ProgressOhio

Human Traffickers will face stiffer penalties and mandatory sentences in Ohio thanks to the efforts of Senator Teresa Fedor.  After years of coalition-building and political-wrangling, Sen. Fedor's Human Trafficking legislation passed the Senate unanimously on December 16, 2008.  Governor Ted Strickland signed the bill into law on January 6, 2009.

The law creates a Human Trafficking specification in the Ohio Revised Code and encourages the Attorney General to create a commission to review the problem of trafficking in persons.  The specification will provide prosecutors with better tools to combat sex trafficking and enforce tougher penalties.  "I am very committed to ending our modern day form of slavery in Ohio. Trafficking in persons is the human rights issue of our time," Sen. Fedor said.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation exposed Toledo as a hub of human trafficking after a sting operation in 2005 resulted in the arrest of several ringleaders and rescue of dozens of teenage girls from Toledo.  Because Ohio lacked sufficient laws to prosecute the traffickers, they were prosecuted in Pennsylvania.

Under the newly-signed law, when traffickers commit felonies such as kidnapping, abduction, compelling prostitution, or promoting prostitution in furtherance of human trafficking, they will face mandatory jail time.  Additionally, those who engage in a pattern of corrupt activity in furtherance of human trafficking will face a 1st Degree felony as opposed to a second degree felony.  The law also requires traffickers to provide restitution for their victims, which will include the costs of housing, counseling and medical/legal assistance.

The law encourages the Attorney General's office to study and review the problem of trafficking in persons in Ohio.  The Commission will review the criminal law of Ohio and develop recommendations for the General Assembly.

Senator Fedor plans to introduce a new bill that will attack the other aspects of Human Trafficking, including debt bondage and trafficking of labor and services. "I look forward to combating the growing problem and focus on prevention, prosecution and victim protection.  No one is for sale in Ohio and I will not stop advocating for this issue until every last woman and child lives freely within our boundaries."