Sex trafficking laws - toughest in nation

As 2008 began, stronger statutes against sex traffickers, dubbed by proponents as the toughest in the nation, went into effect in New York State.
The law, signed by Governor Eliot Spitzer in June 2007, created the crimes of sex trafficking, a B felony which is punishable by between three and 25 years behind bars, and labor trafficking, a D felony which comes with a prison sentence of between three and seven years. Before January, sex trafficking and labor trafficking were not on the books of New York State’s legal code.
Although there were laws against the practices on the federal level, critics complained that authorities targeted larger trafficking rings rather than smaller operations. Now, however, New York has its own legislation to go after offenders and help victims.
“As far as we are concerned, we think it is the strongest anti-trafficking law in the country,” said Taina Bien-Aime, the Executive Director of Equality Now, an international human rights organization dedicated to helping women and girls. Equality Now was one of more than 80 organizations that joined to form the New York Anti-Trafficking Coalition in order to push for the law’s passage.
“Making sure that there was strong legislation to prevent traffic and prosecute traffickers is really critical to our work,” Bien-Aime said.
Bien-Aime praised the Governor’s work to create a law that included deception in addition to forthright coercion, meaning that traffickers can be charged for the various methods they used to lure victims into the state.
“It is very important for prosecutors to present strong cases,” she said.
In addition, the law increased penalties for those convicted of sex tourism — travel agents involved in arranging sex tours can face a D felony, which is punishable by between three and seven years in prison.
State Senator Frank Padavan, who sponsored an earlier bill that had tough penalties for traffickers, said in a statement, “Victims will now have the support and resources they need to help them overcome this heinous crime.”
The new law provides victims with restitution from the New York State Crimes Victims Board and assistance from the state’s Office of Temporary and Disability Assistance (OTADA) to find housing, health care, mental health counseling, drug treatment, language services and job training. The U.S. State Department estimates that between 14,500 and 17,500 people are trafficked into the country every year, and many of them into New York.
The state’s law, which took legislators years to formulate, also established an interagency task force to plan training and outreach for law enforcement authorities, community members and service providers, as well as to gather data on victims and the effectiveness of the new law.