New York Anti-Trafficking Coalition

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

New York Anti-Trafficking Law

After lobbying for a strong, comprehensive anti-trafficking law for two consecutive years, the NYS Anti-Trafficking coalition helped pass New York States’ Anti-Human Trafficking Law in 2007. This law addressed all the components we were seeking: a comprehensive dfinition of trafficking;  tough penalties for traffickers; comprehensive services for victims; clearer laws on sex tourism operations; and increased penalties for patronizing prostitution from a B to an A misdemeanor.

How well the new state law will actually combat trafficking depends on the financial and intellectual resources that are put behind it. A new law on the books doesn’t automatically translate into district attorneys seeking indictments. Despite the staggering number of victims of human trafficking, there has only been one conviction under the new statute since the law went into effect in November of 2008.

Progress has been made. In 2010 Kings County District Attorney Charles Hynes announced the creation of a new Sex Trafficking Unit on the heels of the indictment of 8 individuals on sex trafficking charges. But work still needs to be done. District attorneys need to seek indictments. Judges and prosecutors need training on how to apply the new statute. Cops need more than a 30-minute video presentation to understand how traffickers operate and how to identify a victim. Service providers need grants for shelter, healthcare and psychological therapy to assist victims. The anti-trafficking legislation needs real funding- rather than the paltry allocation it has received in the past.

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Youth

In 2008 Governor Paterson signed the Safe Harbor for Sexually Exploited Youth Act into law. The law forces the family court system to recognize underage girls and boys who are caught in prostitution as victims and would create specialized services and housing for them.We advocated for a policy that would address the ways in which these kids were criminalized and further victimized by a system that lacked the ability to help them effectively. Instead of providing adequate services- including emergency short-term and long-term housing, counseling, support, medical care, and education- these victims were funneled into juvenile detention programs and youth prisons that failed to address their specialized needs.

The Safe Harbor Act was scheduled to go into effect on April 1, 2010, but the state of the economy and the New York State budget crisis has put the funding necessary to make Safe Harbor a success at risk.

The good news for the bill is that training is already under way in the family courts that deal with these cases, and emergency shelter is being put into place within existing shelters. The downside is that a lot more is going to need to be done, especially to establish the long-term housing and the training of police, nurses, judges, attorneys, and advocates that are necessary to make this program effective.