Senate Children and Youth and House Aging, Children and Youth, Legislative and Military Affairs

Members were ready to get started with today's meeting. I want to welcome everyone today I know there are lots of things going on anywhere in the middle of a a primary and there are many places that people need to be so I appreciate those of you who are physically with us today and we know other people are watching online or will come back and watch later so we appreciate that the focus of today's meeting is on human trafficking we have taken a number of steps in recent years to strengthen Arkansas's laws From national groups and now we have moved up and up and up and and you can fill me in that I think the most recent report I had we had a baby from one rating and perhaps the C. from another so we have made improvements but there are still things that we can do to make things better in the state of Arkansas so we are going to hear from several people today I regarding human trafficking and the steps that we as a state legislature can take against it our first thing that we need to do however is to consider and approve the April fifth meeting minutes and you have that before you as exhibit be. Motion to approve do I have a second we have a motion and a second all in favor say aye. That is approved then we will move to item C. which is a presentation from the national center for missing and exploited children pertaining to human trafficking and we're going to hear from the station's Sheahan the vice president of analytical division for this agency and we have her here to be as soon so we are ready to hear can you hear us. Just a moment we're going to get you louder. I'm here now. That's better up up up. I'm in the share my screen to bring up the presentation I believe you are all provided in advance. Yes. Great then you can see it. Exhibit C. two. So as you mention my name is Stacy and and I'm thank president of the national center for missing and exploited children where I have had the pleasure of working for the past twenty three years I'm really grateful to the committees today for the opportunity to speak with you about the national trends receiving related to child sex trafficking some Arkansas specific data a case examples Ian really highlighting that free resources available from the national center to support your efforts in Arkansas to combat child sex trafficking because what we all know is that no stakeholder can really and child sex trafficking alone and I want to make sure you're aware of everything an actual center has as a resource available to support you so is a very brief overview of the national center for missing and exploited children which I often just shortened to the national center was founded in nineteen eighty four by John and ruby Walsh you may recognize John Walsh's name for America's most wanted as well as the TV show currently in pursuit he and his wife suffered a horrible tragedy when their son Adam was abducted and murdered and the wall she's channeled their grief and frustration to create a coordinated national response to the issues of missing and exploited children we are a nonprofit non governmental organization designated by Congress to operate fifteen different programs related to missing and exploited children I can't possibly cover all of those today so I would encourage everyone with any questions or who wants to explore more of our programmes of work to go to Missy Cannstatt work. Simply stated our mission is to help find missing children reduce child sexual exploitation and prevent future victimization and I'm sure you can very quickly connect to each one of those mission areas to the topic of child sex trafficking so I wanted to start with a glimpse into the landscape that you're seeing at the national center in terms of child sex trafficking trends across the United States. They are primarily related to a missing child cases report is that correct and if any data that is ever shared it's always important to understand what things are and what they are not what we're talking about numbers so let me clear that not all missing children are victims of trafficking and not all victims of trafficking are missing children we know that children can be traffic but family members gang members in the community or individuals buying them for sex so I wanted to make sure you just clarifies that these are primarily based on missing child statistics so the more than twenty five thousand children reported missing to the national center into one twenty one who had run away one six were likely victim of child sex trafficking entrance show us that when a child runs away either frequently or for longer periods of time they tend to be running from something unsafe or to something that's unsafe thank you see on the screen here that six percent of the victims of trafficking that we received information about were male now I would caution you related to this statistic I think it's important to highlight for a couple reasons but I would venture that it's extremely low and under reporting and that has to do with why we are improving our identification and detection methods across the country related to male victimization there's still a lot of lack of understanding in this area so I would guess that the male victimization through sex trafficking being at six for that like I said is pretty low. Ninety percent of the children reported missing to the national center would run away from care the care of social services or like the victims of child sex trafficking and twenty twenty one and this is a stat that I didn't get into a little bit further and give you a little more background as to why. What is the the national center twenty twenty one were like the victims of child sex trafficking almost sixty six percent were children of color or indigenous and almost eighty percent that were between the ages of fifteen sep T. R. data showing that teens who are digester children of color are being targeted at a higher rate than other population. What we know at the national center and I'm sure all of you there in this room