PARAMETERS FOR LEGISLATION

1.    Legislation should reflect our current body of knowledge. We now know much more than we did 50 years ago.  We have survivor testimony on survivor testimony indicating the exploitation implicit in “prostitution”. We know that children are being lured, and those in vulnerable situations, to be used for another person’s profit. We know that unwilling victims are being used and that prostitution is providing a smoke screen for human trafficking. Our prostitution laws need to reflect this body of knowledge. They currently do not.

2.    Legislation should impact the scale of the demand. We know that this is not happening in an isolated corner, that it is not a small problem in some places, but that it is happening in every neighborhood and every town and city, in our schools, and in our local businesses.  Our legislation needs to impact the scale of demand. We need to drastically cut the amount of willing to buy sex in NJ.

3.    Legislation should impact the harm done to victims. Penalties given to those who buy sex should reflect the long-term physical, psychological, and emotional trauma endured by victims of human trafficking.  If no one were being hurt, light penalties would be understandable, but giving light penalties to someone who has caused another to have long-term trauma, doesn’t make any sense.  Lives are being destroyed, and penalties should reflect that.

4.    Legislation should reflect the complex realities of the marketplace. Realities of the marketplace include the economic laws of supply and demand, as well as the fact that prostitution provides a smoke screen or hiding place for traffickers.  As long as we have buyers, we will have human trafficking.  And as long as we can keep the community believing that no one is being hurt, human trafficking can hide behind prostitution.