Rep. Joel Kitchens would like more consistency when it comes to how the law treats sex traffickers and the lives of the people they are impacting. The Sturgeon Bay Republican legislator reintroduced his Safe Harbor bill last month, which would prevent children who are trafficked from being charged with prostitution. On average, children are only 13 years old when they are trafficked for the first time, and under current law, a child under the age of 18 cannot legally consent to sex. Despite this, kids can be prosecuted for prostitution, something sex traffickers can use against them when they are threatened with being reported to the police. Kitchens believes many people think sex trafficking is a big city problem and are not aware that the state has reported cases in all 72 counties. He says it is time to treat the kids who are being sex trafficked as victims and not criminals.

State Senator Andre Jacque released his own sex trafficking-related bill earlier this year that would impose a mandatory $5,000 surcharge on individuals convicted of patronizing and soliciting prostitutes or keeping a place of prostitution. Last month, the Brown County Board approved $20,000 to support Awaken Wisconsin’s efforts to fight possible human trafficking concerns at the NFL Draft.