no as well is that children deserve a safe childhood at the national center we're taking a comprehensive approach to combating this issue by providing analysis and technical assistance victim support services case management also support law enforcement in their efforts to recover victims and build strong cases against those that are responsible for victimizing the child but also providing resources to families and child welfare so that they have the on going support that they need to move forward from the horrific crime that they have suffered so I'm going to share more about the specific resources and also focuses on a couple Arkansas data elements the case examples. So starting out you know I have mentioned that the children are not the totality of trafficking victims in the United States but they are extremely vulnerable population in the as a national center we operate a twenty four seven three sixty five call center that receives reports from law enforcement from parents for legal guardians and child welfare reporting children missing and when we receive these reports we don't just ask what the child looks like what they were wearing and the last time anyone had seen them we also ask questions about the engagements the child may be facing and the situation from which they ran or have gone missing as well as any other circumstances so this includes gathering information about whether the missing before and if so for how long who they were with last time they went missing or with a way to whether they use or abuse drugs and alcohol if they're affiliated or associated with any gangs if they have any mental health or medical conditions if they are suicidal or could be pregnant and of course we also ask about any history involving child sex trafficking victimization or any risk factors that they have that are present for victimization to trafficking. Earlier and I wanted to follow up on it for a little more detail children missing from care make up a large population of this each other reported to the national center and this is due in part to aide two thousand fourteen preventing sex trafficking and strengthening families act is a federal law that requires states to report shall name missing from care to law enforcement ians the national center for missing and exploited children it's not a you could or you should or there's resources if you do it's a requirement to report about and these are kids that go missing from placement in foster homes group homes etcetera and this is dramatically increased our message out case load throughout the country as well as our ability to provide and national safety net for these kids. So each child cases is assigned to a case manager and they are really the single point of contact for law enforcement legal guardian shall welfare families to make sure that we are leveraging every resource that a national center has it at a level they not only create and disseminate posters of art of the missing child to our network of photo partners but they also review and disseminate any leads that are generated from those posters they engage with our family advocacy division and recovery services teams that are about to explain to you a little bit to ensure that the when the child is located or returns take care that they have you know available and resources ready to support them in doing that. So that's been a longer period of time we also have the case managers liaise with our age progression artists and forensic imaging to make sure that when we're engaging the public to be looking for a missing child the looking for what the child would likely look like now. And here's a snapshot of the numbers that we're talking about across the country so as you can see in twenty twenty one there were over twenty seven thousand missing children reported to the national center and all of those over twenty one thousand we're children missing from care in Arkansas specifically it is we received two hundred fifty two reports of missing children and I mentioned this is a snapshot because I want to clarify that active verses were covered so the thirty one listed for Arkansas as active and highlighted in yellow box is reflective of the cases that were active as of December thirty first twenty twenty one so that means that the child had gone missing in early December and was recovered on January second for example they would still be listed as missing on this chart and that is just like I said snapshot for December thirty first ended the year you can see thirty one missing children from Arkansas as the year closed in twenty twenty one ians what we saw was out of that two hundred fifty two children reported missing about a hundred eighty five were reported missing from care so similar to the the national six Arkansas is reflecting those in a way that children missing from care the largest population of children that we are receiving. The second very important program that's available to you is the service that line the server to blind is an online reporting mechanism and website as well as a twenty four seven call center where any members of the public law enforcement teachers child welfare electronic service providers anyone can report instances of possible child sexual exploitation or designated to receive reports in the various forms of child exploitation that are up on the screen the majority of those reports fall into the top three categories of child sexual abuse material on it has been a children for sexual acts and child sex trafficking. To give you an idea of what happens with these reports are receives they are primarily coming in through the online that states in the subject line that work a person like I said or electronic service provider would fill out the report our call center is available twenty four seven three sixty five to review the content of every report and prioritize it based on research trials we want to make sure that a matter how many reports we receive every day those that have information that could be immediately actionable in the recovery of a child or that demonstrate that child is at