Today, the Rhode Island Senate unanimously voted to approve a bill (S2516A), filed at the request of Attorney General Peter F. Kilmartin and sponsored by Senator Maryellen Goodwin (D., District 1 – Providence), that would make anyone convicted of sex trafficking be subject to the State's sex offender registration and community notification statute.
Sex trafficking is the world's fastest growing criminal enterprise, valued to be an estimated $32 billion-a-year global industry. After drug trafficking, sex trafficking is the world's second most profitable criminal enterprise, a status it shares with illegal arms trafficking. Sex trafficking can and does take place in every community, no matter the cultural make up, the affluence, or the location of a community. No community is immune from being affected by the exploitation of human beings for commercial sexual activity.
Over the past two years in Rhode Island, at least 30 individuals have been charged with sex trafficking crimes by prosecutors from the United States Attorney's Office and the Attorney General's Office.
Kilmartin praised the members of the Senate for their action to address the growing problem of human trafficking, "I applaud the Senate for taking action on this bill. The selling of an individual for sexual commercialization is an inhuman and depraved sexual act, and should be subject to the same rigorous classification and community notification standards as those convicted of other sex offenses," said Attorney General Kilmartin. "By being required to comply with the State's sex offender registration and community notification statute, these perpetrators can no longer hide in the shadows targeting vulnerable victims and forcing them into prostitution. We will know who they are and where they live."
"If there's anyone who should be on the sex offender registry, it's sex traffickers. Trafficking is a very calculated offense. Its perpetrators often have multiple victims, and they exploit those victims in extremely dehumanizing ways. The purpose of the sex offender registry is to alert neighbors so they can protect themselves and their families from danger, and this type of offender is certainly someone about whom neighbors should be aware. The sex offender registry is one way to prevent traffickers from making contact with new potential victims, so it's another tool in the battle against sex trafficking," said Majority Whip Goodwin.
A companion bill in the House (H7318A), sponsored by Representative Robert E. Craven, Sr (D., District 32 – North Kingstown), recently passed the House of Representatives.