BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1708
Page A
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1708 (Gonzalez)
As Amended May 5, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Public Safety |6-0 |Jones-Sawyer, | |
| | |Melendez, Lackey, | |
| | |Lopez, Low, Santiago | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+--------------------|
|Appropriations |20-0 |Gonzalez, Bigelow, | |
| | |Bloom, Bonilla, | |
| | |Bonta, Calderon, | |
| | |Chang, McCarty, | |
| | |Eggman, Gallagher, | |
| | |Eduardo Garcia, Chau, | |
| | |Holden, Jones, | |
| | |Obernolte, Quirk, | |
| | |Santiago, Wagner, | |
| | |Weber, Wood | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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AB 1708
Page B
SUMMARY: Imposes mandatory minimum 72 hours in custody for
persons convicted of purchasing commercial sex with specified
times servable as work furlough, imposes a one-year sentence
enhancement for specified human trafficking offenses, and
recasts the crime of prostitution as specified. Specifically,
this bill:
1)Defines and divides the crime of prostitution into three
separate forms:
a) The defendant agreed to receive compensation, received
compensation, or solicited compensation in exchange for a
lewd act;
b) The defendant provided compensation, agreed to provide
compensation, or solicited an adult to accept compensation
in exchange for a lewd act; and
c) The defendant provided compensation, or agreed to
provide compensation, to a minor in exchange for a lewd
act, regardless of which party made the initial
solicitation.
2)Clarifies that a manifestation of acceptance of an offer or
solicitation to engage in an act of prostitution shall not
constitute a violation unless some act, in addition to the
manifestation of acceptance, is done within this state in
furtherance of the commission of the act of prostitution by
the person manifesting an acceptance of an offer or
solicitation to engage in that act. As used in this
subdivision, "prostitution" includes any lewd act between
persons for money or other consideration.
3)Specifies that purchasers of commercial sex is punishable as
follows:
AB 1708
Page C
a) A mandatory minimum 72 hours in custody (with specified
times servable as work furlough);
b) Up to 6 months in the county jail; and
c) A fine not exceeding $1,000, which shall be deposited in
the treasury of the county in which the offense occurred
and used by the county to fund services for victims of
human trafficking.
4)Clarifies that solicitation of a minor can be solicitation of
a person posing as a minor if the person engaged in the
solicitation had the specific intent to solicit a minor.
5)Increases mandatory minimum jail time for solicitation of a
minor from two days to 72 hours.
6)Specifies that the fine for solicitation of a minor shall be
deposited in the treasury of the county in which the offense
occurred and used by the county to fund services for victims
of human trafficking.
7)Removes judicial discretion on imposition of the 72 hour
mandatory minimum jail time imposed for solicitation of adults
and solicitation of minors, as specified. States that a
person is not eligible for release upon completion of
sentence, on probation, on parole, on work furlough or work
release, or on any other basis until he or she has served a
period of not less than 24 hours in a county jail for
purchasing commercial sex, and 48 hours for solicitation of a
minor.
AB 1708
Page D
8)Provides that persons who are convicted of human trafficking
of a minor or abduction of a minor for purposes of
prostitution within 1,000 feet of a school shall be subject to
a one-year state prison enhancement.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Defines "unlawful sexual intercourse" as an act of sexual
intercourse accomplished with a person under the age of 18
years, when no other aggravating elements - such as force or
duress - are present.
2)Provides the following penalties for unlawful sexual
intercourse:
a) Where the defendant is not more than three years older
or three years younger than the minor, the offense is a
misdemeanor;
b) Where the defendant is more than three years older than
the minor, the offense is an alternate felony-misdemeanor,
punishable by a jail term of up to one year, a fine of up
to $1,000, or both, or by a prison term of 16 months, two
years or three years and a fine of up $10,000; or,
c) Where the defendant is at least 21 years of age and the
minor is under the age of 16, the offense is an alternate
felony-misdemeanor, punishable by a jail term of up to one
year, a fine of up to $1,000, or both, or by a prison term
of 16 months, two years or three years and a fine of up
$10,000.
