TRENTON — A Senate panel has approved a bill that would automatically spare minors from criminal prosecution if they’re caught engaging in prostitution. “If you are 12 and you’re a prostitute, there’s a problem,” said state Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex), a sponsor. “You will have more control, be able to get a better outcome by providing them with services.”...
State Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex) speaks in this file photo. Today, a bill sponsored by Gill that would spare minors who engage in prostitution from criminal charges unanimously passed a Senate panel.TRENTON — A Senate panel has approved a bill that would automatically spare minors from criminal prosecution if they’re caught engaging in prostitution.
“If you are 12 and you’re a prostitute, there’s a problem,” said state Sen. Nia Gill (D-Essex), a sponsor. “You will have more control, be able to get a better outcome by providing them with services.”
The Senate Judiciary Committee approved the bill unanimously.
The legislation was a combination of two bills: Gill’s (S2599), which would send minors to treatment facilities if they’re arrested; and one (S2763) by state Sens. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) and Diane Allen (R-Burlington) that would create an “affirmative defense” for minors arrested for prostitution. Under current law, a person gets an affirmative defense if they’re victims of human trafficking, but not necessarily minors.
Under federal law, prostitutes under the age of 18 are automatically considered victims of sex trafficking, said Steven Wagner, president of the Renewal Forum and the former director of the Human Trafficking Program at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
“It is appropriate to recognize that the juvenile victims of human trafficking under the age of 18 are not perpetrators of a crime but victims,” said Wagner.