BILL NUMBER:S6803

TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the criminal procedure law, in
relation to waiving certain fees for victims of sex trafficking

PURPOSE:

To waive the mandatory surcharge and crime victim assistance fee when
the court finds the defendant is a victim of sex trafficking.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

Section one amends subdivision 2 of section 420.35 of the Criminal
Procedure Law, as amended by section 6 of Part F of Chapter 56 of the
Laws of 2004, to provide that a court shall waive any mandatory
surcharge and crime victim assistance fee when the court finds that a
defendant is a victim of sex trafficking under section  230.34 of the
Penal Law or a victim of trafficking under the federal Trafficking
Victims Protection Act. Section two provides the effective date.

JUSTIFICATION:

Although New York has been a leader in enacting laws that recognize
that sexually exploited persons should be treated as victims and not
as criminals, requiring victims to pay a mandatory surcharge runs
squarely against that principle.
              

For any number of reasons, a young woman may not be prepared to seek
or receive services, a primary reason being she is still under the
control of her exploiter and does not believe she can break free from
her circumstances. Accordingly, she may decide to plead guilty to a
violation of disorderly conduct to be able to return to the streets.
In doing so, under current law, she must pay $120 ($95 as a mandatory
surcharge and $25 as a crime victim assistance fee). If she pleads
guilty to a misdemeanor, she would have to pay $200 ($175 mandatory
surcharge plus $25 crime victim assistance fee). It is likely that she
will have no money of her own and her trafficker will be waiting for
her on release, prepared to pay the surcharge and fee on her behalf.
With the mandatory amounts paid by her trafficker, the trafficked
victim is indebted to the trafficker, enabling the trafficker to
increase his control over her and require her to return to the conduct
that brought her to criminal court (i.e.  prostitution). By imposing
the mandatory surcharge and crime victim assistance fee, we place
another shackle on a trafficking victim, further impeding any attempt
to escape a life of exploitation.

If we are committed to treating sexually exploited persons as victims
and assisting them to break the cycle of exploitation and regain
control of their own lives, we cannot impose a financial burden that
is likely impossible for them to meet and thereby obligate them to be
indebted to the very people from whom they are trying to escape.

LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

New bill.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:


Minimal. In 2013, statewide, a total of $460 in mandatory surcharges
and crime victim assistance fees had been imposed in connection with
the disposition of persons under 18 charged with prostitution or
loitering for prostitution.

EFFECTIVE DATE:

This act shall take effect immediately and shall apply to convictions
on or after the effective date as well as to charges for such offenses
pending on the effective date for which sentence had not yet been
imposed.