SC law could soon exempt sex trafficking victims from prosecution on minor offenses

COLUMBIA — Victims of sex trafficking could not be charged for the nonviolent crimes they’re forced into doing to survive under legislation nearing final approval in the South Carolina Legislature.

The bill with bipartisan sponsors would also mandate the offering of counseling and other state services to trafficked minors rescued from their nightmarish situation.

“Basically, we want to treat the victims of trafficking as victims and not as criminals,” Senate Minority Leader Brad Hutto, D-Orangeburg, told the SC Daily Gazette. “But a lot of times, the victims are engaged in some small-level criminal activity.”

Both the House and Senate unanimously passed the bill earlier this year, but with differences. On Tuesday, a joint committee from both chambers met to work out a compromise.

Under the language agreed to Tuesday, any victim of trafficking under 18 cannot be prosecuted for non-violent misdemeanors or low-level felonies committed while being trafficked. Any survivor who has been convicted of such crimes could get their record expunged. Trafficking victims under the age of 18 must also be referred to the Department of Social Services for help.

One case that legislators heard about as the bill moved through the process illustrates exactly what legislators want to stop, Hutto said.

In Myrtle Beach, police found a man in a hotel room with a young girl. They arrested the man and, not sure what to do with the juvenile, arrested her too.

“We don’t want the girl charged with prostitution because she’s a victim,” said Hutto, who led the negotiating committee. “Let’s say he’d given her drugs or alcohol, we don’t want her charged with minor in possession of alcohol, or possession of marijuana.”

Under the bill, victims of trafficking could still be charged with more serious felonies — for example, Hutto said, if someone assists smuggling in a truckload of marijuana. But in such a scenario, prosecutors could still choose to reduce the charges if the crimes related to the trafficking, he said.

The bill also expands the definition of trafficking to include exploiting minors sexually such as using them in pornography. And it creates a new program that allows victims of domestic violence, human trafficking, stalking and similar crimes to apply to the office of the attorney general to keep their home address confidential. Their mail would be forwarded to them from the state office.

The attorney general’s office supports the changes.

They “help us seek justice for victims and defendants and those that find themselves on both sides of the law,” said Heather Savitz Weiss, senior assistant deputy attorney general.

The final compromise could wrap in a separate bill that was “lost in the shuffle” at the end of the session, according to Hutto.

Both chambers independently passed legislation that would allow people convicted of kidnapping and murder to be sentenced for both offenses. Currently, someone cannot be sentenced for kidnapping if they have been sentenced for murder.

“In a few cases, it’s mattered because the Supreme Court or an appellate court has overturned the murder conviction, but not overturned the kidnapping conviction,” Hutto told the joint committee Tuesday, leaving someone without a sentence on the kidnapping charge. “The attorney general is asking for it. Both bodies have passed it.”

To get that added to the final language, supermajority approval is needed in both chambers.

That could happen Wednesday, when the Legislature returns for an extended session.