After looking over the various bills being proposed and amended, I became interested in Senate Bill 233. This bill is intended to amend O.C.G.A. 16-6-3, which deals with victims of human trafficking and the legal ramifications for individuals under the age of 18 when charged with sexual crimes. According to the proposed amendment, the bill would allow individuals under the age of 18 who are being charged with crimes such as prostitution, to use the affirmative defense. Along with the added defense option, a fund for these individuals who are deemed victims of human trafficking would be created. The funds would come from the fines and payments of individuals who are charged with promoting human trafficking such as pimps or businesses. With these funds collected, programs would be created to help victims of human trafficking with services such as counselling and education. A committee would also be formed to overlook the fund, which would be made up of 8 members appointed by the Governor as well as appointments from the Governor’s Office for Children and Families, Criminal Justice Coordinating Council, Department of Human Services, and Department of Public Health.
While trying to research this bill, I did not come up with much information about it other than the sponsors of the bill. Senate Bill 233 is sponsored by senators Mike Crane, Renee Unterman, Joshua McKoon and Tyler Harper. All four of these senators are affiliated with the Republican Party. SB 233 was presented on February 27, 2013 and was read and referred on February 28, 2013. Of these four senators, Renee Unterman seems to have the most experience with issues of child exploitation. She has worked in the Public health field, as a clinical social worker, and is the chairman of the Health and Human Services Committee.
The need to address this problem I believe arose because many under aged individuals were being arrested and prosecuted for prostitution and other illegal sexual activities, while giving little thought to how they ended up in these types of situations. Instead of treating these individuals as victims of sex trafficking, they were being criminalized. The overall goal of the bill is to provide protection and to diminish further victimization of individuals who have been sexually exploited.
Human sex trafficking in the United States has been a growing concern in recent years. Once thought to be an occurrence in other countries, more research and analysis has brought this into the forefront. I believe this is due in part to more statistics and data available. Similar to the discussion on the problem stream, more focused is geared towards numbers. Because little research and statistical analysis was given to human trafficking within the United States in prior years, these events were not deemed as problems. Now with the daunting figures showing the rising occurrences of human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children in the United States, more attention is being put towards it.
Also, I believe that redefining these individuals as exploited victims, rather than prostitutes or criminals is very important in the success of this bill and others related to it. Prior to the focus of human trafficking and exploitation in the United States, teenage prostitution was a result of individuals running away from home and partaking in this behavior for survival. Very little was done for these individuals and many ended up back on the streets. By looking at these individuals as exploited children instead of illegal sex workers, it helped shift the public view and opinion, which has allowed for these events to be considered more of a “problem”.
The fact that this proposed bill is an amendment to an already established law, makes me believe that continued issues arose with under aged individuals being prosecuted for sexual crimes, further victimizing these individuals. Also, once these children were found to be victims of exploitation, there may have been a lack of services available to them. Allotting money to assist in the mental, physical, and emotional recovery of these victims is key to rehabilitating and in some cases, stopping the cycle of sexual abuse for these individuals.
I feel that the amendment is needed in order to help victims of human trafficking and sexual exploitation. Problems for this amendment may arise when hatching out the fund aspect of the proposed bill. How much of the money should be allotted to the fund? Exactly what programs will be available to the recipients and what are the effectiveness of these programs? From my research, I saw little movement or discussion of this proposed amendment which is unfortunate, however there is still a chance that this bill may be picked back up this session. I am eager to see if this bill will move forward and if so what new services are going to be available for these victims.
http://www.legis.ga.gov/legislation/en-US/Display/20132014/SB/233