AC Think Tank Re-releases Inaugural Policy Brief on Holding Antiquities Traffickers Accountable
March 21, 2025
Nearly ten years have passed since Attorney Ricardo A. St. Hilaire wrote “How to End Impunity for Antiquities Traffickers: Assemble a Cultural Heritage Crimes Prosecution Team.”
In 2016, St. Hilaire cautioned, “by prioritizing repatriations over indictments, the federal government’s ‘seize and send’ policy has failed to curb a vast black market industry.”
To hold antiquities traffickers accountable for their crimes, St. Hilaire’s policy brief explores how the Department of Justice (DOJ) could take a leadership role in the global fight against the illicit antiquities trade by appointing designated prosecutors to pursue criminal cases against smugglers, corrupt dealers, and their accomplices.
Still, to this day antiquities traffickers rarely face prosecution, conviction, or imprisonment—despite U.S. law enforcement’s steadily rising success in stopping looted and stolen artifacts at the border. Attorney St. Hilaire’s solution to this issue is as relevant as ever.
Access the Rereleased Policy Brief on Scholastica, here.
Read an exclusive interview with the author on the AC Think Tank Blog.