Bill > A5500

Introduced Session

This bill would expand the duties of the Commission on Human Trafficking. In addition to its existing duties, the Commission would conduct research and produce findings on human trafficking of women and children of color, identify social and racial factors that make women and children of color more vulnerable to human trafficking, identify effective strategies, support, and services to reduce human trafficking of women and children of color, study the interactions between law enforcement agencies and women and children of color who have been victims of human trafficking. Data provided by the National Human Trafficking Hotline indicates that out of the 247 human trafficking cases reported in 2019 in New Jersey, 207 were female. Though studies and news reports indicate that human trafficking is more rampant in communities of color, there is no conclusive data on the number of women and children of color trafficked in the State of New Jersey. Nationally, the available data confirms that human trafficking in women and children is overwhelmingly for sexual exploitation and more widespread in communities of color. According to a 2011 study by the Justice Department's Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), more than 80 percent of suspected incidents of human trafficking investigated between January 2008 and June 2010 involved allegations of adult prostitution (48 percent) or the prostitution or sexual exploitation of a child (40 percent). Based upon cases where the race was known, 40 percent of sex trafficking victims were black.

AI Summary

Committee Categories

Angela Mcknight (D)*,  Verlina Reynolds-Jackson (D)*,  Shanique Speight (D)*,  Angelica Jimenez (D),  Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D), 

Reported out of Assembly Committee, 2nd Reading (on 06/09/2021)