immediate risk right now are handled first after the report is prioritized is assigned to an analyst who does add value okay and then so what exactly would that add value is here in a minute once that information is added to the report is sent to law enforcement who has been trained in the investigation and recovery of child sex trafficking victims. So analytical support when I mention add value this is an extremely unique resource to the actual center that again is free and available to law enforcement it increases our ability to not only create more robust tips but also generate leads in missing child cases and this is completely because of our don profit ability to engage and public private partnerships it means we can receive donations of not only technology but inkind data and resources so you'll notice that we've received donations from many of the public records databases for example LexisNexis ThomsonReuters and trans union and we combine that with our analyst who specializes in child sex trafficking cases who then leverage open source information that develop publicly accessible on the internet or we can take that and then also run it in public records to further develop that so I'm gonna talk through a little bit of an example it's not one single case but it is an example of how this is typically would go so we had a child who has been reported as it to the national center from Arkansas who is believed to be a victim of trafficking so analysts will review that and take all the information that was gathered and started to run searches on any information that's included in the intake report we're gonna assess the child's social media see if we can find out if any social media that maybe isn't as well known we're gonna review the postings that are made there the people that are commenting on that as long as it's publicly accessible so we notice that an individual commenting on the child's images and postings is using languages overseas that indicates trafficking victimization so upon further review all of that individual social media we law we locate we notice connections to other missing children that have been reported to last in a missing from multiple area group homes but they. All have different social workers. So from there all we can the case manager like I said is in constant contact with the social worker so in this example on the social worker region is out and shares that all the child did return to care they did call to check in and were able to use that phone number in our ability to partner with child sex trafficking specific partners that have generated technology like the ordered by spotlight but learning digital reasoning traffic jam by emeritus analytics these data aggregators would allow us to Sir try that phone number and see if there's online ads in which those phone numbers that appear so we often find ill multiple ads over a long period of time in multiple different jurisdictions where sometimes that child is even detected so you look at those photos and seeks to every sources that we can use that traffic can but exchange initiative or we can compare it to see it as a specific hotel chain or sometimes even a specific hotel in the a local jurisdiction. While we're running these searches we may find an active at that means that was posted very recently and it indicates a location of where that file is being sold those and that well as all of the information that I've discussed today will be sent to law enforcement act as a lead and again law enforcement that has been trained to investigate child sex trafficking and conducted at the center conferees because that victims Senate recovery is really crucial in the past year probably your half we created teams specifically to help with this it's the child sex trafficking recovery services team and this team engages directly to child welfare on every case that we get in which the child is in the care of the state has a social worker has been reported missing and is believed to be a victim of child sex trafficking we reach out to engage the child welfare on these cases and because we think that returning to care either through recovery or on their own which is a positive position and that policy is really an opportunity to disrupt that victimization especially when it's planned for in for in advance while that child is still missing and recovery services team is here to your support child welfare creating an intentional and trauma informed and victim centered recovery and even a safety plan. So what what are the benefits of that it's really related to the ability to build trust and rapport and ultimately the goal is to have a situation where the child stays put for longer because we know many of them on that rapid run return cycle E. and the longer they stay put the more likely they are able to engage with at the services and potentially increase cooperation with an investigation. So the child sex trafficking recovery services dean is regionally assigned these regional specialist are under understand the laws in the states the resources available any gaps that exist and that could cultural considerations for victims in that state and you can see the Arkansas appears in region three C. C. Schultz is the recovery specialist assigned to that region the goal is to connect to child welfare workers to coordinated efforts that already exist on the ground if they do exist if they don't then we engage even further to help develop them and we also are able to do some short duration read a longer engagement if it's wanted types of training and educational sessions where we can assist child welfare workers with understanding the various stages of change the importance of use voice inclusion how to create safety plans in a harm reduction strategies to quit these kids that again if they're on that rapid run which are stable so here's a couple examples so at fifteen year old T. missing from that county in Arkansas the suspected victim of trafficking when the recovery services teams pope to the teen's child welfare worker in her supervisor they learned that they had not yet