State Law to Abolish Human Trafficking Exposed

The State Law to Abolish Human Trafficking was adopted by ALEC's Criminal Justice and Homeland Security Task Force at the Spring Task Force Summit on May 17, 2008, approved by the full ALEC Board of Directors in June, 2008. ALEC has attempted to distance itself from this piece of legislation after the launch of ALECexposed.org in 2011, but it has done nothing to get it repealed in the states where it previously pushed for it to be made into law.

ALEC Bill Text

Section 1 {Purposes}

The purposes of this Act are to combat trafficking in persons; to protect victims of human trafficking, assist them in the rebuilding of their lives, and to restore them to their inherent dignity; to ensure the just and effective punishment of traffickers; and to create an environment in the State of [STATE] in which the abolition of human trafficking is effectuated.

Section 2. {Findings}

The legislature finds that:

(A) As a nation, our founding rests on the principle that all persons are created equal and endowed with certain unalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We are at our best as a people when we are faithful to that principle and struggle to realize its promise for all persons.

(B) Throughout history, many regimes of power have used the law to countenance de jure slavery, and have thereby denied the rights and inherent dignity of whole classes of people.

(C) Throughout history, persons of power and evil intent have isolated and coerced vulnerable individuals into exploitation, thereby preventing them from knowing or enforcing their rights. Sometimes these perpetrators have operated on the fringes of the law or have benefited from gaps in it, such as the restrictive common-law definition of coercion requiring an imminent threat of physical harm.

(D) The Thirteenth Amendment is an act to fulfill our founding principle. It mandates that “Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude . . . shall exist within the United States or any place subject to their jurisdiction,” and it further obligates Congress to enforce that mandate with “appropriate legislation.” This state also has an affirmative obligation to eradicate the badges and incidents of slavery.

(E) Trafficking in persons is a modern-day manifestation of slavery. It consists of the exploitation of individuals in situations of commercial sex or forced labor for the purpose of financial gain.

(F) The highest order of the state is to fulfill the promise of our founding principle. This fulfillment is achieved by, inter alia, restoring the liberty and inherent dignity of an individual subjected to trafficking in persons.

(G) Every year traffickers in persons prey on hundreds of thousands of people around the world. Traffickers operate within or across international and state borders and usually target a society’s most vulnerable, most of whom are women and children. They subject their victims to exploitation through labor trafficking or commercial sex trafficking.

(H) In this country and state, both US citizens and non-citizens fall prey to traffickers of persons.

(I) Vulnerable people are often trafficked or maintained in trafficking because they do not know their rights or do not know how to assert their rights.

(J) Traffickers use various techniques to instill fear in victims and keep them enslaved. Some traffickers keep their victims under lock and key. More frequently, traffickers employ less obvious techniques including, inter alia, isolating their victims from family and the public, confiscating passports, visas, driver’s licenses, or other identification documents, inflicting physical violence or the threat thereof against victims or their family, threatening to use legal processes against them or reporting them to law enforcement, immigration or juvenile authorities, fostering addiction, controlling their access to addicted substances, and controlling their funds.

(K) Many victims fear that their traffickers will exact retribution on their family members, whether residing in this country or abroad.

(L) Victims of human trafficking typically endure terrible physical and mental trauma. Victims often suffer from traumatic bonding (Stockholm Syndrome), post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and other conditions resulting from the psychological harm inflicted upon them. When rescued, the extent of this trauma must be recognized and assessed; victims need to be provided immediate access to stabilization services before they can effectively contribute to the investigation of the crimes that have been perpetrated against them.

(M) Due to the fear instilled in them by the traffickers, and to the experiences in foreign countries from which they came, victims often have a profound suspicion of law enforcement and will not seek the protection of law enforcement officers and agencies.

(N) Due to their fears and the psychological harms inflicted upon them, as noted in the US State Department’s 2007 Trafficking in Persons Report, trafficking victims are unlikely to self-identify themselves as victims.

(O) Within the context of interactions with authorities, victims of human trafficking must primarily be recognized as the victims of a serious crime, and only secondarily as a witness to a crime. As stated in the 2007 Trafficking in Persons Report: A government should provide efficient access to justice for these victims, if they so choose, and access to shelter, medical care, legal aid, and psycho-social counseling. As further stated in the 2007 Report:

By placing the needs of victims front and center, victims of this heinous crime are assured of the protection they so desperately need. Once given those assurances, many victims step forward voluntarily and without pressure to become powerful and confident witnesses….

(P) Jurisprudence concerning the Thirteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution holds that no person can consent to be enslaved, including agreement to debt bondage, nor can a person under the age of 18 consent to participate in commercial sex.

