SAN FRANCISCO — Jasmine R. was pimped and sold for sex on this city's streets when she was 17. Then she was arrested and locked up for it.
This summer, the 20-year-old stood before a state Senate committee to plead for a new approach to combating underage prostitution. Legislators complied. Some even wept.
Without a single "no" vote, the Assembly and Senate passed AB 3042 -- unusually smooth sailing for a bill that enhances prison penalties.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has not taken a position on the legislation. But if he signs it, the law would add a year to the maximum prison sentence of those convicted of any sexual offense with a minor committed for money or other considerations.
But customers of juvenile prostitutes could still be prosecuted under more liberal solicitation laws, or not at all, as often occurs.
Even so, proponents call the legislation revolutionary.
By strengthening laws on statutory rape and other child sexual abuse, it would enable prosecutors to threaten customers with serious prison time. A conviction under the laws would compel perpetrators to register as sex offenders, labeling them pedophiles for life. That could deter potential customers. Most important, proponents note, the law would transform the status of sexually exploited children -- from criminals to victims.
If such laws were used against the customers, underage prostitutes would become eligible for victim compensation and other social services.
Free from stigma as lawbreakers, they might begin to heal, proponents say.
"It's a sea change in terms of how this issue has been dealt with through the ages," said San Francisco Dist. Atty. Kamala Harris, who pushed aggressively for the bill, as well as for the city's first safe house for underage prostitutes, scheduled to open next year. "It's finally in black and white, legislated, that adults cannot buy children for sex."
Harris teamed up with Norma Hotaling, executive director of San Francisco's nonprofit Standing Against Global Exploitation, and Assemblyman Leland Yee (D-San Francisco), who carried the bill. Their effort comes at a time when global trafficking of children for sex is receiving increasing attention.
A report funded by the U.S. Department of Justice three years ago concluded that 200,000 to 300,000 children in the U.S. are in the sex trade or trafficked into prostitution. About 85% are believed to have previously suffered incest, rape or abuse at home, the report said, calling the problem "the most hidden form of child abuse in the U.S. and North America today."
