A California lettuce grower has expanded a recall of some …
Advertisement
Human trafficking bill passes Senate
Updated: Wednesday, 11 Jan 2012, 12:19 AM EST
Published : Tuesday, 10 Jan 2012, 10:12 PM EST
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WLFI) -
Officials said its the biggest sex trafficking event in the country, if not the world.
And like it or not, it's coming to Indianapolis. It's the Super Bowl.. and it's just weeks away.
But a bill written by a Cass County state senator hopes to fight back.
"We should -- no we must strengthen our laws against the horrid practice of human trafficking, and we must do it in time for the Super Bowl," Governor Daniels said, Tuesday night in his State of the State speech.
Indiana lawmakers are on track to do just that. Members of the Senate voted 48 - 0 Tuesday morning in favor of Republican Senator Randy Head's legislation to toughen Indiana's human trafficking laws.
" I'm very gratified by that. We have this bill going through very quickly because we need to get it in place the week before the Super Bowl," Senator Randy Head said.
Senator Head said current laws only prohibit forced marriage and prostitution in the human trafficking statute. He said his bill will have a broader definition.
"What my bill does is it will make it illegal to arrange for a person to participate in any forced sexual act regardless of marriage or prostitution," Senator Head said.
Senator Head also added that legal loopholes within the existing law allow some forms of human trafficking activity to go unprosecuted, specifically in a case where a minor consents to prostitution.
"We've taken that loophole away so even if they have a minor consent we're still saying that the adult is committing a major felony if the adult is getting into this activity," Senator Head said.
The existing law also says that a parent or guardian cannot arrange prostitution for their own children, but Senator Head said his bill would expand on this part of the law.
"No one can arrange prostitution for a child regardless of the legal relationship between the adult and child," Senator Head added.
Senator Head said both Governor Daniels and the attorney general are 100 percent behind the bill. The bill now moves to the full House for further action.
Comment to WLFI-TV18
Don't have a Facebook account? Or don't want to share something publicly? Email us here.
Email This
Print This
View Story on a Single PageAdvertisement
Advertisement
Commenting via Facebook
We're changing the way comments are posted on each story on WLFI.com, and we believe you'll find this …
Advertisement