Panel considers human trafficking bills

Three bills were up for discussion in a crowded public hearing held by the legislature’s Judiciary Committee.

HARTFORD >> Three bills on human trafficking were up for discussion in a crowded public hearing held by the legislature’s Judiciary Committee Monday: two that create harsher penalties for those buying and facilitating the purchase of sex in Connecticut and the other designed to protect victims who speak with counselors about their experiences.

Human trafficking is a “hidden secret in our society,” said state Sen. Paul Doyle, D-Wethersfield, deputy majority leader and chairman of the Judiciary Committee, during the hearing Monday . “The more we can learn about it and appreciate it, it helps us.”

The Judiciary Committee heard testimony about a number of bills concerning human rights Monday, but dozens of people submitted testimony regarding three bills that directly address human trafficking in the state: H.B. 7309, H.B. 7310 and S.B. 1043. According to the Senate Clerk’s Office, the deadline for moving these bills out of the committee is April 7.

According to the state Department of Children and Families, the number of referrals of potential domestic minor sex trafficking has increased steadily over the last eight years. In 2016, DCF received 201 unique referrals and estimates that there were more than 2,000 buyers of sex in the state last year.

Two House bills create harsh penalties

Human trafficking is society’s “oldest oppression,” said state Rep. Liz Linehan, D-Cheshire, who has also expressed her support previously for cracking down on buyers of sex. “It’s a violation of a person’s most basic human rights.”

Linehan spoke in support of H.B. 7309 at the hearing. The bill seeks to make sex trafficking a class A felony under state law, which would ensure harsher penalties, as well creating a stand-alone felony charge of “commercial sexual abuse of a minor,” which would be a class B felony. Linehan said that as a society we tend to focus too much of the blame in human trafficking cases on the victims, rather than the purchasers of sex.

The bill also would expand the entities required to have signs about human trafficking beyond hotels and motels, would impose a fine on establishments that don’t and prohibit hotels and motels in the state from offering hourly rates in the state.

Jillian Gilchrest, chairwoman of the state Trafficking in Persons Council, said during the hearing Monday that she would like to see massage parlors post information about trafficking.

She also said creating harsher penalties for traffickers would bring more suspected traffickers to justice under state law and would act as a deterrent. Cases involving suspected sex traffickers are often moved to federal court because penalties are harsher there, and the state needs to increase penalties to get more convictions, Gilchrest said.

“Increasing the risk for buyers decreases this from happening,” Gilchrest said.

The Trafficking in Persons Council announced an End Demand campaign earlier this year, which outlines educational and legislation agendas for targeting those who seek to purchase sex.

Linehan also spoke in favor of H.B. 7310, which would require those convicted of patronizing sex from a minor under 18 to register as a sex offender and said she wants to know who is responsible for these crimes in her community.

Senate bill addresses confidentiality

The third bill addressing human trafficking on which the committee heard testimony Monday, S.B. 1043, involves victims of trafficking and their rights in disclosing information to counselors without fear the information will be shared.

According to advocates at Love146, an anti-trafficking organization based in New Haven, victims need confidence that they can share information about their experiences with counselors without fear it will be made public.

When asked whether Love146 staff worried that this provision would hinder prosecutions that may rely on victim testimony, Josh Mamis, marketing and media specialist for the organization, said the law gives victims a right to decide what can be divulged and what remains confidential. In addition, he said Love146 believes victims may be in a better place to testify after working with a human trafficking counselor.

According to the bill, a human trafficking counselor would include an individual engaged in a human trafficking agency who has undergone at least 20 hours of training and who is a certified counselor under direct supervision of the trafficking agency.

In her testimony Monday, Erin Williamson, survivor care coordinator for Love146, said, “In order to effectively identify and meet the needs of this population, it is critical for children to be able to speak openly about the facts, memories, thoughts and feelings associated with their victimization without fear that the information they share could be subpoenaed and shared publicly.”

“The mere possibility of disclosure has already resulted in children being denied our services,” Williamson said. Since 2008, 238 of the 634 children identified as possible victims of trafficking in the state have worked with Love146, Williamson said.

Connecticut has laws in place protecting confidentiality of victim conversations with mental health professionals, Richard Schechter, a retired federal prosecutor with the U.S. attorney’s office and now a consultant for Grace Farms Foundation, said in an interview Monday.

But “these types of privileges are never absolute,” he said, adding that judges can request to view notes and release information that would benefit a defendant in cases.

It’s important for victims to have the confidence that what they say to a mental health professional is confidential, said former Assistant U.S. Attorney Krishna Patel, who has prosecuted a number of human trafficking cases in the district of Connecticut. Patel said in an interview Monday she fears having that confidence extend to those who are not certified mental health professionals as the federal government may not recognize those protections if cases were to move to federal court.

“I’m very strongly in favor of this privilege,” Patel, the director of justice initiatives for Grace Farms Foundation, said. “But it should be for people who really are mental health professionals . ... Everyone doesn’t have a right to say they are a professional.”

The state legislature took action last year against human trafficking, enacting laws that require hotels and motels to keep records of guests for up to six months and to hang posters about detecting signs of human trafficking. Also, those who are convicted of purchasing sex can be fined $2,000.