MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE
2019 Regular Session
To: Judiciary, Division A
By: Senator(s) Watson, Barnett, Blackmon, Blackwell, Branning, Browning, Butler, Carmichael, Carter, Caughman, Chassaniol, Clarke, Dawkins, DeBar, Dearing, Frazier, Gollott, Harkins, Hill, Hopson, Hudson, Jackson (15th), Jackson (11th), Jackson (32nd), Jolly, Jordan, Kirby, McDaniel, Michel, Moran, Parker, Parks, Seymour, Turner-Ford, Whaley, Wilemon, Witherspoon, Younger, Massey
AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 97-3-54.1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE THE PENALTIES FOR HUMAN TRAFFICKING; TO AMEND SECTION 97-3-54.4, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO REVISE DEFINITIONS UNDER THE HUMAN TRAFFICKING ACT; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MISSISSIPPI:
SECTION 1. Section 97-3-54.1, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-3-54.1. (1) (a) A
person who * * * engages
in labor trafficking or sex trafficking shall be * * * punished
by commitment to the custody of the Department of Corrections for not less than
two (2) years nor more than twenty (20) years, and may also be fined not more
than One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00).
(b) A person who
knowingly * * * benefits from or participates in a venture which has,
as part of the venture, an act that is in violation of this section shall be
punished by commitment to the custody of the Department of Corrections for not
less than two (2) nor more than twenty (20) years, and may also be fined not
more than One Hundred Thousand Dollars ($100,000.00).
( * * *2) A person who * * * engages
in labor trafficking of a minor or sex trafficking of a minor shall be
punished by commitment to the custody of the Department of Corrections for not
less than * * *
twenty (20) years nor more than * * * life in
prison, and may also be fined not * * *
more than Five Hundred Thousand Dollars ($500,000.00) * * *. It is not a defense in a
prosecution under this section for sex trafficking that a minor
consented to engage in the commercial sexual activity, * * * that the defendant believed that the
minor gave consent, or that the defendant reasonably believed that the
minor was eighteen (18) years of age or older.
* * *
(3) An enterprise may be
prosecuted for an offense under * * * Sections 97-3-54 through 97-3-54.9
if:
(a) An agent of the enterprise
knowingly engages in conduct that constitutes an offense under * * * Sections 97-3-54 through 97-3-54.9
while acting within the scope of employment and for the benefit of the entity.
(b) An employee of the
enterprise engages in conduct that constitutes an offense under * * * Sections 97-3-54 through 97-3-54.9
and the commission of the offense was part of a pattern of illegal activity for
the benefit of the enterprise, which an agent of the enterprise either knew was
occurring or recklessly disregarded, and the agent failed to take effective
action to stop the illegal activity.
(c) It is an
affirmative defense to a prosecution of an enterprise that the enterprise had
in place adequate procedures, including an effective complaint procedure,
designed to prevent persons associated with the enterprise from engaging in the
unlawful conduct and to promptly correct any violations of * * * Sections 97-3-54 through 97-3-54.9.
(d) The court may consider the severity of the enterprise's offense and order penalties, including: (i) a fine of not more than One Million Dollars ($1,000,000.00); (ii) disgorgement of profit; and (iii) debarment from government contracts. Additionally, the court may order any of the relief provided in Section 97-3-54.7.
(4) In addition to the
mandatory reporting provisions contained in Sections 43-21-353 and 97-5-51,
any person who has reasonable cause to suspect that a minor * * * is a trafficked
person shall immediately make a report of the suspected * * * trafficking to
the Department of * * * Child Protection Services * * *.
The Department of * * * Child Protection Services shall then immediately notify
the law enforcement agency in the jurisdiction where the suspected * * * trafficking
occurred as required in Section 43-21-353, and the department shall also
commence an initial investigation into the suspected * * * trafficking as
required in Section 43-21-353. The Department of Child Protection Services
shall also notify, as soon as reasonably possible, the Human Trafficking
Coordinator, who shall establish the mechanism for receiving reports of child
trafficking cases from the Department of Child Protection Services. A
minor who * * *
is identified, at any point in an investigation or proceeding, as
a victim of trafficking shall not be held liable by any court for
criminal or delinquent activity in violation of this section.
(5) It is an affirmative
defense in a prosecution of a person who is eighteen (18) years of age or
older under * * * Sections 97-3-54 through 97-3-54.9 that the defendant:
(a) Is a victim of human trafficking; and
(b) Committed the offense under a reasonable apprehension created by a person that, if the defendant did not commit the act, the person would inflict serious harm on the defendant, a member of the defendant's family, or a close associate.
SECTION 2. Section 97-3-54.4, Mississippi Code of 1972, is amended as follows:
97-3-54.4. For the purposes of the Mississippi Human Trafficking Act the following words and phrases shall have the meanings ascribed herein unless the context clearly requires otherwise:
(a) "Act" or "this act" means the Mississippi Human Trafficking Act.
(b) "Actor" means a person who violates any of the provisions of Sections 97-3-54 through 97-3-54.4.
(c) "Blackmail" means obtaining property or things of value of another by threatening to (i) inflict bodily injury on anyone; or (ii) commit any other criminal offense.
