Sex Trafficking Puts on a Human Face | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: We are please to add the words of North Carolina Senator Thom Goolsby to our stable of right-thinking and most capable writers here at BCN. Senator Goolsby, a practicing lawyer from New Hanover County, is a competent voice for victim's rights, and a strong voice for the rule of law, in North Carolina's upper chamber. We wish him much success, and we thank him for his wise words to our readers here Downeast and beyond.

    A human face was put on sex trafficking in a recent Senate Judiciary 1 committee meeting. Anna, a young lady who was the victim of sex trafficking when she was a teenager, gave powerful testimony before the committee.

    She told the senators how as a teen she was raped hundreds of times, as well as being photographed and videotaped by a pornographer. Anna showed the committee a somewhat graphic picture of herself that she never remembers being taken. Why? For weeks she was strung out on drugs by her pimp. For a very long time, she thought that the pimp was a boyfriend who cared about her. She did not realize until years later the total extent of the abuse.

    Click here for an audio version of this column.

    Thankfully, Anna's story is one of redemption. She was treated and cared for by an out-of-state Christian group who helps the victims of sex trafficking. Sadly, at the time of Anna's abuse, no such group existed in North Carolina. Now, however, multiple organizations exist around the Tar Heel State to provide such assistance.

    Anna's testimony in front of the Senate Judiciary 1 committee was in support of S683, Safe Harbor/Victims of Sex Trafficking legislation. Earlier this session the Senate and House passed S122 that turned sex traffickers into sex offenders for registration and tracking purposes. That bill has now become law. The new Safe Harbor bill builds on the success of S122.

    S683 is a comprehensive bill that rewrites North Carolina's laws regarding prostitution, as well as adult and child sex trafficking. Bill drafters in the General Assembly, with the help of Lindsey Roberson, a prosecutor from Wilmington, drafted the Safe Harbor legislation based upon successful laws enacted in states like New York, Washington and Illinois.

    Upon its first hearing in Senate Judiciary 1, the proposed legislation received many favorable comments and suggestions from committee members on numerous ways to improve and tighten-up the bill. All the senators were in agreement that North Carolina needs to enact Safe Harbor legislation to protect the victims of sex trafficking.

    The bill drafting staff is now at work on clearly defining the meaning of solicitation to engage in prostitution. They are also busy at work redefining the deferred prosecution statutes to allow individuals charged with prostitution to clear their records, if it is shown they were minors at the time or were victims of sex trafficking. Punishments of johns and pimps are significantly increased in the legislation. Most important, minors who are trafficked are treated, not as criminals, but as victims and given help, treatment and support.

    The hope of all the people working on this proposed law is to take North Carolina off the top ten list for sex trafficking. Currently, our state is number eight on the list of shame. Anna spoke most eloquently about the hope she now has, after escaping her life of shame and abuse. Her call for passage of this bill did not fall on deaf ears. This strong legislation must pass the General Assembly this session. We owe it to Anna and the thousands of other victims of sex trafficking in our state.

    Thom Goolsby is a state senator, practicing attorney and law professor. He is a Co-Chair of Judiciary 1 and Justice & Public Safety Appropriations Committees.