State Rep. Kathy Kennedy (R-Milford) supported passage of HB 6657, An Act Concerning Human Trafficking. This legislation passed through the state House of Representatives with unanimous support.
HB 6657 establishes an affirmative defense for minors in certain delinquency proceedings and allows certain convictions to be vacated if they were committed as a result of human trafficking.
“This legislation is a trafficking survivors (victims) support bill permitting them an opportunity to succeed in society,” Kennedy said. “What advocates have found is that victims of human trafficking are often coerced into committing other crimes by their trafficker. These convictions may prevent survivors from thriving in society due to limitations in employment, loan, and higher education opportunities.”
“Human traffickers prey on adults and children of all ages, backgrounds, and nationalities, exploiting them for their own profit,” Kennedy added. “Human trafficking is also called modern slavery or trafficking in persons, has no place in our world and we must do our best to victimize the victims a second time.”
Human trafficking is a crime of exploitation; traffickers profit at the expense of their victims by compelling them to perform labor (sometimes criminal in nature) or to engage in commercial sex in every region of the US and around the world.