With more than eighty percent of people’s support, proposition 35 passed easily on Election Day. Proposition 35 was created to make an incredible change to the state’s laws on human trafficking. Currently, sex traffickers can get up to a maximum of eight years in prison. This proposition will increase prison time for human traffickers. Sex traffickers will now be required to register as sex offenders, make all registered sex offenders get rid of their internet accounts, and demand criminal fines from convicted human traffickers to help out with the cost of services for the victims.
The current fine for trafficking is $100,000. Fines would increase to up to $1.5 million. Proposition 35, or the Californians Against Sexual Exploitation Act, will expand human trafficking to include the distribution and creation of child pornography. Punishments should be brought up to the same level of severity as federal cases, in the eyes of this proposition’s supporters. Punishing them this severely would protect the public from traffickers by registering them as sex offenders.
The charge behind Preposition 35 was led by Daphne Phung who believes a country should trust their laws. $3.7 million was raised by the “Yes on 35” campaign. Although no money was raised against this proposition, there was opposing controversy. Academics in human trafficking say that the Proposition could have consequences that were not intended. They think that making punishments more severe for traffickers won’t do much to change the issue.
Fines collected are given to law enforcement and victim service organizations instead of actual victims. Some say that taking money is not right when the money would have originally gone to the victims themselves.
Sex trafficking victims are victims for the rest of their lives. They can never forget about the way they spent those years in prostitution. Some women choose to live the life of prostitution, but even to the ones who do; their life will never be the same. Many young girls get mixed into sex trafficking. Once they find themselves caught up in it, there is no easy way out. The money they make goes directly to the trafficker. Traffickers control most aspects of the girls’ lives. Women who are sexually and physically abused can’t easily walk out of that lifestyle. They spend each and every day with those memories and feelings in the back of their mind. Victims are punished for the rest of their lives; it’s only fair if traffickers are as well.
This law criminalizes all forms of prostitution. It protects women and children from being dragged into sex trafficking. This proposition raises awareness for women being used as sex toys. This is the first step to preventing women and young girls from becoming exploited for sex and for helping the ones who are.
