COLUMBIA – Governor Henry McMaster and Lieutenant Governor Pamela S. Evette were joined by Attorney General Alan Wilson, Congresswoman Nancy Mace, and members of the General Assembly for a ceremonial bill signing of S. 142, which creates the crime of child luring and strengthens protections for human trafficking victims across South Carolina.
"Protecting our children and victims of human trafficking is essential to building safe communities and allowing our state to continue to thrive," said Governor Henry McMaster. "By enacting this legislation, we are not only defending our people but equipping our prosecutors and law enforcement with additional tools to ensure criminals are held accountable."
The criminal offense of child luring applies to adults who lure, entice, or attempt to lure a child with the intent to harm them. This carries a felony penalty of no more than $10,000, a sentence of no more than ten years, or both. The act also expands the definition of sex trafficking to include the sexual exploitation of minors as well as participation in the prostitution of a minor.
Victims of human trafficking may now motion the court to expunge a non-violent offense stemming from trafficking if they were forced to commit the crime by their captor. Further, the bill adds that a person under the age of eighteen who is a victim of human trafficking may not be prosecuted for prostitution or any other non-violent misdemeanor or class F felony.
"We need to prevent victims from being prosecuted for crimes they committed because they were entangled in the human trafficking ring," said Attorney General Alan Wilson. "I am so grateful we brought in safe harbor to protect victims of human trafficking."
Additionally, the bill establishes an address confidentiality program through the Attorney General's Office that allows domestic violence victims and others to use a designated address to conceal their place of residence from their abusers.
"This bill is an important step forward in protecting the innocent and making it easier for them to come forward," said Senator Katrina Shealy. "Together, each part of this act will work to build a stronger body of armor for children and victims in South Carolina."
Further, it addresses sentencing issues related to kidnapping and murder. It removes a provision in the existing criminal code that impeded independent sentencing for kidnapping if the offender was also sentenced for murder. This change ensures that, even if a murder conviction is overturned, the individual can still face punishment for a separate kidnapping offense.
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Advocates celebrate SC law banning prosecution of trafficking victims
Other public safety pieces were tacked onto the bill as it moved through the legislative process
BY: ABRAHAM KENMORE - AUGUST 15, 2024 6:24 PM
COLUMBIA — A wide-ranging public safety law that started out as a proposal to help victims of human trafficking was celebrated Thursday by advocates who had been working on its various sections for years.
“I’m not normally one who likes to have things tacked on to my legislation like a Christmas tree, but in this case each and every one will protect victims and punish perpetrators,” said Sen. Katrina Shealy, R-Lexington, the law’s chief sponsor.
The law actually took effect July 2 with Gov. Henry McMaster’s signature. On Thursday, he ceremoniously signed it again.
Shealy’s bill prevents trafficking victims under 18 from being prosecuted for misdemeanor or minor felony offenses they were forced to do to survive, such as prostitution or drug possession. It also allows trafficking victims of all ages who were convicted of prostitution or other crimes they were coerced to do to have those charges expunged. Those changes were long overdue, Shealy said.
“Children who are victims of trafficking should not be convicted of crimes related to being trafficked. It is as simple as that,” Shealy said. “Protecting them means not just from criminals but from injustice as well.”
Another key section of the law created a new criminal offense for trying to lure a child away for nefarious reasons. For example, if an adult used the promise of a puppy to entice a child into a car. Previously, luring a child was only an offense once it escalated to kidnapping, but the attempt itself was not a crime.
The law made it a felony punishable by up to a $10,000 fine and/or 10 years in prison or both.
Making the attempt a crime is something U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace tried to do during her three years in the state House. The coastal 1st District congresswoman was among those celebrating the law’s passage.
Mace, who first won in a January 2018 special election, worked with GOP Rep. Lee Hewitt of Murrells Inlet on an anti-luring proposal he pre-filed for the 2019-20 session that failed to ever get a vote.
Hewitt told reporters that lawmakers saw the need for the proposal, but when COVID hit in 2020, ending the session prematurely, the bill stalled.
Mace said she began working on the luring bill after receiving a phone call from Katie Shields, a Mount Pleasant mother, in 2018.
Shields said she called Mace after hearing about a luring incident in Mount Pleasant. Shields told SC Daily Gazette she didn’t know anyone involved but learning that it was not a crime galvanized her.
“We just kept on it year after year,” she said.
Then last year a stranger approached the 14-year-old son of one of her good friends, Brittany Williams.
“He was never in danger because he knew the tools and he knew what to do,” Williams said at Thursday’s signing, adding that her son talked another child out of going with the man. After that happened, Shields launched a petition calling for lawmakers to take action.
The law also creates a new program that allows victims of domestic violence, human trafficking, stalking and similar crimes to apply to the state attorney general’s office to keep their home address confidential. Their mail would be forwarded to them from the state office.
And it does away with a quirk of criminal law that prevented someone being sentenced for a kidnapping offense if they have been sentenced for murder. In a handful of cases, a murder conviction has been thrown out on appeal while a kidnapping charge stands, resulting in no sentence.
The entire bill was a victory, Williams said.
“Everything today was an added layer of protection for the children of South Carolina, and it’s an amazing day,” she said.
Abraham Kenmore is a reporter covering elections, health care and more. He joins the SC Daily Gazette from The Augusta Chronicle, where he reported on Georgia legislators, military and housing issues.
SC Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
