Alaska needs to stop prioritizing incarceration over education in effort to reduce sex trafficking

Currently House Bill 68 is before the Legislature. This bill aims to combat sex trafficking, yet it further criminalizes sex workers and sex trafficking survivors with the new crime of felony prostitution. HB 68 also seeks to change penalties for soliciting, making it a class A misdemeanor and for a third offense within five years, a class C felony. Previously soliciting was a class B misdemeanor. 

Another new crime created by HB 68, patron of a victim of sex trafficking, would make it a felony to solicit with reckless disregard whether the person may be a trafficking victim. This means that if a client made an appointment and discovered that she was a trafficking victim, he would already be guilty of a felony merely for soliciting her. There is no immunity for reporting sex trafficking for clients. When misdemeanors become serious felonies, it becomes impossible for clients to report violent crimes like sex trafficking. 

Angie Kemp, director for the Criminal Division Alaska Department of Law, justified the costs associated with House Bill 68 to the House Finance Committee by sharing three false statistical claims that have been widely debunked. It is common for inflated statistics to be taken as truth when a person in authority presents unfactual information. 

Kemp stated that human and sex trafficking is a $32 billion industry worldwide, second only to illicit controlled-drug selling. This is often exaggerated and not well-supported. The Washington Post already debunked this with a much smaller number.

Kemp stated “often the statistics are cited that individuals, specifically young girls, begin in the sex industry at the age of 12 to 14”. This statistic has been widely discredited. The Atlantic and The Washington Post tracked down the source of this information: The 2001 study from the University of Pennsylvania that only counted minors not adults.The study was not peer-reviewed and the researchers themselves said it was out of date. 

This was followed up with “estimates” by the Department of Justice and others citing that human and sex trafficking numbers are as high as 27 million in the United States. Big numbers attract media attention and big dollars. These guesstimates remain too shaky to be cited without a healthy dose of skepticism. 

Kemp goes on to say that “prosecutions for sex trafficking have increased significantly from 2011 to 2020. The Department of Justice has said there is a 61% increase of referrals for either sex trafficking or human trafficking.” Yet Nancy Meade, the general counsel for the Alaska Court System, stated that the actual number of sex trafficking charges in Alaska is low, with an average of two per year, including when an individual is charged with multiple counts of sex trafficking.

One good thing the bill would provide is the ability for sex trafficking victims to petition for the removal of a prostitution conviction. HB 68 would require proof they were sex trafficked. The fiscal notes for this provision is staggering. The Alaska Court System estimates $37,700 to implement. The Department of Public Safety Division of Statewide Services is asking for $42,000 to create forms and perform other administrative duties.

House Bill 68 proposes lifetime bans on various professional licenses for those convicted of sex trafficking, including sex workers and sex trafficking survivors who are not accused of harming anyone. Yet, those limitations are not applied to those convicted of other unclassified felonies, like rapists and murders.

The Council of Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault is asking for close to $1.7 million for education and public awareness campaigns yearly beginning in 2025 for community based services and “John schools.” This is in addition to the fiscal note detailed in HB 259 requesting $300,000. There is clear evidence-based research that John schools do not reduce recidivism. 

While the state Legislature is busying itself with recriminalizing primarily adult consensual activity, which is already unduly criminalized, it is ignoring the need to properly fund schools. Research shows prime risk factors for children that fall prey to sex traffickers are lack of access to safe and stable housing and education.  

Alaska needs to move away from practices that push our schoolchildren, especially our most at-risk children, out of the classrooms. Alaska needs to stop prioritizing incarceration over education, the latter being an actual tangible part of the social safety net.

The misconceptions surrounding HB 68 are far reaching. HB 68’s ramifications extend beyond mere legislation; its impact could significantly affect both the future of Alaska’s children and the state’s workforce.