{"id":10678,"date":"2015-12-09T19:58:21","date_gmt":"2015-12-10T01:58:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/?p=10678"},"modified":"2016-02-15T13:46:11","modified_gmt":"2016-02-15T19:46:11","slug":"national-reality-show-could-decide-mitchell-hamline-alums-child-bride-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/2015\/12\/09\/national-reality-show-could-decide-mitchell-hamline-alums-child-bride-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Mitchell Hamline alum’s work raises awareness of human trafficking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Linda Miller \u201976 <\/strong>has worked on dozens of human trafficking cases since she started the non-profit Civil Society in 1996.<\/p>\n

In 2008, Miller received the\u00a0Chief Justice Warren E. Burger ’31\u00a0<\/strong>Distinguished Alumni Award for “the highest values and ethical standards in serving the community” because of her work on behalf of trafficking victims.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to make a change,\u201d Miller said. \u201cTo stop the demand for children for sex. It\u2019s ruining children\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

As founder and executive director of the St. Paul-based legal organization, she provides support, refuge, and legal aid for victims of human trafficking, many of whom are women brought to the U.S. as child brides.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re young, they don\u2019t have language skills, they don\u2019t have any cultural skills to deal with all of the things that are happening here, and they just go under.\u201d Miller said.<\/p>\n

\"miller\"<\/p>\n

A case Miller filed in 2012 recently jumped into the media spotlight, in part because of increasing attention to the problem of human trafficking, and a twist in how the case could be decided.<\/p>\n

Stories in the Star Tribune<\/a>, Washington Post<\/a>, and Minnesota Lawyer<\/a>, have told the story of Miller\u2019s client Panyia Vang.<\/p>\n

Vang is suing a Minneapolis man nearly 30 years her senior, claiming he raped and impregnated her as a teenager in Laos, then brought her to the United States as a child bride.<\/p>\n

With the help of Miller, Vang is seeking $450,000 in damages from Thiawachu Prataya.<\/p>\n

The Star Tribune reports that in court filings, Prataya claimed he didn\u2019t know Vang was a minor.<\/p>\n

Miller is proceeding\u00a0under\u00a0a 2006 federal statute called Masha’s Law, which allows victims to bring a civil suit against anyone who uses their image\u00a0in child pornography. Under the law, victim’s may still sue for compensation, even if prosecutors aren’t able to prove a criminal case.<\/p>\n

But this case may be decided outside of a\u00a0courtroom.<\/p>\n

Both sides have signed off on a deal that could make the case a part of an upcoming reality show on NBC.<\/p>\n

\u201cLaw and Order: You the Jury\u201d will feature real-life civil cases. The verdict in the cases won\u2019t be delivered by a jury, but rather by the show\u2019s national TV audience.<\/p>\n

Signing on to the potential TV deal was her client’s decision, according to Miller. She says if the show features Prataya\u2019s case, and she wins, she\u2019ll receive $450,000, the amount she\u2019s seeking in her lawsuit.<\/p>\n

“A show like this is going to be talked about more by the everyday person than a trial,”\u00a0Miller said. \u201cThat\u2019s going to increase the knowledge of this law. It\u2019s never been used, except in a few criminal cases.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an unconventional approach, but one that Miller and her client hope will raise awareness of the fight against human trafficking, and protect young women who are a risk of becoming\u00a0child brides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Linda Miller \u201976 has worked on dozens of human trafficking cases since she started the non-profit Civil Society in 1996. \u201cI want to make a change,\u201d Miller said. \u201cTo stop the demand for children for sex. It\u2019s ruining children\u2019s lives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mitchell Hamline alum’s work raises awareness of human trafficking<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4909,"featured_media":10712,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-features","8":"category-news","9":"entry"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4909"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mitchellhamline.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}