Human trafficking bill headed to the governor in time for the Super Bowl

By Zach Osowski
The Statehouse File

INDIANAPOLIS – The Indiana House passed a bill Friday to boost the penalties for human trafficking, making it the first bill approved by the General Assembly this year.

Gov. Mitch Daniels is expected to sign the bill into law before the Super Bowl, which authorities say will draw a significant sex trade to Indianapolis.

“What we are doing is sending a message,” said Rep. Peggy Welch, D-Bloomington. “Indiana does not stand for that kind of abhorrent behavior in our state.”

The House passed the bill unanimously, as did the Senate.

Indiana Attorney General Greg Zoeller has said battling human trafficking has become a goal of attorneys general across the country. But in Indiana, passing the law has been considered even more critical because the Super Bowl is scheduled to take place Feb. 5 in Indianapolis.

Human trafficking can include the recruiting, harboring or selling of a person for purposes of prostitution, commercial sex acts, forced labor or involuntary servitude. Zoeller has said repeatedly that the large Super Bowl crowd tends to draw organized criminal rings that promote prostitution.

“The legislators who make up our Indiana General Assembly are to be complimented for rising above the tension and divisiveness of the past weeks in coming together to pass this important measure as the first bill of the session,” Zoeller said in a statement.

The law will have implications beyond the Super Bowl.

It’s author, Sen. Randy Head, R-Logansport, has said it’s essential that Indiana broaden its definition of human trafficking.

“Human traffickers are sophisticated,” Head said. “They trap foreign girls and make them feel unable to go to the police.”

The bill will:

• Close a loophole in the existing statute so non-relatives who traffic a child can be prosecuted, rather than a parent or guardian only.
• More effectively define the crime of “promotion of human trafficking of a minor” so that prosecutors could bring charges against traffickers even if no force was used and for situations involving prostitution and involuntary servitude by minors.
• Broaden the penalty for certain types of trafficking so the sentences are increased.

Marion County Deputy Prosecutor Mary Hutchinson said in committee earlier this month that the proposed changes will help law enforcement officers immensely. Human trafficking is one of the fastest growing criminal acts in the world, according to Hutchison, and the internet is largely responsible.

The bill will make human trafficking a Class B felony, punishable up to 20 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The bill also makes it a Class A felony, punishable up to 50 years in prison and a $10,000 fine, to traffic someone younger than 16.

“Human trafficking is a $32 billion industry internationally,” said Deputy Indiana Attorney General David Miller. “There are 12.3 million people trafficked across country borders every single year. This bill can make a difference today.”

Zach Osowski is a reporter for TheStatehouseFile.com, a news website powered by Franklin College journalism students.