California Passes Bill That Makes UNDERAGE Prostitution Legal👧🏼 👧🏽 👀
This Bill Has Not Had National Attention. Some Say That it Provides a Legal Loophole for Underage Prostitution Without Suffering Incarceration. What Do You Think? Here Are The Facts:
As Stated In The California Legislative Information
SB 1322, Mitchell. Commercial sex acts: minors.
"Existing" law makes it a crime to solicit or engage in any act of prostitution. Existing law makes it a crime to loiter in any public place with the intent to commit prostitution.
This bill makes the above provisions inapplicable to a child under 18 years of age who is alleged to have engaged in conduct that would, if committed by an adult, violate the above provisions. The bill authorizes the minor to be taken into temporary custody under limited circumstances.
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A California Republican claims Democratic-backed legislation aimed at protecting underage sex trafficking victims actually pushes minors into prostitution.
"Beginning on Jan. 1, 2017 prostitution by minors will be legal in California. Yes, you read that right," Assemblyman Travis Allen, whose district covers parts of Orange County, wrote Thursday in the conservative D.C. publication the Washington Examiner.
Allen's attack on the "terribly destructive legislation" has lit up social media — but the intention of the law is not as alarming as he suggests, its supporters say.
Senate Bill 1322 was signed into law by Democratic Gov. Jerry Brown
"So teenage girls (and boys) in California will soon be free to have sex in exchange for money without fear of arrest or prosecution," Allen wrote.
SB 1322, he added, "bars law enforcement from arresting sex workers who are under the age of 18 for soliciting or engaging in prostitution.
And that's true — the law does state that minors won't be treated as criminals if they are caught under such circumstances. But state Democrats say that distinction was necessary so that the children aren't being blamed or punished for their situation.
They are instead to be treated as victims who can be placed into a safe environment by the Department of Social Services, keeping them out of the criminal justice system and potentially off the streets again forced into prostitution, said state Sen. Holly Mitchell, who introduced SB 1322.
Mitchelle said in a statement to NBC News that it is a "factually incorrect assertion that my bill ... ties the hands of the police."
Minors will be exempt from criminal charges under the new law, anyone caught engaging in acts with them will still be subject to prosecution since sex with a minor is considered statutory rape.
Various district attorneys' offices in the state have expressed a similar apprehension toward the law —but some say it's because the state just isn't ready to provide adequate services.
“Right now, service groups are struggling with what they have in place — there [are] just not enough resources,” Jane Creighton, coordinator of the human trafficking unit at the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office, told the Los Angeles Times in August. “I am not saying these bills should never pass. But we are not ready for them right now.”
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https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billTextClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1322
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-california-law-does-not-legalize-child-prostitution-n701471