Broadly speaking, it aimed to expand services for survivors of human trafficking as well as to strengthen and empower law enforcement and first responders.

The 114th Congress quickly and vigorously took up the issue of human trafficking, generating twelve bills in the first couple weeks of the new session.

[13] The JVTA was introduced by Senator John Cornyn and originally co-sponsored by Senators Amy Klobuchar, Ron Wyden, Mark Steven Kirk, Orrin Hatch, Lindsey Graham, Christopher Coons, Tom Udall, Daniel Coats, Mike Crapo, John Hoeven, Robert Casey Jr., and Dianne Feinstein.

[15] The TVPA must be regularly re-authorized to provide continued funding, but the reauthorizations often include definitional changes, legal clarifications, or the establishments of new pilot programs.

[15] In its findings ahead of the JVTA's passage, Congress noted that, according to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), human trafficking was a rapidly growing industry and already the third-largest criminal enterprise globally.

[16] Representatives seemed especially concerned about victims' vulnerabilities, including due to youth and unstable homes, and about the lack of attention to interventions on the demand/buyer side.

[17] The Hyde Amendment is a legislative provision barring the use of federal funds to pay for abortion except to save the life of the woman, or if the pregnancy arises from incest or rape.

It establishes a $5,000 (~$6,284 in 2023) penalty (which expires on September 30, 2019) which is assessed on people convicted of offenses related to human trafficking and sexual abuse.

[24] It clarifies that grant awards may be used to fund programs that identify and assist victims of child pornography, including by paying for investigation expenses such as wiretaps.

[26] (The full definition now includes anyone who "recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides, obtains, advertises, maintains, patronizes, or solicits" someone over 18 by using force, fraud, or coercion, or someone under 18, for the purposes of commercial sex.

[27]) It requires DOJ to direct pre-existing Innocence Lost National Initiative task forces to target those who buy sex acts from trafficking victims.

[28] It also requires law enforcement officers to file a recent photo with all reports they submit to the FBI's National Crime Information Center (NCIC) as well as for the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to be notified every time a child is reported missing from a foster home or childcare institution.

"[38] This Title direct the Department of Homeland Security to operate a Cyber Crimes Center within U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to assist with investigations and provide trainings.

[40] This Title directs DOJ to increase grant funding to states that allow mothers to children who were conceived through rape to terminate the rapist's parental rights.

[41] Title V requires the Secretary of Defense to provide DOJ with sex offender information for soldiers who have served time in military corrections facilities or have been convicted of certain types of crimes.

[46] It also mandated that DOJ implement a National Strategy for Combating Human Trafficking to better integrate federal, state, local, and tribal investigations and prosecutions of human trafficking cases, as well as to improve coordination on cases, annual budget priorities, and assessments of future trends and challenges.

[50] It also authorizes DHS, if requested, to providing training curricula to any state, local, or tribal government or private organization.

[55] DOJ awarded $6 million dollars of that to ten grantees to provide specialized services, such as to survivors who are LGBTQ, runaway and homeless youth, and foreign-born.

[55] DOJ also highlighted the shortcomings in data; under the JVTA, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) is required to assemble an annual report on the rates of arrests, prosecutions, and convictions for trafficking at the state level.

[22][33] However, other changes the JVTA implemented, such as a different definition of trafficking and what behaviors trigger criminal liability, will be unaffected and stay in force.