COLUMBIA, SC (WCSC) – A new bipartisan bill aims to better protect some of South Carolina’s most vulnerable residents, including children.
On Thursday, Governor Henry McMaster joined state leaders in signing the new law, which they said is a direct result of mothers and citizens calling on state lawmakers to do more to strengthen protections for children and victims of human trafficking in South Carolina.
“Together, all parts of this bill will help strengthen the wall of protection for children and crime victims in South Carolina,” said Senator Katrina Shealy (R-Lexington), lead sponsor of the bill, during a ceremony at the State House.
This new law makes child luring in South Carolina a criminal offense punishable by up to ten years in prison.
Previously, if an adult attempted to lure a child into their car or home, the act of luring was not a crime until they physically locked the door.
“Telling a child, ‘Don’t accept candy from strangers’ or ‘Don’t get in a car with strangers’ is a good lesson, but it takes more than that because children are then unable to understand what is coming,” McMaster said.
The new law also prohibits the prosecution of victims of human trafficking who are younger than 18 years of age for acts that result from human trafficking.
“These children have no agency, no ability to protect themselves, and certainly no ability to advocate for their own safety and well-being,” Shealy said.
In addition, all victims of human trafficking have the opportunity to seek expungement of convictions for non-violent crimes that their captors forced them to commit.
When asked why prosecutors were pursuing these charges at all when they knew the circumstances under which they were brought, Attorney General Alan Wilson explained that the state’s original anti-trafficking law was not in effect just a decade ago.
“As the years go by, you just learn things as you do them,” Wilson said. “You don’t know what you didn’t know then. So it’s an evolution and in a year, in five years, we’ll correct laws that are being broken now that we don’t know about or haven’t been brought to our attention.”
The law also establishes an address confidentiality program for victims of domestic violence, human trafficking, stalking, harassment and sexual assault, making South Carolina the 49th state to implement such a measure.
Although Thursday’s ceremony commemorated the passing of the new law, it has been in effect since McMaster officially signed it in early July.
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