planning for her future. She was going to be reunited with some of her family members. Then, when she found out that it went to mistrial, it really set her back. We lost a year and a half of the work we'd been doing to rebuild her dignity, to rebuild hope. After hearing that she has to wait another year and a half to testify, she's really struggling to understand the meaning behind it all.
I think that really speaks to the brokenness in our criminal justice system to address this crime. I think it speaks to the reality that these are people's lives that we're asking them to put on hold so that we can hold the perpetrators accountable. We shouldn't be placing that much onus, that big a burden, on the victims. I think we need to get creative about the ways we look at this crime, in terms of holding perpetrators accountable, without asking so much from the victims.
I'll just leave it at that.