met the child it's not uncommon with of the burnout rate within child welfare compounded by a like I said that rapid run return cycle that will be talking to social workers who have the child's case while they're missing but unfortunately have not yet met them so that's a big barrier to overcome that when that child does return to be able to build trust and rapport and do that fairly quickly to train in a rock to that run measurement cycle so that's what we did in this situation we discussed all of the available net network resources strapped as she's for safety planning. Ways to quickly share the child that if you're gonna run again because that was our pattern her background we city safer while doing it and again we brainstormed with them on how to quickly build trust and rapport we had a second case involving a fifteen year old missing from Pulaski County and there were concerned that the teen's mom had been traffic in her prior to coming into care what we had a covered while working at the social worker that this was likely a case of generational trafficking and there was a need to support the entire family not just the victim of the child victim in this case so there were in this instance and lack of diverse resources in that immediate area so we have since worked at the child welfare workers to identify the resources outside that immediate area to provide resources that child and the family could Barker Blake can access. But it's not just welfare and law enforcement you are impacted by a child sex trafficking cases also parents and family members. We have a family division at the national center made up of specially Stephen masters level trained child and family advocates and this division provides emotional support to families of the have experienced trauma while their child is missing but it also helps them plan for the recovery and reintegration of that child into the home they can can access the family with local community support resources for mental health and other resources end of extremely unique aspect of this program is called T. hope so this is people is a pure support network comprised of parents and family members to even so glued siblings and it's a one on one motional support for someone who has currently missing or exploited child keys it is made up of people who have experienced a missing or exploited child case themselves so this is one of those unique circumstances where someone can actually say I've been where you are and I understand what you're going through not everything that works for me is going to work for you but here is you know how I can share what works for me because it's strictly isolating to experience one of these cases it's so unlikely for a family to know someone else that has been through this so D. hope really for half provides a way to alleviate some of those feelings of isolation. And last but not least we take everything we've learned for working these operational cases of each other for a proceeding that thousands and thousands of tips through the server to apply to use that information to then create free online training resources and the first fund that we've launched we refer to it as a what a what novel course is introduction to child sex trafficking it has through the online modules that are self face to that and one member of the public or anyone involved in a professional career involved in trafficking candidate in it not only does educate on recognizing the signs and being able to improve screening related to child sex trafficking but understanding what vulnerabilities of that child may have had that are being targeted as well as the tactics being used to target them and last but not least is the third body will that VLE unpacks the issue of child sex trafficking and trauma how it impacts the brain how it creates trauma responses and howl that is because children to be labeled as difficult but once you understand a little for a bit of the medical reasons behind it it will help your interactions with these kids. And the last or the most recent training that we've launched is specific to law enforcement we consider it at two all one training course for those that are investigating these cases and you can see that includes victim centered investigations reactive and proactive as well as the very steps types of evidence they may encounter and the resources of the national center currently we are in the process of creating an entire training series for child welfare and the intersection of child sex trafficking and those will be available on our online training platform and later this year so with that I know it covered a lot and it's just a glimpse into what the national center could you to support our stakeholders in Arizona and I've just wanna thank you all for the opportunity to speak with you today. Thank you so much machine hand we really appreciate your time and being with us today I'm not seeing any. What I am seeing one question a seat number seventy eight. That's me okay I did not see that all right to. He thank you so much and we may have more questions that will arise after the other presentations and I'm not sure how long you can remain with us but we will get with you at the end questions arise and you can send those to staff and I will get those answers out to everyone thank you again. Members next we have a presentation from partners against trafficking humans known as path pertaining to human trafficking you'll see this in your packet as exhibit D.. And like to introduce you to a Grayston Darnell and my pronouncing it correctly. She is the community education director for path. Thank you all so much for having us here today it's a real pleasure to come and speak with you all Michy and it covered a lot of wonderful information and a lot of which which goes towards our research they've been super influential in what we do locally here in the little rock area and in Arkansas in general so it as as the Committee already announced my name is grace from dar I'm the director of community education over at path where our mission is to provide a program of restoration