CHICAGO (FOX 32 News) -
Getting someone to sell sex in Illinois is now a crime, even if you never lay a hand on them or threaten to. The change in the state sex trafficking law is the latest move in the effort to recognize that prostitution is not a victimless crime. Previously, the state has just been arresting the victim.
"I was raped, thrown out of a car, stabbed and when the police came to the hospital, I wasn't a victim then," sex trafficking survivor Leeanna Majors said.
Majors says when she was in the sex trade, she was assaulted by customers and arrested many times, but her trafficker was not. That's because until now, under Illinois law a case could only be made against a trafficker if it could be proven they were forcing someone to sell sex.
"That's what makes it powerful, because now she doesn't have to wait until she gets to a point of being beat to a pulp before she can go to get the trafficker prosecuted, and she can get away," Leeanna said.
Leeanna was worked in the trade for more than 30 years by the threats and manipulation of her pimp.
"I was coerced in a manner that I would have never imagined, but I was afraid. And nobody wanted to hear about me being afraid, if I didn't have the bruises to show my fear," Leenna said.
Under the new law, bruises won't be needed to prove that traffickers are using intimidation and fear to control their workers.
"It could be something like threatening to keep someone's children from them if they don't prostitute every day, it could be something like telling the young woman that her family and friends will see video of her engaged in sexual activities if she doesn't continue to engage in prostitution," Lynne Johnson, Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Assault said.
Johnson, a lawyer, and the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation are part of a coalition called, "End Demand," working to show lawmakers the real "game" in sex trafficking. That even adults selling sex were likely turned out as teenagers, that homelessness and other desperate circumstances make them vulnerable to traffickers who are slipping through the cracks of the law.
"Our law over-emphasized the role that force should play in trafficking and it meant that many traffickers were not being held accountable for their crimes," Johnson said. "So anything that involves a scheme, plan or pattern is now recognized as a criminal offense under Illinois law.
"For once, my voice made a difference," Leenna said.
Leeanna testified in Springfield, helping the bill pass unanimously. She says going public with her past as an advocate lets her speak for those still being prostituted, an estimated 24,000 in Chicago alone, helping others see them as victims, so they might become survivors.
"I don't mind letting people see my face and hear my voice because that's what it's all about. I'm a survivor, and I survived some stuff that I would be glad to be able to stop somebody else," Leenna said.
