The motion prevailed.
Senator Bayer’s statement is as follows:
These bills are about human trafficking. Human trafficking is heinous; it ruins people’s lives. It happens in every town, in every part of this state. It happens to young girls and boys; they’re enticed, they’re trapped with drug addiction, locked into a life of horror. It happens to people from all walks who get trapped. Maybe they think someone cares about them or maybe going to help them get through a tough spot in their lives or just get some work so they can eat. Traffickers get individuals to participate in commercial sex or to provide work or services against their will by using violence, threats, lies, physical restraint, drug addiction, and other manipulative techniques.
In reality, human trafficking is slavery. Here in Michigan, men, women, and children are coerced into prostitution, slavery—all kinds of slave labor, actually—and in fact, in Michigan, human trafficking is the largest criminal enterprise we have, after drugs. It affects everyone, regardless of age, ethnicity, and socio-economic background. Michigan now ranks fifth in the country for cases of human trafficking.
Here’s the thing, we actually have some pretty good laws; we’ve created some good laws to address this. Cases that involve children can result in up to 20 years in prison. And if there is kidnapping or sexual activity, other factors—penalties—can be even more severe. The problem is we are not convicting the traffickers. The issue is solved in these bills that came to me from Detective Brian Martin of the Auburn Hills Police Department. Detective Martin called one day and asked for help. He said, Senator, we keep arresting the same people over and over again but we can’t convict them, we can’t get them into prison, and it’s because we currently require victims of trafficking and prostitution to appear in-person at pre-trial hearings. Just like in cases of domestic violence, for various reasons, the victims just can’t testify, they can’t be there—they’re terrified of facing their torturer, fearing that they will be beaten or worse when the trafficker is out, or they’re simply terrified of everything because they suffer such severe abuse, such severe PTSD, physical and psychological injuries.
In contrast, in domestic violence cases in Michigan, hearsay evidence is allowed in domestic violence. So in domestic violence cases, those victims do not have to come into court and face that abuser. Because of that, in trafficking and prostitution, we have the opposite problem. The hearings fail, the trafficker goes free, and the detectives arrest them again. The good laws that we have do not get a chance to work.
The bills we have today make it possible to have those pre-trial hearings without victims of trafficking being there in person, just like in domestic violence cases today, and they ensure that those victims do not get charged with a crime that they’ve committed while being trafficked. With these bills, law enforcement will be allowed when complying with specific circumstances necessary for trustworthiness, motivation, corroboration, trafficking and prostitution victim statements can be presented at pre-trial hearings without the victim present. That simple. We have the opportunity, today, to change the system to get some of the worst criminals we have off the street—save people from a horrific life of degradation, violence, and slavery.
The following bill was read a third time:
Senate Bill No. 516, entitled
A bill to amend 1927 PA 175, entitled “The code of criminal procedure,” by amending section 27b of chapter VIII (MCL 768.27b), as amended by 2018 PA 372.
The question being on the passage of the bill,
The bill was passed, a majority of the members serving voting therefor, as follows: