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(USGovernment-News.Com, June 06, 2013 ) Newark, NJ -- The state of Florida has become the latest state to offer victims of human trafficking a new start. The support is thanks in large part thanks to Governor Rick Scott signing new legislation that allows criminal convictions be removed from the record if crimes were committed while the individual was under coercion or threat by a trafficker.
Florida is said to have the third highest call total regarding tracking via victim hotlines.
"Somebody who's been involved in human trafficking — we want to get them back to normal as quickly as we can," Scott stated.
"Because of being trafficked, they end up with a criminal record that makes it very difficult for them to get a job, get into school, get on with their lives," Scott said. The new law passed is the fourth in a round of human trafficking legislation to be passed since 2004.
“A victim’s criminal record can be a major impediment in almost every aspect of daily life, whether applying for a job, renting an apartment, or requesting credit,” said Laura J. Lederer, founder of the Global Centurion Foundation, which focuses on stopping the demand for forced labor and commercial sex. “Until very recently,” she told The Washington Times, “almost every state treated the victims as criminals.”
The new line of thinking in states across the country have come due to the need for pre existing laws to evolve with the climate and trends of trafficking itself. Congress passed the Tracking Victims Protection Act at the start of the millennium, but there has been clear need for laws to grow properly.
For instance, there are five cities across two states that have created “john Schools” wherein men are arrested for soliciting prostitution. The men are required to take classes on public health and are educated on the ins and outs of organized crime regarding human trafficking. Lawmakers in the state of New York have tripled the jail terms for those who seek to pay for sex.
Human tracking remains a persistent problem across the country, however. Central Florida authorities recently arrested a trafficking ring, wherein two men were arrested for running the operation that included 16 women forced into prostitution.
In New York, over a dozen men were taken into custody regarding a international trafficking ring by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the area. According to reports, the women were being shuttled from Mexico into New York as coerced prostitutes.
The new laws being passed are looking to discontinue the further victimization of individuals who are found guilty of prostitution while being forced into such acts by handlers.
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