Rep. Austin’s HB 1414 has passed the House and has been assigned to the Senate Committee on Corrections, Criminal, and Civil Matters. It creates the crime of human trafficking: A person who knowingly or intentionally recruits, harbors, or transports another person by force, threat of force, or fraud to engage the other person in forced labor or involuntary servitude or to force the other person into marriage or prostitution commits promotion of human trafficking, a Class B felony. It’s a Class A felony when the victim is a minor. A person who knowingly or intentionally pays for a trafficked individual also commits human trafficking. It creates a civil cause of action against a trafficker. The bill also creates a task force as well as a work group to develop written protocols for delivery of services to human and sexual trafficking victims without regard to the immigration status of the victims.
I guess I’m surprised there isn’t already a statute on the books for this. In any case, the bill jumped out at me because last night I saw a Frontline documentary on the trafficking of sex slaves. It’s an excellent documentary that manages to really bring the horror of human trafficking crashing down on you. It follows one case where a Moldovan woman who was 4 months pregnant left with an acquaintance to go to Turkey to buy cheap goods for her mother to sell back home. The acquaintance sold her in Turkey as a sex slave for $1,000. The Frontline crew followed her husband in his effort to get her back.
I wonder how much of a problem this is, if at all, in Indiana. In Turkey, the cops just looked the other way and, in some cases, were in on the deal. Indiana law enforcement is held to a higher standard. Another question I have is whether prostitution being illegal aggravates or mitigates the problem. I would presume that availability of willing sex workers and legal brothels would make “customers” less likely to frequent the shadier places. But that presumption could be wildly off the mark. Not that legalized prostitution is likely in Indiana any time soon. Heck, we’re a little scared of unlicensed interior designers. (The interior designer bill was defeated 30 to 68, by the way.)
In any event, I really like the provision that requires assistance to the victims to disregard immigration status. The Frontline documentary suggested that when the women were discovered in American police raids, they were typically just sent to INS and summarily deported.
I struggle with what do to about crimes like prostitution and other so-called “victimless” crimes. For example, I think most people know that tobacco is a drug that can never be used without damage. It should by all rights be banned. However, the costs of restricting it, along with the new black market that would be created may be more dangerous than letting people just kill themselves and making sure they can’t smoke in places that would harm others.
Likewise, I’m VERY opposed to prostitution. I think it harms both women and men involved with it, even in parts of Nevada where it is legal. However, would it be better to legalize it nationally? Health codes could be enforced, slowing the spread of STD’s. Workers would have somewhat better protection than they do today. However, would legal prostitution increase the number of men and women involved with this trade?
Would the net result be better or worse than it is now?
In the case of a prostitute that enters the business willingly and works legally and therefore under the protection of the law, I’ve always had a tough time seeing that she (or he) was damaged by the job any more than your average coal miner. Certainly the miner works under more dangerous conditions, doing more damage to his (or her) body.
The prostitute has to face the damage inflicted by the moral opprobrium our society attaches to sex generally, and paid sex specifically. But that’s an artificial societal construct, within our control, and would likely diminish if legalized prostitution became the norm.
On the one hand, I’m not sure how many people enter into the sex trade on a purely “voluntary” basis. Then again, I’m not sure how many people enter into the coal mining business on a purely “voluntary” basis. Both are situations involving a combination of economic need and limited economic opportunities.
Europeans successfully regulate prostitution. Most countries make it illegal for another person to profit off of the prostitutes, which eliminates pimping. Most sex workers are independent contractors, but subject to state regulation. The state regulation requres that they may only ply their trade in certain zones, be subject to taxation and undergo regular health checks. The result is a safe, legal alternative to the prohibition culture we have here.
As for trafficking humans, I actually saw an instance of this in Vincennes, Indiana parking lot. I watched a guy with Illinois plates accepted cash from a well-known local chinese restaurant owner and then he handed over several Latino men carrying duffle bags. I couldn’t believe it.
I always wonder about the Asian “spas” that seem to be popping up everywhere like weeds. I wonder how many of the employees are there of their free will, or how many were smuggled into the country and forced into slavery to never be able to repay their captors?
The Frontline special focused on women from Eastern Europe. Sometime last year or two years ago, there was a raid on a Russian social club near Chicago. They found women at club working as “dancers.” I wonder if they were trafficked to the U.S?
There’s a difference between someone who may decide to enter the “business” on her own and someone who is kidnapped and forced into it. I’m glad Indiana is addressing the situation.