California State Assembly Bill AB1760 (drafted by Cal. State Rep. Miguel Santiago) would decriminalize child victims of sex trafficking by preventing them from being arrested, charged or prosecuted for prostitution. It is currently pending before the Appropriations Committee of the California State Assembly. There is a very real chance that the bill will either die in a committee or be voted down in a California Assembly or Senate-wide vote!
There are plenty of non-arrest and non-prosecution alternatives for child sex trafficking victims in California today. Under existing California law, minors can be taken into temporary protective custody, which does not generate a criminal record. AB1760 ensures that minors are not re-victimized by the state judicial system by mandating the use of non-arrest alternatives to provide commercially sexually exploited youth with services. The old and tired notion that one has to arrest and charge minors with prostitution before providing them with aid and services is ludicrous as multiple counties and cities across CA have recognized. But there are those counties and cities that continue to treat minor trafficking victims as criminals, and AB1760 addresses this issue.
If we can get California lawmakers to adopt this much-needed bill it would be a step towards treating victims as victims and not as perpetrators.
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