PRINTER'S NO. 1047
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA
SENATE BILL
No.
890
Session of
2023
INTRODUCED BY DUSH, PHILLIPS-HILL AND LAUGHLIN, AUGUST 16, 2023
REFERRED TO JUDICIARY, AUGUST 16, 2023
AN ACT
Amending Title 18 (Crimes and Offenses) of the Pennsylvania
Consolidated Statutes, in human trafficking, further
providing for victim protection during prosecution.
The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
hereby enacts as follows:
Section 1. Section 3019(b) of Title 18 of the Pennsylvania
Consolidated Statutes is amended to read:
ยง 3019. Victim protection during prosecution.
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(b) Affirmative defense.--[An individual who is charged with
any violation under section 5902 (relating to prostitution and
related offenses) may offer the defense at trial that he engaged
in the conduct charged because he was compelled to do so by
coercion or the use of or a threat to use unlawful force against
his person or the person of another, which a person of
reasonable firmness in his situation would have been unable to
resist.] A victim of human trafficking has an affirmative
defense for an offense committed as a direct result of the human
trafficking without regard to whether any person was prosecuted
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or convicted for the human trafficking violation.
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Section 2. This act shall take effect in 60 days.
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