Protecting the Vulnerable: Alaska's Battle Against Sex Trafficking
Contributed by MY HOUSE
Alaska has the highest rates of child abuse, sexual assault, domestic violence, and addiction in the US. These problems are fueling the sex trafficking industry in Alaska, and it's time for action to be taken. House Bill 68 & Senate Bill 66 are being proposed as measures to help combat human trafficking in Alaska. The bills aim to put victims of sex trafficking first, targeting the demand for sex while increasing penalties for traffickers who force people into sex work.
House Bill 68 & Senate Bill 66 puts victims of sex trafficking first, targeting the demand for sex while increasing penalties for traffickers who force people into sex work here in Alaska.
The proposed legislation would provide legal protection for trafficking victims and increase penalties for all forms of trafficking, placing the most serious classifications on those crimes that use force to traffic an underage person into sex work. The bills would also establish the new crime of “Patron of a Victim of Sex Trafficking,” making it a class B sex felony if a person solicits sexual acts with reckless disregard for the possibility that the person they are soliciting is a victim of sex trafficking.
In addition, the proposed legislation would establish a process for people to have their prostitution or low-level drug possession convictions vacated if the person is able to show they were a victim of sex trafficking at the time they committed the offenses. This would allow individuals who are out of the life of prostitution to remove the barrier of a legal history of prostitution to pursue legitimate, productive careers.
92% of trafficking victims were abused during their childhood, 2 and Alaska leads every major child abuse metric.3 According to the 2019 FBI Uniform Crime Report, Alaska’s rate of sexual assault is nearly four times the national average4 and our child sexual assaults are nearly six times the national average.5 When it comes to these issues our state is number one, but for all the wrong reasons.
Legalized Prostitution Increases Human Trafficking SAY NO TO THE LEGALIZATION OF PROSTITUTION
It’s been proven that countries that legalize prostitution have higher rates of human trafficking. According to a World Development study conducted in 2012 entitled Does Legalized Prostitution Increase Human Trafficking? “According to economic theory, there are two opposing effects of unknown magnitude. The scale effect of legalized prostitution leads to an expansion of the prostitution market, increasing human trafficking, while the substitution effect reduces demand for trafficked women as legal prostitutes are favored over trafficked ones. Our empirical analysis for a cross-section of up to 150 countries shows that the scale effect dominates the substitution effect. On average, countries where prostitution is legal experience larger reported human trafficking inflows.”
At no point has a kindergartener ever said “I want to be sex worker” when asked what they want to be when they grow up. Many participants in prostitution were sexually abused as children, normalizing the fact that their bodies were nothing more than an item meant to be used for sex. Prostitution is not a victimless crime. That’s why HB 68 and SB 66 are so important; holding the buyers of sex accountable when they recklessly buy sex from a child or a trafficked individual will help curb the demand side of the sex trafficking equation. Simultaneously, these bills empower survivors so that they can use their voice to testify against the individuals who have done them harm.
What YOU Can Do to Make an Impact Email or Call Your State Legislators
You can find contact information by going to akleg.gov. This legislation is currently being heard by the House and Senate judiciary committees, so members of these committees are especially important to contact. When emailing or calling please include the following information:
● Alaska leads the Nation in Sexual Assault, (four times the National average)
● Alaska leads the Nation in Child Sexual Assault (six times the National average)
● 92% of trafficking survivors report being abused as children
● Data shows that high rates Sexual Assault and Child Abuse go hand-in-hand with high rates of Human Trafficking
● HB 68 and SB 66 help combat Human Trafficking in Alaska, and makes our state a safer and healthier place to live.
● This legislation is designed to help the most vulnerable in our state. Please DO NOT choose to play politics when it comes to this issue.
To make an impact and help combat human trafficking in Alaska, people should consider emailing or calling their state legislators. The proposed legislation is currently being heard by the House judiciary committee, chaired by Representative Sarah Vance, but as of now has not been heard by the Senate Judiciary, chaired by Senator Matt Claman. People can also get involved by joining the Alaska Stop Human Trafficking Alliance, which meets on the third Tuesday of every month via Zoom and collaborates with stakeholders across Alaska to find better ways to combat trafficking and better serve survivors.