(d) "Coerce" or "coercion" means:
(i) Causing or threatening to cause bodily harm to any person, physically restraining or confining any person, or threatening to physically restrain or confine any person;
(ii) Exposing or threatening to expose any fact or information or disseminating or threatening to disseminate any fact or information that would tend to subject a person to criminal or immigration proceedings, hatred, contempt or ridicule;
(iii) Destroying, concealing, removing, confiscating or possessing any actual or purported passport or other immigration document, or any other actual or purported government identification document of any person;
(iv) Providing a controlled substance to a person for the purpose of compelling the person to engage in labor or sexual servitude against the person's will;
(v) Causing or threatening to cause financial harm to any person or using financial control over any person;
(vi) Abusing or threatening to abuse a position of power, the law, or legal process;
(vii) Using blackmail;
(viii) Using an
individual's personal services as payment or satisfaction of a real or
purported debt when: 1. the reasonable value of the services is not applied
toward the liquidation of the debt; 2. the length of the services is not
limited and the nature of the services is not defined; 3. the principal amount
of the debt does not reasonably reflect the value of the items or services for
which the debt is incurred; or 4. the individual is prevented from acquiring
accurate and timely information about the disposition of the debt; * * *
(ix) Using any scheme, plan or pattern of conduct intended to cause any person to believe that, if the person did not perform the labor or services, that the person or another person would suffer serious harm or physical restraint; or
(x) Securing labor or services prohibited by this section through fraud or deception.
(e) "Commercial sexual activity" means any sex act, sexually explicit performance or production of sexually oriented material on account of which anything of value is given to, promised to, or received by any person.
(f) "Deception" means (i) to knowingly and intentionally cause a person to believe to be true a purported fact or event that is false, or to believe to be false an actual fact or event that is true, whether such fact or event has occurred, is occurring or will occur, if the accused knows or believes the truth about the actual or purported fact or event; or (ii) promising benefits or the performance of services that the accused does not intend to deliver or perform or knows will not be delivered or performed. Evidence of failure to deliver benefits or perform services standing alone is not sufficient to establish the element of deception.
( * * *g) "Enterprise" means any
individual, sole proprietorship, partnership, corporation, union or other legal
entity, or any association or group of individuals associated in fact
regardless of whether a legal entity has been formed pursuant to any state,
federal or territorial law. It includes illicit as well as licit enterprises
and governmental as well as other entities.
( * * *h) "Financial harm"
includes, but is not limited to, extortion as defined by Section 97-3-82,
Mississippi Code of 1972, or violation of the usury law as defined by Chapter
17, Title 75, * * * Mississippi Code of 1972.
( * * *i) "Forced labor or
services" means labor or services that are performed or provided by
another person and are obtained or maintained through coercion.
( * * *j) "Labor" means work of
economic or financial value.
(k) "Labor trafficking" means (i) knowingly recruiting, enticing, harboring, transporting, providing or obtaining by any means or attempting to recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide or obtain by any means a person, intending or knowing that the person will be subjected to forced labor or services; or (ii) knowingly subjecting or attempting to subject a person to forced labor or services.
( * * *l) "Maintain" means, in
relation to labor or services or commercial sexual activity, to secure
continued performance thereof, regardless of any initial agreement on the part
of the trafficked person to perform such labor or service.
( * * *m) "Minor" means a person
under the age of eighteen (18) years.
( * * *n) "Obtain" means * * * to secure
performance * * *
of labor or services or commercial sexual activity and includes securing
performance by means of purchase, solicitation or patronage.
( * * *o) "Pecuniary damages" means
any of the following:
(i) The greater of the gross income or value to the defendant of the victim's labor or services, including sexual services, not reduced by the expense the defendant incurred as a result of maintaining the victim, or the value of the victim's labor or services calculated under the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, 29 USCS Section 201 et seq., whichever is higher;
(ii) If it is not
possible or in the best interest of the victim to compute a value under
subparagraph (i) of this paragraph ( * * *o), the equivalent of the value of the
victim's labor or services if the victim had provided labor or services that
were subject to the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor
Standards Act, 29 USCS 201 et seq.;
(iii) Costs and expenses incurred by the victim as a result of the offense for:
1. Medical services;
2. Therapy or psychological counseling;
3. Temporary housing;
4. Transportation;
5. Childcare;
6. Physical and occupational therapy or rehabilitation;
7. Funeral, interment, and burial services;
reasonable attorney's fees and other legal costs; and
8. Other expenses incurred by the victim.
( * * *p) "Serious harm" means
harm, whether physical or nonphysical, including psychological, economic or
reputational, to an individual that would compel a reasonable person in similar
circumstances as the individual to perform or continue to perform labor or
services to avoid incurring the harm.
( * * *q) "Services" means * * * an act committed at the behest of, under the
supervision of, or for the benefit of another person.
( * * *r) "Sexually explicit
performance" means a live or public act or show intended to arouse or
satisfy the sexual desires or appeal to the prurient interests of patrons.
(s) "Sex trafficking" means knowingly, through the use of coercion, recruiting, enticing, harboring, transporting, providing, soliciting or obtaining by any means or knowingly attempting to recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide, solicit or obtain by any means a person eighteen (18) years of age or older for the purpose of having the person engage in commercial sexual activity.
(t) "Sex trafficking of a minor" means (i) knowingly recruiting, enticing, harboring, transporting, providing, soliciting or obtaining by any means or knowingly attempting to recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide, solicit or obtain by any means a minor for the purpose of having the minor engage in commercial sexual activity; or (ii) subjects or attempts to subject a minor to commercial sexual activity; coercion is not an element of the offense of sex trafficking of a minor.
( * * *u) "Trafficked person" means
a person subjected to the practices prohibited by this act regardless of
whether a perpetrator is identified, apprehended, prosecuted or convicted, and
is a term used interchangeably with the terms "victim," "victim
of trafficking" and "trafficking victim."
( * * *v) "Venture" means any group
of two (2) or more individuals associated in fact, whether or not a legal
entity.
( * * *w) "Sexually oriented
material" shall have the meaning ascribed in Section 97-5-27, Mississippi
Code of 1972.
SECTION 3. This act shall take effect and be in force from and after July 1, 2019.