LINCOLN, Neb. (AP) - A bill that would create much longer prison sentences for people who buy and sell sex in Nebraska cleared its first major hurdle in the Legislature Wednesday, but lawmakers say it needs much more work.
Senators voted 42-0 to give first-round approval to a measure that could result in life sentences for people who force children into prostitution and prison sentences for other sex trafficking crimes that now carry no minimum penalties.
“When you consider the horrors of this crime, probation is nothing more than a slap on the wrist,” said Sen. Patty Pansing Brooks of Lincoln, the bill’s sponsor.
Under the bill, pandering, trafficking of an adult and soliciting a trafficked adult, all of which have no minimum penalty now, would be subject to a minimum of one year and maximum of 50 years in prison. Trafficking of an adult with force would result in a minimum of three years in prison, and any sex trafficking of a minor, including solicitation, would come with a minimum prison sentence of five years and maximum of 50. Trafficking of a minor between age 16 and 19 with force or of a minor younger than 16 would result in a maximum life sentence and minimum 20 years
Nebraska’s “good time” law automatically cuts sentences in half, meaning people sentenced to one year in prison would serve six months before they’re eligible for parole, provided they behave in prison. Because of that law, the bill in effect creates mandatory minimum sentences, lawmakers argued.
The Legislature has done a lot in the past few years to reform sentencing and reduce prison overcrowding, and increasing penalties for sex traffickers doesn’t fit with its efforts to overhaul the state prison system, said Sen. Burke Harr of Omaha.
“Who wants to stand up for someone who does sex trafficking? Not me,” Harr said. “But this is about the principle.”
Pansing Brooks, who has supported sentencing reform for nonviolent offenders, said she didn’t make decisions about increasing penalties for sex traffickers lightly. But sex trafficking is a particularly heinous crime, she said, noting lawmakers heard stories about women and girls who had been beaten and in one instance raped with a hot curling iron for not pleasing their traffickers.
“We are trying to solve prison overcrowding, but to do it on the backs of children who are being abused and tortured? That’s wrong,” she said.
About 900 people are sold for sex each month in Nebraska, according to a report from the Human Trafficking Initiative. Creighton University researchers who analyzed postings on a Craigslist-like website used to sell sex determined nearly three-quarters of the posts showed signs that the individuals sold were underage or were being controlled by a third party.
Researchers found nearly half of the sex workers advertised on the website moved across state lines, and there were advertisements for every community along Interstate 80 in Nebraska. And although black people make up just 5 percent of Nebraska’s population, black women were in about half of the ads.
“All victims of trafficking are slaves,” said Sen. Carol Blood of Bellevue. “Slavery was not abolished. This is slavery now.”
Combatting human trafficking is a top priority for state Attorney General Doug Peterson, who worked with Pansing Brooks on the bill. Lawmakers in recent years have approved legislation that allows victims to sue traffickers and provide legal immunity to adult trafficking victims caught working as prostitutes.
Sen. Ernie Chambers of Omaha said Peterson and lawmakers want to appear tough on whatever crimes have gained attention. He said current responses to sex trafficking remind him of harsh sentences created for crack cocaine in the ’80s.
“Whatever the fad of the day is what will lead people to jump on the bandwagon,” Chambers said. “Sen Pansing Brooks just hitched her wagon to a bad horse.”
The bill also would allow rape survivors to block their rapists from gaining custody or visitation rights to children conceived through sexual assault and prohibit domestic abusers from purchasing or possessing guns. It would provide protection orders for sexual assault survivors and let victims of domestic violence renew protection orders against their abusers.
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