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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Tough law urged for selling people

John Miller Associated Press

BOISE – Idaho lawmakers are considering legislation that would boost penalties for crimes linked to human trafficking, in hopes of helping prevent exploitation of vulnerable women and others in a state where some fear the issue is a growing problem.

An interim committee of state House and Senate members Wednesday asked aides to draft a measure to increase sentences up to 25 years in prison for crimes such as grand theft, promotion of prostitution and threatening violence when committed in conjunction with enslavement.

Though the U.S. attorney’s office in Boise and other law enforcement agencies say there’s little evidence that buying and selling humans to be used for labor or sex is a problem in Idaho, supporters of the proposed changes say tougher sentences could help address the issue if it does.

“Can we not be proactive, similar to how a county has a disaster-preparedness program?” said Rep. Donna Boe, D-Pocatello, who along with Rep. Anne Pasley-Stuart, D-Boise, pressed for approval of the interim committee to study human trafficking this summer. “Even if there’s never a disaster, they are prepared to act.”

Under the proposed legislation, for instance, a person who coerced someone to work without pay by threatening to alert authorities to their illegal immigration status could be sentenced to 25 years in prison, instead of the 14-year penalty for felony grand theft specified by current sentencing guidelines.

The proposed new law could be considered in the 2006 Legislature.

Worldwide, an estimated 600,000 to 800,000 people are sold into bondage annually. Most of the illicit transactions take place in Asia and Eastern Europe, victimizing people trying to escape poverty and political upheaval.

In the United States, between 14,500 and 17,500 such people enter the country each year, Kevin T. Maloney, an assistant U.S. attorney in Boise, told the four-Republican, two-Democrat committee on Wednesday.

In Idaho, however, just a handful of arrests for trafficking have been made in the past five years, including a Canadian citizen who pleaded guilty in May to attempting to smuggle 13 South Korean women and one man across the Canadian border into Idaho. Sang Yoon “Steven” Kim, 29, of Surrey, British Columbia faces up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. Officials believe he intended to take the women to California to work as prostitutes.

Still, information about alleged human trafficking in Idaho remains largely anecdotal, with scant documentation. For instance, when Idaho State Police Director Dan Charboneau queried law enforcement agents across the state, he came up with little substantive evidence of a problem.

“The response I got back from sheriffs was, they were unaware of the cases,” Charboneau told the interim committee, chaired by Rep. Debbie Field, R-Boise, and Sen. Denton Darrington, R-Declo. “I’ve had difficulty trying to run down the magnitude of the situation in Idaho.”

In addition to drafting stricter sentences for crimes committed in the course of promoting slavery, the panel asked staff at Legislative Services, the state agency that prepares proposed legislation, to address ways to collect restitution from perpetrators, protect victims and witnesses from retaliation, and train law enforcement.