82nd Texas Legislative Session | Conclusion
Introduction
Human trafficking is modern day slavery. As a global epidemic, it is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world, second only to drug dealing and tied with arms dealing. An estimated 27 million people are enslaved worldwide today in labor or sexual servitude. It is both an international and domestic problem; between 14,500 and 17,500 individuals are trafficked into the U.S. each year, and within our borders, thousands of U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents fall victim. In fact, as many as 1.7 million child runaway or throwaway episodes occur in the U.S. each year, and statistics show that 1 in 3 of these children will be approached by a trafficker within 48 hours of leaving home; the average age of entry into child trafficking being between 12 and 14 years of age.
In 2003, Texas was the second state in the U.S. to pass anti-trafficking legislation. Greater awareness and increased support by the Legislature has resulted in several key pieces of anti-trafficking legislation to be passed in subsequent legislative sessions. In 2009, an omnibus bill, HB 4009 (Weber), passed, which strengthened the human trafficking and prostitution statutes, mandated law enforcement training, established the statewide Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force in the Office of the Attorney General, and required the Texas Juvenile Probation Commission to establish a committee to evaluate the alternatives to the juvenile justice system for children who engage in acts of prostitution. In collaboration with legislators and key stakeholders, and as a member of both the Human Trafficking Prevention Task Force and the Juvenile Probation Commission committee, CHILDREN AT RISK focused on efforts to increase penalties against traffickers and Johns, decriminalize minors engaged in prostitution, and to advocate for shelter and victim services. Many of the policy recommendations from the Task Force and the Juvenile Probation Commission committee were encompassed in bills passed in the 82nd Texas Legislative Session.
