Arizona Republicans are backing a push to send child sex traffickers to prison for the rest of their lives, rallying behind a cry of “Arizona’s children are not for sale.”
And to prove it, Rep. Selina Bliss and Sen Shawnna Bolick have teamed up to introduce legislation that would let voters decide later this year whether those criminals should get life sentences with no possibility of parole.
“If you are involved in these heinous crimes, we are putting you away for a very long time,” House Majority Leader Leo Biasiucci said in a Jan. 25 press conference. “We are throwing away the key.”
If passed, HCR 2042 and SCR 1021 would send the matter to the ballot for Arizona voters to make the final call in this year’s general election.
“Today is the day that we begin the process to allow Arizona’s voters to say, ‘No longer, not in our state, not one, not again,’” Bliss said at the press event.
The ASU Center for Child Well-Being reports that, between 2017 and 2020, 291 children in Maricopa County fell victim to sex trafficking, with the youngest victim being five years old.
In 2021, the National Human Trafficking Hotline received 651 tips from Arizona, which led to 217 identified cases involving 337 victims.
The Republican lawmakers are hoping that the intensified sentence will lead to less trafficking crimes throughout the state.
“Harsher punishment is not our goal, but it’s the ending of the selling and buying of children in Arizona — that’s our goal,” Bliss said.
But whether the stiff sentences they propose could accomplish that goal alone is debatable. According to the National Institute of Justice, increasing the severity of the punishment has limited effectiveness in discouraging crime. That is partially due to the fact that most criminals do not know, let alone keep in mind, the sanctions attached to specific offenses when committing them.
Yet, Bliss and Bolick are not the only legislators looking to use harsher punishment as means to deter crime and protect the state’s most vulnerable citizens.
Last year, California lawmakers doubled down on their anti-trafficking stance by voting to reclassify sex trafficking of a minor as a “serious felony” after 81% of California voters approved a measure to increase prison time and fines for convicted child sex traffickers back in 2012.
Even then, some questioned how effective the measure would be in the overall fight against human trafficking.
Attorney Cindy Liou of the Asian Pacific Islander Legal Outreach had concerns that California voters overestimated the impact longer sentences would have on trafficking rates.
“It incorrectly presumes that increased prosecution and protections of trafficking survivors is entirely premised on increased penalties and fines rather than a comprehensive approach” said Liou.
Now, as the legislation awaits committee hearing, Phoenix defense attorney Pamela Hicks expressed similar concerns that Arizona legislators are underestimating the importance of nuance with these types of crimes. She explained that the traffickers the lawmakers are targeting with these bills are not usually the ones that actually face the punishments.
“It’s like going after the cartel, you’re only getting the small fish drug dealers, you’re never going to get the actual people,” she said.
Hicks, who is a member of Arizona Attorneys for Criminal Justice, which argues for reforms to the criminal justice system, said she worries that, if the measure makes it to the ballot, voters will see the triggering phrase “child sex trafficking” and vote with the worst criminals in mind.
On the Democratic side of the aisle, Tucson’s Rep. Betty Villegas agrees with stronger penalties for those engaging in child trafficking, but also recognizes that the bill would need to consider certain circumstances that may not be so black and white.
“If someone is being coerced into (trafficking), then we’d have to get the perpetrator that’s doing the coercing,” Villegas said. “There are situations where people could be being threatened to do something they don’t want to do, but it’s their life or their families’ lives.”