(Q) The federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 is an act that fulfills the promise of the Thirteenth Amendment at the national level. This Act seeks to fulfill that promise within the state of [STATE].

Section 3. {Title _____ of the criminal code and Title _____ of the human services code shall be amended as follows}:

Section AAA.01 {Definitions}

In this Article:

(A) “Blackmail” is to be given its ordinary meaning as defined by [state blackmail statute, if any] and includes but is not limited to a threat to convey or publish any fact or purported fact tending to subject any person to embarrassment, contempt, defamation, hatred, ridicule or worry.

(B) “Coercion” means (a) threats of harm to or physical restraint against any person; (b) any act, scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause a person to believe that performing, or failing to perform, an act would result in serious physical, financial, or emotional harm or distress to or physical restraint against any person; (c) the abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process; (d) knowingly destroying, concealing, removing, confiscating or possessing any actual or purported passport, labor or other immigration document, or other government identification document (including but not limited to drivers licenses and birth certificates), of another person; (e) facilitating or controlling a person’s access to any addictive or controlled substance other than for legal medical purposes; (f) blackmail; (g) demanding or claiming money, goods, or any other thing of value from or on behalf of a prostituted person where such demand or claim arises from or is directly related to the act of prostitution; (h) determining, dictating or setting the price for which another person will engage in an act of prostitution with a third party; (i) determining, dictating or setting the times at which another person will be available to engage in an act of prostitution with a third party; (j) determining, dictating or setting the places at which another person will be available for solicitation of, or to engage in, an act of prostitution with a third party; or (k) determining, dictating or setting the places at which another person will reside for purposes of making such person available to engage in an act of prostitution with a third party.

(C) “Commercial sex” means (a) (i) any sex, or other, act intended to appeal to the sexual interests of any person or to arouse sexual excitement or gratification and (ii) with respect to which value is directly or indirectly given, promised to, or received by any person or with respect to which images or sounds are recorded or transmitted for the purposes of directly or indirectly giving, promising, or receiving value, or (b) any sex act intended to further a person’s entry into, or participation in, prostitution or pornography.

(D) “Financial harm” includes credit extortion as defined by [state extortion statute, if any], criminal violation of the usury laws as defined by [state statutes defining usury], employment contracts that violate the Statute of Frauds as defined by [state statute of frauds], or imposing or threatening to impose a financial hardship on a person.

(E) “Forced labor” shall include debt bondage, involuntary servitude, peonage, and slavery.

(F) “Legal process” refers to the criminal law, the civil law, or the regulatory system of the federal government, any state, territory, district, commonwealth, or trust territory therein, and any foreign government or subdivision thereof and includes legal civil actions, criminal actions, and regulatory petitions or applications.

(G) “Minor” means anyone under the age of 18 (or 21, according to state law).

(H) “Debt Bondage” means the status or condition of a debtor arising from a pledge by the debtor of his or her personal services or of those of a person under his or her control as a security for debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined;

(I) “Peonage” means holding someone against his or her will to pay off a debt.

(J) “Human Smuggling” means the transportation of a person across a border illegally.

(K) “Trafficking in Persons” means commercial sex trafficking or labor trafficking.

(L) Commercial sex trafficking is the:

(a)

(i) Recruiting, enticing, harboring, maintaining, transporting, providing or obtaining, by any means, another person

(ii) through deception, force, fraud, threat or coercion

(iii) for purposes of engaging the person in a commercial sex act; or

(b)

(i) Recruiting, enticing, harboring, maintaining, transporting, providing or obtaining, by any means,

(ii) a person under the age of 18 [or 21, according to the state]

(iii) for purposes of engaging the person in a commercial sex act; or

(c) Receipt of money, goods, or acceptance of the promise thereof knowing that such

money, goods, or promise thereof arose from the trafficking of a person for commercial sex.

(M) Labor trafficking is the:

(a)

(i) Recruiting, enticing, harboring, maintaining, transporting, providing or obtaining, by any means, another person

(ii) through deception, force, fraud, threat or coercion

(iii) for purposes of engaging the person in forced labor; or

(b) Receipt of money, goods, or acceptance of the promise thereof knowing that such money, goods, or promise thereof arose from the trafficking of a person for forced labor.

(N) “Victim of Trafficking” means:

(a) a person who has been

(i) recruited, enticed, harbored, maintained, transported, provided or obtained, by any means,

(ii) through deception, force, fraud, threat or coercion

(iii) in order to be engaged in a commercial sex act or forced labor; or

(b) a person under age 18 who has been recruited, enticed, harbored, maintained,

transported, provided or obtained, by any means for purposes of a commercial sex act.

