Latest news with #HB405
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Utah declares war on human trafficking with new legislation
An effort to strengthen human trafficking penalties in Utah this legislative session was met with strong support in the session's final week with the passage of House Bill 405. 'Human trafficking is a serious offense, and it involves coercing someone into forced labor or sexual acts, and in essence, it's modern-day slavery,' Rep. Candice B. Pierucci, R-Herriman, said during her bill's first House floor debate last month. 'Unfortunately, Utah lags severely behind other states in the prosecution of human trafficking.' Now passed by both the House and Senate, HB405, if signed by Gov. Spencer Cox, will increase penalties for certain human trafficking offenses in the state. Under current law, the human trafficking of a child is a first-degree felon but with a five-year minimum sentence; Pierucci's bill would make it 10. It would likewise change human trafficking for sexual exploitation from a second-degree felony to a first-degree felony, no matter the age of the victim. It also alters the enhancement for aggravated human trafficking and labor trafficking up to a first-degree level felony. 'This is a very serious issue,' she said. 'We've talked about some of the horrific impacts of having a porous border over the past four years, and this is an issue that our state and the country as a whole is trying to wrap its hands around.' During her presentation at the House Judiciary Committee meeting, Pierucci revealed that in 2020, over half of all sex trafficking survivors were undocumented in the United States. She noted that in one study, most victims reported being recruited for both sex and labor trafficking, with 75% holding an unknown immigration status. Another study showed that 60% of Latin American children who attempt to cross the border alone or with smugglers are captured by cartels and exploited in child pornography or drug trafficking. Though the bill passed on Wednesday, lawmakers from both parties expressed concern about the five-year increase in minimum sentencing. 'I've seen these mandatory minimums sometimes sweep up people who really don't deserve the mandatory minimum,' said Derrin R. Owens, R-Fountain Green. 'Our job as a legislature is to set policy to say, 'Yes, we do think these are very serious crimes worthy of very serious punishment,' but then we let a judge and a jury decide how that law should apply to the facts before them.' Current U.S. state minimum prison sentences for child sex trafficking and labor trafficking: Utah: Sex trafficking — 5 years. Labor trafficking — 1 year. Georgia: Sex trafficking — 25 years. Labor trafficking — 10 years. Oklahoma: Sex trafficking — 15 years. Labor trafficking — 5 years. Missouri: Sex trafficking — 10 years. Labor trafficking — 5 years. During the Senate flooring discussion on Wednesday, Sen. Todd D. Weiler, R-Woods Cross, stated that although he did not oppose the bill, he wanted to clarify that offenders are rarely released after serving minimum sentences. 'Despite low minimum sentences, the effects of being trafficked for the victims are lifelong,' the bill's floor sponsor, Sen. Heidi Balderree, R-Saratoga Springs, said in response. In response to the same concerns during the House floor debate, Pierucci said she would serve 25 years if she could. 'At the very least, we are moving the needle and enhancing this to a first-degree felony with no less than 10 years in prison,' she said. 'And the goal, the hope, (and) the message is one: Utah will stop lagging behind the rest of the country in how we charge these things. But also, the message should go out: do not try this in Utah. We take it seriously, and we will make sure you are locked up for a very long time.'
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Reforming Utah's human trafficking laws
The state of Utah is more lenient compared to both other states and federal penalties against sex trafficking, Rep. Candice B. Pierucci, R-Herriman, said Monday evening during the House Judiciary Committee meeting where she sponsored her sex trafficking amendments bill, HB405. 'It is certainly time for Utah to enhance this and really, quite frankly, crack down on human trafficking and demonstrate that we are — at the very least — in line with where the federal government is with these, in my opinion, evil individuals who are trafficking children and our most vulnerable population,' she said. Pierucci shared statistics on trafficking in the U.S. that highlight just how lenient Utah is comparatively. U.S. state minimum prison sentences for child sex trafficking and labor trafficking: Utah: Sex trafficking — 5. Labor trafficking — 1. Georgia: Sex trafficking — 25. Labor trafficking — 10. Oklahoma: Sex trafficking — 15. Labor trafficking — 5. Missouri: Sex trafficking — 10. Labor trafficking — 5. 'Human trafficking of a child, under current code, is a first-degree felony, but with just five years to life in prison,' Pierucci said. Her bill 'would bump it up to a first-degree felony, with 10 years to life if the victim is 14 years old, but younger than 18 years old, and 15 years to life if the victim is under 14 years old, which is in line with federal code.' HB405 would also change human trafficking for sexual exploitation from a second-degree felony to a first-degree felony. During her presentation, Pierucci also shared statistics of trafficking crimes in correlation with the U.S. southern border: In 2022, the Department of Homeland Security opened 1,373 human trafficking investigations. In the same year, the Department of Justice opened 668 human trafficking investigations. In 2020, more than half of all sex trafficking survivors were in the United States illegally, Pierucci added. In one study, most victims reported being recruited for both sex and labor trafficking. 75% of victims had an unknown immigration status. Another study, she said, indicated that 60% of Latin American children who attempt to cross the border alone or with smugglers are captured by cartels and exploited in child pornography or drug trafficking. Though the bill passed 7-1, Rep. Grant Amjad Miller, D-Salt Lake City, and two attorneys gave public comments, all expressing concern about its language. If the bill focused solely on increasing the felony severity from second degree to first degree, Miller said he was more likely to fully support it, but it's 'simply the mandatory minimum element' that he said keeps him up at night. Miller said that imposing a fair sentence takes input from all parties involved in the case for a judge to decide how long a person should go to prison. 'Then, there's another layer of the board and partner parole to indicate what is an important and fair and just sentence to levy because no two cases are the same.' 'When we impose mandatory minimums from the State House, we take all discretionary powers away from all of those actors, and it's based on that narrow scope alone. It's the mandatory minimum that dissuades me otherwise,' he added. Pierucci responded that she, too, struggled with mandatory minimums at first, 'but then, as I read and interviewed some of the horrific stories, I do think there are some crimes that you should have an automatic amount of time. And I think that sex trafficking of children for sexual labor is one of those.'
