The State of Georgia Now Has One of the Nation's Toughest Laws Against Human Sex Trafficking

On July 1, 2011, a new and tougher law went into effect in the state Georgia. Prior to this date, the minimum sentence for human traffickers was only one year in prison. Now the minimum sentence is 10 years behind bars and fines up to $100,000 for a conviction. The prison sentence is increased to at least 25 years if the victim is a minor.

The new law also states that a person cannot be found guilty of a sex crime committed during the time the person was a victim of sex trafficking. Anyone who has been forced into prostitution as a result of being victimized into sex trafficking, should not and will not be prosecuted.

There are some religious groups within the state who are upset about the latter portion of this law, thinking this is simply a way to legalize prostitution. That thinking is not easily understood, since there is such a distinction between being forced into prostitution and actually choosing prostitution as a lifestyle. I personally believe this kind of thinking punishes the victim of sex crimes committed against them.

Sam Olen, Georgia's Attorney General, states that "the law is critical to address a growing problem in the state".

Human Trafficking on a National Level

Information provided by Wikipedia states, "Research conducted by University of California at Berkeley on behalf of the anti-trafficking organization Free the Slaves found that about 46% of people in slavery in the United States are forced into prostitution. The U.S. Department of Justice prosecuted 360 defendants for Human Trafficking from 2001 to 2007 and gained 238 convictions."

Bradley Myles, executive director of Polaris Project, a nonprofit that operates the National Human Trafficking Resource Center, states, "Basically there's this whole sex trafficking network that exists in the United States, and it predominantly targets and victimizes women and children from Latin American countries," These crimes are heinous indeed and what a shame it would be to further compound the crime by prosecuting these women who have been forced into prostitution.

The new law that went into effect in the state of Georgia is a good and much needed law, both within the state of Georgia and on a national level. Hopefully other states will follow the lead of the Peach State. Again, to prosecute the women who have been deceptively lured into this country and then forced into prostitution would be an horrific crime. And to fail to prosecute the people who engage in such behaviors as forcing others into human sex trafficking is also a heinous crime against humanity.

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/07/11/tough-new-georgia-sex-trafficking-law-takes-effect/?test=latestnews

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_trafficking_in_the_United_States