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Bill To Strengthen Human Trafficking Laws Clears Committee

Brandon Smith
/
IPB News

Legislation unanimously approved in a Senate committee Tuesday aims to strengthen Indiana’s human trafficking laws.

The bill makes several changes to current statute. It separates out labor trafficking and sex trafficking and better defines them both.

It also takes out the requirement in law that force must be involved in trafficking, because Rep. Sally Siegrist (R-West Lafayette) says that can be difficult to prove.

“They bring them in illegally and they say to them, ‘Oh you can leave,'" Siegrist says. "That’s why we took the force element out because they say, ‘You are free to leave. You have no documents, you don’t speak the language, you have no money – go ahead, leave.’”

The bill also requires police to work with the Department of Child Services on custody of child human trafficking victims. And it promotes further study of the issue by various state panels and commissions.

Brandon Smith is excited to be working for public radio in Indiana. He has previously worked in public radio as a reporter and anchor in mid-Missouri for KBIA Radio out of Columbia. Prior to that, he worked for WSPY Radio in Plano, Illinois as a show host, reporter, producer and anchor. His first job in radio was in another state capitol, in Jefferson City, Missouri, as a reporter for three radio stations around Missouri. Brandon graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Bachelor of Journalism in 2010, with minors in political science and history. He was born and raised in Chicago.
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