Laws should note gangs' role in child trafficking

This editorial appears in the Jan. 27, 2012, Yakima Herald-Republic.

A recent story in the Yakima Herald-Republic detailed the heartbreak of human trafficking, an issue that is gaining more awareness nationwide and in Washington state. The story focused in a brutal Catch-22 of girls caught up in the underworld of teen prostitution: They are victims, but legally they are also lawbreakers.

Washington state is further along than most states in recognizing and addressing the problem. The Associated Press has reported that Shared Hope International, an organization that seeks to end the underage sex trades, recently issued a report card on states and their child sex-trafficking laws. No state earned an A, but Washington was one of only four to get a B.

In 2008, new state laws increased penalties for pimps and johns. Legislation introduced during the current session would target the use of minors on "escort" websites. Today in Olympia, legislative committees will hold hearings on several bills to combat trafficking. State Attorney General Rob McKenna, who serves as president of the National Association of Attorneys General, has made the issue a top priority during his term as leader of the national organization.

On the federal level, Congress is debating reauthorization of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, a decade-old law that made human trafficking a federal crime.

McKenna, a Republican who is running for governor this year, advocates stronger state laws that recognize teenage prostitutes as victims, not lawbreakers. Young girls fearing prosecution are reluctant to go to law enforcement, and traffickers insidiously use teens' "criminal" status to control them. McKenna won't go so far as to decriminalize prostitution, even for underage girls, saying law enforcement needs a tool to steer the teens toward help.

Amid this debate, one other angle warrants attention: The role of gangs in recruiting and promoting prostitution. Victims advocates and police say an older gang member will cynically begin a relationship with a young teen, then eventually move toward pimping her out. Victims fear retaliation if they try to get out or tell authorities.

For the past several years, efforts by Yakima Valley legislators to strengthen laws against gang activity have languished, partly because lawmakers from other parts of the state view gang issues as a Central Washington problem. This session, as Democrats and Republicans display hopeful signs of seeking a solution, we invite past gang-bill skeptics to note the role of gangs in trafficking our state's young people.

Ideally, the increasing awareness of human trafficking will parallel a similar recognition in the nefarious role gangs play in such criminal activity. A strike against one is a strike against the other. Legislative actions that target both trafficking and gangs can give young victims a way out and law enforcement the tools to help them out -- and penalize the true lawbreakers.

* Members of the Yakima Herald-Republic editorial board are Sharon J. Prill, Bob Crider, Frank Purdy and Karen Troianello.