As the mandate to prosecute has been carried out in national
legislation, it is sometimes at odds with victim protection, and its
mandatory nature ensures that it takes precedence. In this regard, the
Protocol falls short of its second goal, to adequately meet the needs of
trafficked persons. One instance where this is evident within the United
States is with the Brady conflict."'2 In Brady v. Maryland, the Supreme Court
held that "suppression by the prosecution of evidence favorable to an
accused upon request violates due process where the evidence is material
either to guilt or to punishment, irrespective of the good faith or bad faith
of the prosecution." ' When victims apply for T visas, the information that
they include is material to the trafficker's guilt or punishment, and
therefore potentially falls within the ambit of Brady disclosure."' This
presents a tension within the current system: whether or not the prosecution needs to disclose the information included in the T visa
application to the defense, or if disclosing that the victim applied for a T
visa is sufficient disclosure to satisfy the Brady requirement. This tension
between victim protection and procedural fairness required by prosecution
illustrates one of the challenges associated with implementation of
international standards within national systems