BILL NUMBER: S7182

SPONSOR: MARTINEZ
 
TITLE OF BILL:

An act to amend the penal law, in relation to increasing the penalties
for sex trafficking

 
PURPOSE:

The purpose of this bill is to recognize the severity of sex trafficking
as a crime by increasing its felony classification from class B to class
All.

 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section 1: The closing paragraph of section 230.34 of the penal law, as
added by chapter 74 of the laws of 2007, is amended to make the criminal
offense of sex trafficking a class All felony.

Section 2: The closing paragraph of section 230.34-a of the penal law,
as added by chapter 189 of the laws of 2018, is amended to make the
              

criminal offense of sex trafficking of a child a class All felony.

Section 3: Establishes the effective date.

 
JUSTIFICATION:

According to the Department of Justice, sex trafficking is a form of
human trafficking that exploits people through force, fraud and coercion
into commercial sex work. While anyone regardless of race, ethnicity,
age, gender, sexual orientation and socioeconomic status can be target-
ed, the most vulnerable populations of sex trafficking are women and
children, people of color, immigrant populations, LGBTQ+, sex workers
and those in an unstable home or experiencing homelessness.

In 2021, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received 1,662 signals
of sex trafficking from New York and further identified 404 cases of sex
trafficking involving 639 victims. The rates of such incidents were
highest amongst females, adults and foreign nationals.  New York State
law classifies predatory sexual assault and predatory sexual.assault of
a child as an All felony. This bill argues sex trafficking should be
classified to the same degree.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

No prior legislative history

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeeding the
date on which it shall have become a law.