Section 4. {Title _____ of the criminal code shall be amended as follows}:

Section BBB.02. {Criminal Provisions}

(A) Trafficking for labor or services- Any person who knowingly trafficks a person for labor or services shall be punished as follows:

1) [Sentences to be in accordance with the state felony sentencing structure and shall also take into account the length of the servitude and the overall harm inflicted upon the victim].

2) The defendant shall be subject to [enhanced penalties] where the victim has been subjected to assault or battery [enhancement in accordance with state sentencing structure].

3) The defendant shall be subject to [enhanced penalties] where another person has been subjected to assault or battery where the purpose or effect has been to coerce another into, or maintain a person in, trafficking [enhancement in accordance with state sentencing structure].

4) The defendant shall be subject to [enhanced penalties] where the victim has been subjected to rape, sexual assault or sexual abuse [enhancement in accordance with state sentencing structure].

5) The defendant shall be subject to [enhanced penalties] where another person has been subjected to rape, sexual assault or sexual abuse where the purpose or effect has been to coerce another into, or maintain a person in, trafficking [enhancement in accordance with state sentencing structure].

6) The defendant shall be subject to [enhanced penalties] where death results from a violation of this section or if such violation includes an attempt to kill, kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap [enhancement in accordance with state sentencing structure].

7) The court shall order the defendant to pay restitution to any trafficking victim and any child of the victim who was under age 18 [or 21 in accordance with state law] at any time during the trafficking in an amount equal to:

(i) The greater of the gross income to the defendant as a result of the victim having been trafficked or the reasonable value of the victim's labor; plus

(ii) The value of the victim's time under the greater of the federal or state wage laws and overtime regulations; plus

(iii) an amount determined by the court to be necessary for the mental and physical rehabilitation of the victim and any child of the victim.

8) The court, in imposing sentence on any person convicted of a violation of this chapter, shall order, in addition to any other sentence imposed and irrespective of any other provision of law, that such person shall forfeit to the state –

(i) such person's interest in any property, real or personal, that was used or intended to be used to commit or to facilitate the commission of such violation, and

(ii) any property, real or personal, constituting or derived from, any proceeds that such person obtained, directly or indirectly, as a result of such violation.

9) The first priority of such forfeited property shall be to pay the restitution to the victims of the defendant and to satisfy civil judgments obtained against the defendant under this Act.

(B) Trafficking for commercial sex- Any person who knowingly trafficks a person for commercial sex shall be punished as follows:

1) [Sentences to be in accordance with state felony sentencing structure and shall also take into account the length of the servitude and the overall harm inflicted upon the victim].

2) The defendant shall be subject to [enhanced penalties] where the victim has been subjected to assault or battery [enhancement in accordance with state sentencing structure].

3) The defendant shall be subject to [enhanced penalties] where another person has been subjected to assault or battery where the purpose or effect has been to coerce another into, or maintain a person in, trafficking [enhancement in accordance with state sentencing structure].

4) The defendant shall be subject to [enhanced penalties] where the victim has been subjected to rape, sexual assault or sexual abuse [enhancement in accordance with state sentencing structure].

5) The defendant shall be subject to [enhanced penalties] where another person has been subjected to rape, sexual assault or sexual abuse where the purpose or effect has been to coerce another into, or maintain a person in, trafficking [enhancement in accordance with state sentencing structure].

6) The defendant shall be subject to [enhanced penalties] where death results from a violation of this section or if such violation includes an attempt to kill, kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap [enhancement in accordance with state sentencing structure].

7) The court shall order the defendant to pay restitution to any trafficking victim and any child of the victim who was under age 18 [or 21 in accordance with state law] at any time during the trafficking in an amount equal to:

(i) The gross income to the defendant as a result of the victim having been trafficked; plus

(ii) The value of the victim's time under the greater of the federal or state wage laws and overtime regulations; plus

(iii) an amount determined by the court to be necessary for the mental and physical rehabilitation of the victim and any child of the victim.

8) The court, in imposing sentence on any person convicted of a violation of this chapter, shall order, in addition to any other sentence imposed and irrespective of any other provision of law, that such person shall forfeit to the state –

(i) such person's interest in any property, real or personal, that was used or intended to be used to commit or to facilitate the commission of such violation, and

(ii) any property, real or personal, constituting or derived from, any proceeds that such person obtained, directly or indirectly, as a result of such violation.

9) The first priority of such forfeited property shall be to pay the restitution to the victims of the defendant and to satisfy civil judgments obtained against the defendant under this Act.

(C) Trafficking of a child for labor or services- Any person who knowingly trafficks a person under age 18 [or 21, in accordance with state law] for labor for services shall be punished as follows: