MEMPHIS, TN (abc24.com) – A set of new bills before Tennessee state lawmakers call for stiffer penalties for sex traffickers and more protection for their victims.
Those on the front lines in the fight against human trafficking say the legislation could help buck the crime's growing trend. In Tennessee, Shelby County is considered ground zero.
“It is a life of hell. That's what it is, it's a life of hell,” Kelley Alsobrook said.
That's the only way Alsobrook could describe it.
“There have been times that I've been raped. One wanted to take me as his sex slave, take me home with his wife so I could be their sex slave. I had to stab him,” Alsobrook admitted.
In her 20's she spent five years as a sex trafficking victim. After her captor was caught and copped a plea deal, she, bruised and battered, was left to fend for herself.
“That's one of the biggest problems: there is no help for the victims of human trafficking,” Alsobrook said.
That could change with a set of bills that would stiffen sentences for traffickers, allow victims to file civil suits for damages and close loopholes that allow traffickers to avoid registering as sex offenders. Currently, those convicted of sex trafficking are not required to be put on the sex offender registry.
Ryan Dalton with Operation Broken Silence said, "They haven't been and this bill explicitly shows that people who commit this crime will be put on the sex offender registry."
Dalton wrote the legislation to bolster anti-trafficking efforts and help prosecutors, like Shelby County District Attorney Amy Weirich, put more perpetrators behind bars.
“We hope that if legislation like this passes it will send a message that they're not playing around,” Weirich said.
It's a message that Kelley Alsobrook waited years to grow louder.
“It is about time,” Alsobrook said.
The bills would also set up services for trafficking victims and make them immune from prosecution as prostitutes.
