The
Polaris Project, a non-profit group to end human trafficking, has announced
that for the first time, a majority of states have enacted laws to battle human
trafficking. Last year, legislatures in 39 states passed laws against
trafficking. However, comparing states may prove to be a problem because there
remains a lack of data as to the pervasiveness of the problem and what would
actually work to lead to more prosecutions. Polaris Project has been ranking
states for four years on their anti-trafficking school and considers whether
laws passed by these states would “lower the burden of proof for prosecuting
trafficking of minors, vacate convictions of trafficking victims and mandate
training for law enforcement officials.” The rankings are based on a twelve-point
scale and then divided into four tiers. Washington and New Jersey ranked the
highest among the states achieving perfect scores of 12, while South Dakota is
the only state in the bottom tier. In all, 32 states are included in the top
tier. Tier one states have passed “significant laws” while tier four states
have not even made minimal effort.
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