3)Provides that in the absence of aggravating elements each
crime of sodomy, oral copulation or penetration with a foreign
or unknown object with a minor is punishable as follows:
a) Where the defendant is over 21 and the minor under 16
AB 1708
Page E
years of age, the offense is a felony, with a prison term
of 16 months, two years or three years.
b) In other cases sodomy with a minor is a wobbler, with a
felony prison term of 16 months, two years or three years.
4)Provides that where each crime of sodomy, oral copulation or
penetration with a foreign or unknown object with a minor who
is under 14 and the perpetrator is more than 10 years older
than the minor, the offense is a felony, punishable by a
prison term of three, six or eight years.
5)Provides that any person who engages in lewd conduct - any
sexually motivated touching or a defined sex act - with a
child under the age of 14 is guilty of a felony, punishable by
a prison term of three, six or eight years. Where the offense
involves force or coercion, the prison term is five, eight or
10 years.
6)Provides that where any person who engages in lewd conduct
with a child who is 14 or 15 years old, and the person is at
least 10 years older than the child, the person is guilty of
an alternate felony-misdemeanor, punishable by a jail term of
up to one year, a fine of up to $1,000, or both, or by a
prison term of 16 months, two years or three years and a fine
of up $10,000.
FISCAL EFFECT: According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee;
1)Likely minor fiscal impact to the Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation (CDCR). There are currently two persons in
state prison convicted for human trafficking of minors and
there are twenty-four persons serving time for pimping or
pandering minors. If two persons were convicted per human
trafficking of minors near a school and received the one-year
AB 1708
Page F
state prison enhancement, the annual cost to CDCR would be
approximately $58,000, $29,000 per individual per year.
2)Moderate, nonreimbursable costs for incarceration, offset to a
degree by increased fine revenue, to the extent the arrest
results in incarceration. Also, additional resources to fund
services for victims of human trafficking will be available if
the offense is solicitation of a minor.
3)Additional penalty assessment funds revenues. The amounts of
penalty assessments are spelled out in statute, and they are
related to the base fine. Assuming a defendant is fined
$1,000 under the Penal Code for a felony or misdemeanor,
approximately $3,170 in penalty assessments is imposed
pursuant to the Government and Penal codes.
COMMENTS: According to the author, "Traditionally, law
enforcement has tackled prostitution by arresting the women and
girls on the street, while "pimps" and "johns" have been the
least likely offenders in the commercial sex trade to face jail
time. This neglects the fact that many of these criminalized
"prostitutes" are actually victims of sex trafficking, punishing
the victim with possible jail time and making it more difficult
to go back to school or find work, while leaving their
exploiters without any incentive to stop their profitable
trafficking.
"In San Diego County, a recent joint study by researchers at
University of San Diego and Point Loma Nazarene University found
that 42% of first-time prostitution arrests are in fact cases
involving sex trafficking, and that the average age of entry
into child commercial sexual exploitation was 15 years old.
"Recently, strides have been made to recognize these sex
AB 1708
Page G
trafficking victims as such, particularly in the case of
children. However, a strong demand for the industry still
exists, contributing to more and more vulnerable youth being
exploited. Evidence of this can be seen as recently as the
Super Bowl, in which hundreds were arrested for attempting to
purchase sex<1>.
"There is currently no comprehensive statewide solution to
combat commercial sexual exploitation of children and to assist
those children. We are having the necessary conversations about
the appropriate services these victims need- from mental health
services, to job training, to stable housing. However, we also
have to recognize that in order to stop this exploitation from
happening in the first place, we need to combat the demand for
commercial sex which incentivizes trafficking to happen.
"Commercial sex trafficking remains a lucrative business for
many, with a high demand leading to more and more youth being
exploited. Furthermore, traffickers continue to prey on
children at or near their schools to recruit them and traffic
them to purchasers, making these spaces that should be a safe
place for youth dangerous with few consequences to themselves.
"AB 1708 would help tackle the problem of commercial sexual
exploitation by taking a hard stance against those contributing
to the demand for sex trafficking and those making schools an
unsafe place for children by trafficking at or near them. We
need to make sure that the negative consequences fall on the
true criminals, not the victims."
Analysis Prepared by:
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<1>http://www.cookcountysheriff.org/press_page/press_SuperbowlSex
TraffickngSting_02_9_2016.html
AB 1708
Page H
Gabriel Caswell/ PUB. S. / (916) 319-3744 FN:
0002989