Groundbreaking Georgia Trafficking Bill Heads to First Hearing

An urgently needed bill that addresses child trafficking in Georgia had its first hearing on Monday. As reported last week, Georgia is steadily growing into a human trafficking hub, thanks in part to some of the weakest laws in the country, and a lack of funds for victims. House Bill 200, a bi-partisan bill introduced by Representative Edward Lindsey (R-Atlanta), has the potential to change that. It’s time to act now. Urge Georgia legislators to pass this bill, and sign this petition.

Last week, Georgia’s new Attorney General, Sam Olens, spoke with the Atlanta radio station, WABE FM 90.1 about the importance of this bill. His interview illuminates precisely why this legislation is uniquely equipped to tackle Georgia’s trafficking problems. Presently, criminals convicted of trafficking a victim over eighteen in Georgia can face as little as one year in prison. Those convicted of trafficking a minor only receive up to 10-20 years. Olens calls this a “huge issue” in Georgia, and a law that is simply “not acceptable.” HB 200 would amend this: under the new law, criminals would face a minimum of 10-20 years for trafficking, and could potentially receive life in prison for child trafficking.

And that’s not all this bill does. For example, it’s no longer an adequate defense for a man to say that a 14-year-old girl looked twenty, so it was okay to prostitute her. The same goes if a parent is accused of trafficking his or her child; the parent will face the same sentence as any other person accused of trafficking. The bill would also provide training for law enforcement, and include victims of trafficking in the state’s victim assistance fund, offering them support and an affirmative defense.

The bill isn’t perfect — it’s unclear whether it will have enough financial resources to fully fund all of these programs (it will partly rely on private donations and non-profits), and at the Monday hearing there was concern that a portion of the bill penalizing pimps and johns for trafficking was unconstitutional, and might jeopardize the bill. Nevertheless, abolitionists believe that the content of this bill is imperative to making real headway against Georgia’s trafficking problem.

“This bill is going to make sure trafficked children are treated as victims, not criminals,” Becky Lee, the executive director of a Children’s Advocacy Center told WABE. “The way it is right now, we’d be happy if it was passed.”

Photo Credit: Joe Shlabotnik