Top Points:
California's SB 1414 Faces Backlash: A new bill aimed at increasing penalties for child sex trafficking and solicitation of minors is criticized by activists who claim it disproportionately impacts marginalized communities, including black, brown, and LGBTQ individuals.
Legislative Amendments Water Down Protections: Originally designed to make soliciting sex from minors a felony, the bill's language was diluted by amendments, making it harder to prosecute offenders, particularly in cases involving 16- and 17-year-olds who must now be proven victims of human trafficking.
Continued Efforts to Strengthen Child Protection Laws: Despite previous setbacks, including the blocking of SB 14 which sought to classify child trafficking as a “serious felony,” lawmakers like Senator Shannon Grove continue to push for stronger measures to protect children from sex trafficking.
Full Report:
A California bill that seeks to protect children by increasing penalties for child sex trafficking and the solicitation of sex from minors is under fire from activists claiming it would unfairly affect the LGBTQ community. This backlash comes despite the bill's clear intention to safeguard the most vulnerable members of society from heinous crimes.
Activists expressed their concerns during a hearing of the Assembly Public Safety Committee last week. They argued that SB 1414, the bill in question, would “disproportionately impact marginalized communities,” such as black, brown, and LGBTQ individuals, according to CBS Austin.
“I’d like to acknowledge the survivors [of sex trafficking] here today and name that we all have the shared goal of protecting children from harm,” said Isabella Borgeson, an outside policy fellow with the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights. However, she continued, “We are concerned that the harsher penalties contained in this bill will disproportionately impact marginalized communities, particularly black and brown individuals who already bear the brunt of systemic biases within our criminal justice system.”
The bill, authored by California State Senators Shannon Grove (R), Anna Caballero (D), and Susan Rubio (D), aims to make it a felony offense for adults who are “18 years of age or older” to solicit or pay for sex from a minor:
"This bill would make this offense applicable only to a defendant who is 18 years of age or older at the time of the offense. The bill would, if the person solicited was under 16 years of age, or if the person solicited was under 18 years of age at the time of the offense and the person solicited was a victim of human trafficking, make the offense punishable as a wobbler by imprisonment in the county jail for not more than 1 year and a fine not to exceed $10,000 or by imprisonment in the county jail for 16 months or 2 or 3 years. For a 2nd or subsequent offense under those conditions, the bill would require that the offense be punishable as a felony by imprisonment in the county jail for 16 months or 2 or 3 years."
Kellie Walters, a staff attorney with Legal Services for Prisoners with Children (LSPC), also spoke against the bill, stating it “fails to address the root causes” and would “not effectively stop sexual violence.”
“We believe that SB 1414 takes an overly punitive approach that fails to address the root causes of these issues and will not effectively stop sexual violence,” Walters said. “We are particularly concerned that the harsher penalties proposed in this bill will disproportionately impact marginalized communities, especially members of the LGBTQ community, who already suffer from systematic biases within the criminal justice system, particularly when it comes to sexually based offenses.”
Despite these objections, the Assembly Public Safety Committee passed the bill in an 8-0 vote, with amendments added. The amended bill will be heard by California’s Assembly Appropriations Committee in August.
Senator Shannon Grove responded to the amendments with a statement:
"In its original form, SB 1414 attempted to make the act of soliciting or engaging in any act of commercial sex with a minor a felony. However, amendments forced on the bill earlier this year by Democrats in the Senate Public Safety Committee watered down the language, excluding 16- and 17-year-old children from the bill’s additional protections. Today, additional amendments added by the Assembly Public Safety Committee require that 16- and 17-year-olds would have to be proven victims of human trafficking in order for the buyer to be held accountable and charged with a stronger penalty, something that district attorneys have said will make it even harder to prosecute."
It's worth noting that in July 2023, the Public Safety Committee blocked SB 14, another bill introduced by Grove, which aimed to classify the trafficking of children in the state as a “serious felony.”
Original Story by Elizabeth Weibel, Breitbart
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