The bill, which is expected to reach the Senate floor later this week, creates a diversion program that upon completion erases criminal charges facing young trafficking victims and allows adult victims to expunge their criminal records if the crimes resulted from their enslavement.
The bill increases trafficking to a first-degree felony that requires a prison term of 10 to 15 years. It also requires that people who pay to have sex with minors face felony charges, and convicted pimps and traffickers must register as sex offenders.
The legislation allows victims to sue traffickers in civil court, and it permits assets belonging to traffickers that are seized by law enforcement to be used to pay for services needed by victims.
“It has three prongs to it: prevention, protection and prosecution,” Fedor said.
The bill has a provision that says traffickers who intimidate or threaten victims in an attempt to keep them from testifying in court will face second-degree felony charges of obstruction of justice.
The Dayton Daily News on Saturday reported that some sex-trafficking suspects have avoided criminal charges because the victims refused to cooperate with authorities and testify. Victims said they chose not to help prosecutors because they were scared of retaliation from their captors, did not want to relive the experiences or they returned to the streets.
Fedor said her bill would change Ohio’s laws to match federal-level penalties and sentences for trafficking crimes, and it also seeks to deter customers of the criminal sex trade, who fuel the $62 billion global industry.
“We will have a zero-tolerance attitude to cleaning up this problem,” she said.
Gov. John Kasich, who declared war on human trafficking in his State of the State address in February, applauded the bill’s passage.
“For too long, Ohio law hasn’t done enough to both prosecute those guilty of trafficking our kids and support the child-victims who desperately need our help,” he said in a statement.
“Right now it’s estimated there are 1,000 boys and girls being trafficked across Ohio ... Our children need and deserve our protection. With this bill, Ohio wakes up to what’s happening and starts putting a stop to it.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-9749 or cfrolik@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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