The measure effectively rubber-stamps anyone found guilty of the crime to a life behind bars, with none of the judicial discretion that currently allows sentences ranging from seven years to life depending on the facts of a case.
Advocates applaud the passing of the measure as, in the words of Yavapai County Sheriff David Rhodes, “a clear message that Arizona will not tolerate child sex trafficking. The severity of these sentences reflects our commitment to protecting children.”
Opponents of the law say that life imprisonment is no deterrent and would end up harming the people it intends to protect.
Though she was plainly the victim, not the perpetrator, she was found guilty and incarcerated.
“It’s common for victims of sex trafficking to be forced or coerced into trafficking others,” said Jenna Panas, CEO of the Arizona Coalition to End Sexual and Domestic Violence. “We are absolutely certain that victims will be sentenced to life imprisonment for actions they were forced into.”
In her memoir, Believe Me, victims’ advocate Andrea Powell chronicles case after case of young girls forced under threat of torture or death to comply with and assist their trafficker. One girl, “Tiffany,” was sentenced to 30 years for doing what she was forced to do through multiple beatings, stabbings and being nearly run over by her enraged trafficker. Though she was plainly the victim, not the perpetrator, she was found guilty and incarcerated.
As Ms. Powell writes, “Three words. I. Had. To.”
Tiffany’s story is one of many like it, repeated throughout the court system.
Another argument critics advance against mandatory life imprisonment is that putting the focus on after-the-fact punishment neglects prevention. Such measures as disrupting trafficking networks, protecting vulnerable populations, increasing surveillance and creating safe communities for victims—like Ms. Powell’s Karana Rising nonprofit does—can all bring about real change in stamping out the scourge of sex trafficking.
As David Finkelhor, director of the Crimes Against Children Research Center, observes, “Arrests make great publicity. But it is only through a multidisciplinary comprehensive mobilization of dedicated child welfare, social service, drug rehabilitation, educational systems—working together with law enforcement—that we will find a solution to young people being sold or selling sex for money and survival.”
