Hawaii's sex trafficking laws debated amid governor's planned veto

Hawaii Gov. David Ige plans to veto a bill that would ban sex trafficking in his state. Anti-trafficking advocates claim the bill would have ended Hawaii’s designation as the only state in the nation without a comprehensive law on the subject.

The bill passed the Hawaii Legislature unanimously. No politician wants to be accused of being soft on sex trafficking. But it faces considerable opposition from state law enforcement agencies.

“This bill is the result of the erroneous belief that Hawaii does not have a sex trafficking law and implies that law enforcement is not addressing the problem,” prosecutor Keith Kaneshiro wrote in a letter to Ige. He went on to say the bill would require law enforcement to prove extortion, kidnapping, sexual assault, and a host of other crimes in addition to sex trafficking. He also noted the bill would require police to produce evidence that a pimp knew a prostitute was a minor. Under the current law, police only need to prove a pimp benefitted from the prostitution in order to prosecute him.

Several state prosecuting attorneys as well as state Attorney General Doug Chin went on record asking Ige to veto the bill.

“The bottom line was that they felt that the current statutes were more comprehensive,” Ige said.

But victims’ advocates disagree.

“To suggest that existing law is adequate at being victim-centered is delusional,” said Kathryn Xian, executive director of the advocacy group Pacific Alliance to Stop Slavery.

The bill divided Hawaii’s law enforcement community because it would also require a change in how officers treat victims. Under current Hawaii law, prostitution is illegal, and those forced into prostitution can be treated as criminals. Victims are typically emotionally traumatized and extremely reluctant to testify against their pimps. Police sometimes coerce their testimony by making an offer to drop charges, a practice with questionable ethics, according to Kauai Prosecuting Attorney Justin Kollar.

Xian agrees.

“Coercing testimony in exchange for clemency is pretty abusive. … [Law enforcement officers] don’t have an incentive to treat them like victims, because they have this option of coercion.”

But trafficking victims are not typical victims, said deputy attorney Kevin Takata, who heads Hawaii’s anti-trafficking task force.

“They’re going to be resistant, hostile, or even worse,” he said.

Takata, who declined to comment on the governor’s veto, said there’s currently a disconnect between law enforcement and the service providers who try to help sex-trafficking victims. Police focus on locking up traffickers rather than looking for a new home or treatment options for victims.

Kaneshiro’s office is currently working to open the Honolulu Family Justice Center, a 24-unit project to house and support trafficking victims.

Nick Sensley, a former California police chief, helped launch the first anti-trafficking task force in the United States. He’s been working with local, state, and federal agencies in Hawaii to improve the official approach to trafficking issues and help them collaborate with nonprofits and other service providers. He told Civilbeat the decision to veto the new sex-trafficking bill could actually make Hawaii’s laws stronger in the end, if there’s a comprehensive approach by all the stakeholders involved, rather than the piecemeal approach the new bill offers.

Ige intends to ask county prosecutors and the attorney general to draft a “better bill.”