Hawaii is driven by a tourist-based economy which attracts sex-traffickers looking to establish territory to capitalize on the market of male travelers and transient military personnel. The fight against the growing problem of sex-trafficking in Hawaii is an important battle for many reasons. Currently, there is no local legislation defining “trafficking;” a fact most traffickers are aware of. Though hardworking as they are, local law enforcement lacks the legal foundation to prosecute a pimp with a penalty that fits the horrendous crimes of human trafficking.
Unfortunately, for the growing number of traffickers and trafficking activity worldwide, the federal government lacks the manpower to regulate every state in the nation, and on average, it takes from one to two years for a full federal investigation of a trafficker. During that time, countless abuses can take place at the physical, mental, and spiritual detriment of the many prostituted persons coming into and out of Hawaii. If local Human Trafficking legislation were passed, this would give local law enforcement a substantial opportunity to greatly affect the arrest rates and prosecutions of traffickers and help stop the global rise of Human Trafficking on the local level.
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