Establishes the crimes of sex trafficking of a vulnerable person and predatory sex trafficking when a person intentionally advances or profits from prostitution of a vulnerable person.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1919
SPONSOR: Hevesi TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the penal law, in relation to sex trafficking of a
vulnerable person
PURPOSE::
This bill would make it easier for prosecutors to bring charges against
those who exploit disabled individuals for sex trafficking, and would
establish the crime of predatory sex trafficking as a class A-II felony.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS::
Section one of the bill amends section 230.34-a of the penal law read as
follows: § 230.34-a Sex trafficking of a child or vulnerable person.
Further, this section provides that a person is guilty of sex traffick-
ing of a vulnerable person when he or she intentionally profits from the
prostitution of a vulnerable person.
Section two amends the penal law by adding a new § 130.97 to establish
that a person is guilty of predatory sex trafficking, when being 18
years of age or older, he or she commits the crime of sex trafficking of
a child or vulnerable person, and establishes that predatory sex traf-
ficking is a class A-II felony.
Section three establishes the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
Children are particularly vulnerable to being trafficked for sex. The
Legislature recognized both the heinousness of this crime and the diffi-
culty in bringing perpetrators to justice when it enacted chapter 189 of
the laws of 2018. Chapter 189 of the laws of 2018 established the crit-
ically needed criminal charge of sex trafficking of a child by eliminat-
ing the need to prove force, fraud or coercion. A similar vulnerability
exists with respect to victims of sex trafficking who are mentally disa-
bled, mentally incapacitated or physically helpless. (1)
This bill therefor amends Penal Law § 130.97 to add the sex trafficking
of vulnerable persons to the current law regarding the sex trafficking
of children.
Preying upon children and vulnerable persons for sex trafficking is
especially heinous conduct. Establishing predatory sex trafficking as a
class A-II felony is therefore appropriate.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY::
2023-2024: A. 2528 - Referred to Codes S. 3171/Cleare - Referred to
Codes
2021-2022: A. 1411 - Referred to Codes S. 8583/Cleare - Referred to
Codes
2019-2020: A. 2369 - Referred to Codes
2017-2018: A. 11375 - Referred to Codes
FISCAL:
To be determined
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall have
become a law.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1919
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 14, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. HEVESI -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Codes
AN ACT to amend the penal law, in relation to sex trafficking of a
vulnerable person
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 230.34-a of the penal law, as added by chapter 189
2 of the laws of 2018, is amended to read as follows:
3 § 230.34-a Sex trafficking of a child or vulnerable person.
4 1. A person is guilty of sex trafficking of a child when [he or she]
5 such person, being twenty-one years old or more, intentionally advances
6 or profits from prostitution of another person and such person is a
7 child less than eighteen years old. Knowledge by the defendant of the
8 age of such child is not an element of this offense and it is not a
9 defense to a prosecution therefor that the defendant did not know the
10 age of the child or believed such age to be eighteen or over.
11 2. A person is guilty of sex trafficking of a vulnerable person when
12 he or she intentionally advances or profits from prostitution of another
13 person and such person is a vulnerable person, as such term is defined
14 in this section.
15 3. For purposes of this section:
16 (a) A person "advances prostitution" when, acting other than as a
17 person in prostitution or as a patron thereof, and with intent to cause
18 prostitution, [he or she] such person directly engages in conduct that
19 facilitates an act or enterprise of prostitution.
20 (b) A person "profits from prostitution" when, acting other than as a
21 person in prostitution receiving compensation for personally rendered
22 prostitution services, and with intent to facilitate prostitution, [he
23 or she] such person accepts or receives money or other property pursuant
24 to an agreement or understanding with any person whereby [he or she]
25 such person participates in the proceeds of prostitution activity.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03011-01-5
A. 1919 2
1 (c) A person is a "vulnerable person" when such person is mentally
2 disabled, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless, as such terms
3 are defined in section 130.00 of this part.
4 Sex trafficking of a child or vulnerable person is a class B felony.
5 § 2. The penal law is amended by adding a new section 130.97 to read
6 as follows:
7 § 130.97 Predatory sex trafficking.
8 A person is guilty of predatory sex trafficking when, being eighteen
9 years old or more, such person commits the crime of sex trafficking of a
10 child or vulnerable person.
11 Predatory sex trafficking is a class A-II felony.
12 § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
13 have become a law.
