House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

House of Representatives
Session of 2013 - 2014 Regular Session

Posted:	February 28, 2013 10:15 AM
From:	Representative Gordon Denlinger
To:	All House members
Subject:	Vacating Convictions of the Victims of Human Trafficking

In the near future, I plan to introduce legislation to vacate the prostitution convictions of the victims of human trafficking. The crime of human trafficking is growing in Pennsylvania, and the Commonwealth has seen many local and regional collaborative responses rise to combat this crime. Inroads have been made in public awareness, training first responders, and in providing services to the many victims. Unfortunately in Pennsylvania as we work to prevent this horrible practice, many victims are held in what is essentially indentured servitude or modern day slavery. They are forced to work for illegally low, or in some cases even no wages to pay off perpetual “debts” to the traffickers. Often people are held against their will and forced to work in the sex trade and many of these victims are arrested and charged with prostitution while their pimps and traffickers escape conviction. This legislation will provide for two avenues of help for victims; if at the time of trial they can show that they were forced to be a sex worker it will be a rebuttable defense to the charge of prostitution. Alternatively victims seeking to clear their records as they get their lives back together would be able to vacate a prior prostitution conviction from their record if they could show they were victims of human trafficking.
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Introduced as HB1306