This story was reported and written by our media partner Capital News Service.
Senate lawmakers will hear a House bill that provides sex trafficked minors immunity from prostitution charges, and would connect the minors with social services. Del. Convirs-Fowler, D-Virginia Beach, sponsored House Bill 191, which passed the House unanimously earlier in the month.
“I think it’s a long time coming that we protect minors, especially when they get taken advantage of in the trafficking world,” Convirs-Fowler said.
The lawmaker is continuing a multi-year effort to pass legislation that addresses human trafficking. She said it is “common sense” to protect minor prostitution victims from prosecution.
“It's about giving them a voice to speak out without feeling like there's going to be a repercussion,” Convirs-Fowler said.
The bill was amended in the Courts of Justice committee on Feb. 4, to protect any law enforcement officer who was acting in good faith when they arrested a minor who may later get immunity. The amendment also added a mandate to connect minors with social services.
Out of the 228 human trafficking cases identified in Virginia in 2024, at least 46 cases involved minors and 163 adults, according to the National Human Trafficking Hotline. Not all cases are reported and the numbers are not cumulative because the hotline only collects demographic information for victims and survivors in a trafficking situation when appropriate.
Lawmakers from other states have passed legislation to protect minor victims, according to Convirs- Fowler. It’s long overdue that Virginia gets it passed as well, the lawmaker said.
Several organizations that work on behalf of human trafficking victims and children support HB 191, including the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance.
Coercion is a major component that is often understated in sex trafficking cases, according to Courteney Schwartz, who is policy director of the organization.
“A lot of times, victims are engaging in criminal acts not because they are literally forced to with a gun to their head,” Schwartz said. “A lot of it is about a pattern of coercion.”
Lawmakers passing bills like HB 191 will make a difference in the lives of victims and also change the public discourse about these issues, according to Schwartz.
“We think it's important for both victim safety and for public safety,” Schwartz said.
Patrick McKenna is the director of the Virginia Coalition Against Human Trafficking. The coalition was not satisfied with the bill’s initial wording. The bill was also amended to remove a section that said a minor shall be “presumed to be an abused or neglected child.”
“The first version put the survivor, the minor victim of human trafficking, in the position of having to prove their victimization and having to actually prove that they were somehow exploited,” McKenna said.
Many factors play into why people might still want the option to prosecute minor sex trafficking victims, according to McKenna. He pointed out that there may be instances where social services are unable or unwilling to take in a child if the child is not brought in by a legal guardian.
There are also instances where officers will want to arrest a child to put them in a secure place where they will not be hurt again.
“I totally get your desire not to have this child harmed,” McKenna said. “The thing we need to do is put in place resources so that the child is not being treated like a criminal.”
Virginia passed its first formal sex trafficking law in 2015, making it the last state in the nation to do so. Over 10 years later, Virginia still has tremendous work to do when it comes to victims of sex trafficking, according to McKenna.
The combination of having multiple international airports, easy access to other states, a large military presence and a large tourism industry makes Virginia a “perfect storm” for trafficking, McKenna said.
“Unless we're aware of the issues facing this, and we're putting systems into place that make it difficult for a traffic area to operate here without getting caught and punished, we'll continue to be a hotbed,” McKenna said.
Del. Karrie Delaney, D-Fairfax, introduced HB 1233, which passed the House. The amended bill will assess anyone found guilty of attempting solicitation or indecent liberties with a minor a $1,000 fee for conviction of any and each charge. The fee will be credited to the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Victim Fund to support the prosecution of domestic violence cases, human and sex trafficking cases, criminal sexual assault cases, and victim services, according to the substitute bill.
Del. Mamie Locke, D-Hampton, introduced SB 748. The bill updates a previous measure removing criminal charges from a trafficked victim's record, extending the measure to include ancillary matters.
Convirs-Fowler also introduced legislation in 2022 surrounding human trafficking, but neither bill passed committee. One bill sought to change the definition of a sex trafficking victim for the purpose of decriminalizing minor victims. The other bill sought to amend state law to expand the definition of human trafficking to include additional offenses.
To report a victim of human trafficking, contact the Virginia State Police at 804-847-411 and type VSP. The National Human Trafficking Hotline can be reached by phone at 1-888-373-7888 and by text at 233733.
Capital News Service is a program of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Richard T. Robertson School of Communication. Students in the program provide state government coverage for a variety of media outlets in Virginia.