Report on the Trafficking Victims Protection and Justice Act

SUMMARY

The purpose of the state Trafficking Victims Protection and Justice Act is to: 1) increase the criminal penalties for trafficking; 2) remove the requirement that prosecutors establish coercion when the victims are minors; 3) create an affirmative defense in prostitution prosecutions where the defendant’s participation was a result of having been a victim of sex trafficking; 4) create a private right of action for trafficking victims; and 5) improve the delivery of services to trafficking victims. In its report, the Committee on Sex and Law expresses support for many of the bill’s provisions but makes a number of suggested modifications, which include adding the right to counsel for trafficking victims, raising penalties of labor trafficking, and tabling the bill’s provision to expand the pool of sex offender registrants until further study can be undertaken.

Originally Issued May 2014; Reissued March 2015

BILL INFORMATION

A.506 (AM Paulin) / S.7 (Sen. Lanza) – Trafficking Victims Protection and Justice Act (included in Women’s Equality Act)(NYS 2015)

OUTCOME

Signed by the Governor, Chp. 368 – October, 21, 2015