State legislators should pass Senate Bill 122, entitled “Sex Trafficking/Sex Offender Registration,” in order to deal with the state’s human trafficking problem.
According to the bill, individuals convicted of human trafficking would be required to register on a public offender registry.
The bill, though aimed at human trafficking in general, is designed primarily to crack down on pimps, according to one of the bill’s sponsors, Sen. Thom Goolsby, R-New Hanover.
Passing this bill would be a great step in the right direction to reduce human trafficking in N.C. by focusing on the actual perpetrators and not on victims, who are sometimes falsely perceived as criminals.
Moreover, making convicted traffickers register as public offenders would improve community awareness and potentially mitigate future trafficking and exploitation.
According to the Polaris Project, a leading organization against human trafficking and modern-day slavery, North Carolina has constantly been identified as a hotbed of human trafficking.
But addressing the criminal side of sex trafficking isn’t enough.
While crafting this bill, state legislators should also take stronger steps to create “safe harbor” laws for victims of this grave problem.
These laws would ensure that children cannot be prosecuted for prostitution. Exploited minors should receive protection as victims of human trafficking, not as perpetrators of sexual offenses.
