Reforming Utah's human trafficking laws

SALT LAKE CITY — The state of Utah is more lenient compared to both other states and federal penalties against sex trafficking, Rep. Candice B. Pierucci, R-Herriman, said Monday evening during the House Judiciary Committee meeting where she sponsored her sex trafficking amendments bill, HB405.

"It is certainly time for Utah to enhance this and really, quite frankly, crack down on human trafficking and demonstrate that we are — at the very least — in line with where the federal government is with these, in my opinion, evil individuals who are trafficking children and our most vulnerable population," she said.

Pierucci shared statistics on trafficking in the U.S. that highlight just how lenient Utah is comparatively.

U.S. state minimum prison sentences for child sex trafficking and labor trafficking:

• Utah: Sex trafficking — 5 years; Labor trafficking — 1 year;
• Georgia: Sex trafficking — 25 years; Labor trafficking — 10 years;
• Oklahoma: Sex trafficking — 15 years; Labor trafficking — 5 years;
• Missouri: Sex trafficking — 10 years; Labor trafficking — 5 years;

"Human trafficking of a child, under current code, is a first-degree felony, but with just five years to life in prison," Pierucci said. Her bill "would bump it up to a first-degree felony, with 10 years to life if the victim is 14 years old, but younger than 18 years old, and 15 years to life if the victim is under 14 years old, which is in line with federal code."

HB405 would also change human trafficking for sexual exploitation from a second-degree felony to a first-degree felony.

During her presentation, Pierucci also shared statistics of trafficking crimes in correlation with the U.S. southern border:

• In 2022, the Department of Homeland Security opened 1,373 human trafficking investigations. In the same year, the Department of Justice opened 668 human trafficking investigations.
• In 2020, more than half of all sex trafficking survivors were in the United States illegally, Pierucci added. In one study, most victims reported being recruited for both sex and labor trafficking; 75% of victims had an unknown immigration status.
• Another study, she said, indicated that 60% of Latin American children who attempt to cross the border alone or with smugglers are captured by cartels and exploited in child pornography or drug trafficking.

Though the bill passed 7-1, Rep. Grant Amjad Miller, D-Salt Lake City, and two attorneys gave public comments, all expressing concern about its language.

If the bill focused solely on increasing the felony severity from second degree to first degree, Miller said he was more likely to fully support it, but it's "simply the mandatory minimum element" that he said keeps him up at night.

Miller said that imposing a fair sentence takes input from all parties involved in the case for a judge to decide how long a person should go to prison. "Then, there's another layer of the board and partner parole to indicate what is an important and fair and just sentence to levy because no two cases are the same."

"When we impose mandatory minimums from the State House, we take all discretionary powers away from all of those actors, and it's based on that narrow scope alone. It's the mandatory minimum that dissuades me otherwise," he added.

Pierucci responded that she, too, struggled with mandatory minimums at first, "but then, as I read and interviewed some of the horrific stories, I do think there are some crimes that you should have an automatic amount of time. And I think that sex trafficking of children for sexual labor is one of those."

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