The Center for Garden State Families announces the introduction of the "Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Prevention Act"
New Jersey has become the second state in America to propose the Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation Prevention Act. South Carolina has already proposed the legislation, and more than 30 other states will join them over the next two months.
Senator Steve Oroho proposed the bill in the Senate (S-540) with Assemblywomen Nancy Munoz, Betty Lou DeCroce, Amy Handlin, and Assemblyman Parker Space in the Assembly (A-878). More co-sponsors are expected in both chambers.
“The commercial sexual exploitation of children is a global problem that is happening in communities across New Jersey,” said Senator Oroho, adding that “the commercial sex industry targets children regardless of their gender.”
Commercial sexual exploitation of children occurs when individuals buy, trade, or sell sexual acts with a child; and sex trafficking is “the recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purposes of a commercial sex act… in which a commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age.”
Assemblyman Space noted: “Children become victims through interaction with predators. According to a recent report, 75% of all children who are trafficked were lured into sexual exploitation through Internet porn.”
This legislation requires Internet-connected devices to have digital blocking capability that can only be removed by an adult and would make it unlawful “to manufacture, sell, offer for sale, lease, or distribute a product” that makes pornographic content accessible “unless the product contains digital blocking capability that renders” certain obscene material “inaccessible” and ensures that “all child pornography and revenge pornography is inaccessible on the product… prohibits the product from accessing any hub that facilitates prostitution; and render websites that are known to facilitate human trafficking… inaccessible.”
The Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation Prevention Act is a nationwide, bipartisan effort to cut-off the grooming and trafficking of children into prostitution through commercial, for-profit pornography. New Jersey Senator Steve Oroho gave the legislation the name it is known by and it is being proposed in each of the 50 states. Assemblywoman Nancy Munoz agreed to carry the charge in the lower chamber. The Center for Garden State Families has been working with a coalition of anti-human trafficking and child exploitation groups to introduce this legislation in all 50 states.
“Sexually exploiting children causes long term, if not lifelong damage and confusion,” said Rev. Gregory Quinlan of the Center for Garden Sate Families.
The Human Trafficking & Child Exploitation Prevention Act was fashioned using directives from the United States Supreme Court regarding the use of digital blocking or filters. Great attention was paid to the arguments of the ACLU and others when fashioning this legislation.
The Center for Garden State Families in our first year has been the conduit to introduce two pieces of legislation. SR63 which condemns publication and distribution of images inciting, glorifying, or justifying violence against law enforcement officers and S540, A878 The Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Prevention Act.
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