COLUMBUS – The Ohio Senate this week approved an anti-human trafficking bill that removes a two-tiered system of treating 16- and 17-year-olds differently than other children who are survivors of human trafficking.
The amended version of a bill passed in July modifies an existing law that requires prosecutors to demonstrate proof that force, fraud or coercion was used during the trafficking of a those teens in order for them to qualify for protections granted to other juveniles under the state’s Safe Harbor program.
“This gap in our protections has left thousands of children in Ohio vulnerable and forced our justice system to treat them as criminals, instead of the victims they are,” said Sen. Teresa Fedor (D-Toledo) who sponsored the amendment.
Fedor says the gap in the law resulted in traffickers targeting 16- and 17-year-olds because of the chance that they would face legal consequences.
“Today, we paved the way to freedom for so many. Finally, all Ohio children can be rescued, not arrested, from the horrors of human trafficking,” Fedor said.
The Protect Trafficked Minors Act passed the Ohio House 83-3 in 2018 but did not receive Senate approval before the end of the 132nd General Assembly.
It was identified as a priority bill at the beginning of the current session receiving unanimous support in the Senate in July 2019 and now goes to back to the House where the changes will be voted on.