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The New York State Anti-Trafficking Coalition STATEMENT OF SUPPORT The undersigned organizations call for passage of a strong and effective New York State law against human trafficking. The undersigned, many of whom have extensive experience in fighting the harms of trafficking and working with victims of trafficking, are firm in our belief that it is not enough to enact an anti-trafficking law in name only. The law must equip law enforcement and service providers with effective means to hold those who trade in human beings accountable and to help trafficking victims rehabilitate their own lives. To this end we have identified six essential elements of an effective anti-trafficking law: Meaningful penalties: Trafficking should be classified as a C-violent felony or higher. Some bills have proposed that the basic crime of human trafficking, absent extreme aggravating factors, be classified as a D-nonviolent felony, a low-level felony for which almost no defendant ever serves jail time. This is simply inadequate to reflect the serious harm inflicted by human traffickers, or to deter potential offenders in the face of this industry’s huge potential profits. A comprehensive definition. Traffickers use forms of coercion that may not look like the knife-at-the-throat situation typical in a street corner robbery and may not meet the legal definition of an imminent threat of force. Traffickers use fraud, intimidation, immigration abuse, and a wide range of other techniques to control their victims. The crime of trafficking must be defined broadly enough to meet the experiences of real trafficking victims. Address demand. Sex trafficking flourishes because there is a huge demand for commercial sex. An effective anti-trafficking law must raise penalties on those who patronize illegal commercial sex (prostitution, and especially underage prostitution). It would be utterly ineffective to raise penalties only on those who knowingly patronize trafficking victims, as this requirement would be impossible to prove. Clarify the law on sex tourism. New York law must make it clear that, whatever the status of prostitution in other jurisdictions, sex tour businesses are prohibited from operating here. A defense for victims. Victims of sex trafficking should not be subjected to arrest and prosecution for prostitution. A person’s status as a trafficking victim should be a defense to prostitution charges. Services. Survivors of human trafficking need a comprehensive set of immigration and social services to assist them in rehabilitating their lives. We consider these elements too essential to be compromised. Last Updated:03/02/2007 |