A strike against sex trafficking

Hawaii is one of six states that do not have any laws against human trafficking, and each one of them — Massachusetts, Ohio, South Dakota, West Virginia and Wyoming — is a hole in what should be a national safety net. Without strong and vigorously enforced statutes, these states not only risk becoming unintended havens for traffickers, but when confronted with the crime they are more likely to rely on outdated prostitution laws instead of up-to-date laws regarding modern slavery. The Aloha State, however, is poised to leave this small club of outliers and become the 45^th state to enact anti-trafficking legislation; we encourage Gov. Linda Lingle to sign the legislation now sitting on her desk.

The bill is not perfect; it focuses solely on sex trafficking, making it a felony, and does not address the thriving business of trafficking in slave labor, which in the U.S. is even more common. According to the U.S. Department of Justice, hundreds of thousands of people are at any given moment being forced or misled into working in hotels, agricultural fields and janitorial services in addition to brothels, strip clubs, massage parlors and other commercial sex outlets.

Still, the legislation, if enacted, would be a step forward, and other, more comprehensive measures may follow. What is important is to put anti-trafficking on the books. Then a state can distinguish criminals from victims — pimps and traffickers from the women and children they often enslave, exploit or coerce. By contrast, prostitution laws typically place both victim and pimp in the same criminal category, sometimes unfairly. The Trafficking in Persons Report released by the Justice Department last week says that this shift in attitude has yet to filter down to local justice systems. Even when victims are juveniles — as are an estimated 100,000 children each year — often they are punished in the criminal justice system rather than provided with social services. According to the report, 849 boys and girls under age 18 were reported to the FBI in 2008, the year with the most recent data, as having been arrested for prostitution.

Hawaii, like California, has a serious problem with trafficking — all ports of entry and border states do. The state’s tourism industry has also spawned sex tourism and trafficking from Asia, and last year, the Honolulu Police Department identified 15 children a month who it determined were high-risk victims for trafficking, according to the Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery.

What would a new law accomplish? It depends. Even in states that already have such laws, enforcement can be spotty. What’s certain, however, is that without it, Hawaii will remain a weak link in what should be a national commitment to end trafficking.