and community reintegration of rescued victims or as we call them survivors of human trafficking and specifically sexual abuse we are a Christ centered nonprofit organization we are five oh one see three and everything we do is dedicated towards helping those survivors basically go from crisis to recovery it's about getting them to their highest level of function so how these that composed of three key parts we have our at client care as we call it our community education and our developments those three components work together really to. Focused on providing that holistic care for the survivors ninety percent of our survivor base are Arkansas residents and right now we have I believe twenty five active cases we have a safe house that's one of the elements in which we go to provide care for those clients but like I said it's well rounded in the sense that it we provide therapy life skills a lot of them have only been trained since childhood has machine was saying they've been designed to be sexually exploited and so a lot of them don't know how to to interview don't know what it looks like to get a job a lot of them haven't even had the opportunity to finish their education and so at past that's a huge part of our heart is getting them to the highest level of function getting them the resources they need to be able to re integrate all the into society as well as they can. M. we do this through like I mention guys been really good to us and we recently have been able to open a safe house so path is actually existed for the past eleven years being a non profit that means that there's highs and lows there's fluctuations in donor base there's fluctuations and community involvement so we were able to have a state house several years ago M. where we create a level system for those clients for the survivors that they could live in a community of fellow survivors and basically get to their highest level of function through learning how to interact well with another with one another learn how to serve and be served both in a community within the home but then also going out into the community and giving back for all the ways that they were being given all the amazing resources we had coming in through our donors so that without that level system looks basically through level one where they're eating sleeping breathing recovery and then eventually then being able to graduate into a level four where we help them get a job we help them either maybe get a state and we have a car program where any donated cars that and people have given us we're able to then give the survivor of that car in which they're making a car payment that's going actually into a fund that then once they've paid off that call are there then able to use that money to maybe put it towards a new car of their own an apartment whatever it is so it's it's teaching them life skills teaching them how to take what life has given them and actually turn into something that is glorifying and also something that's going to promote them into society. Like I mentioned I a community education my job is to go into the community whether that speaking with educators or students or law enforcement or medical personnel or business groups not only educating them on what human trafficking is specifically sex trafficking and sexual abuse then also what is prevention look like how is it relevant to Arkansas being able to bring that around a lot of people don't realize that it does happen in Arkansas I'm as you all have been made aware but it's because of the interstate system that we have the I. thirty and I. forty create this kind of perfect storm in a lot of ways so it's actually about educating the community educating our community leaders on how to tackle this as a group and so that's our our heart why were partners against trafficking humans is we're not trying to be one entity we're trying to rally a community together. So with that we are wholly reliant on like I mentioned our donor base but then also volunteers so that's also an aspect of community education what we do we have what is called victim services and awareness training that's where a few times a year were able to. Blast out Hey if you want to have a training on what's going on and specifically how it's important and impactful for you at resident of Arkansas please come to this training and be in the know with us after completing that training your then not only able to mark off those required educational hours but you're also able to then go and use that information in the community so that's a huge part of what we do as well and those victims service trainings also allow you then to volunteer with Pat that's kind of our vetting process like she was saying to make sure that those who are volunteering with us who are interacting with our clients also have the resources the knowledge and the expertise in a way to be able to work with them well to refrain from re traumatizing any clients but then at the same time keep themselves from experiencing any experiencing sorry experiencing any trauma that may rub off on them. I have on there are different ways you can get involved I don't want to take up too much of you all's time because I understand that you all are very busy and I I have a sneaky feeling that a lot of what you're going to be hearing is a lot of the same as they've said that human trafficking unfortunately is highly under reported sex trafficking even more so I'm just with that the guilt honest and shame that accompanies survivors from those horrific experiences so I don't want to be a broken record over here but I do want to emphasize that path is a local organization that is dedicated to fighting against the trafficking that occurs in Arkansas so alternately we are just a resource not only for US legislators but then also it to this routing communities to little rock as well thank you all so much and I really appreciate time. Thank you so much I think we do have some questions for you yes I have a question when is your next training our next training is may twenty first this Saturday actually it's not too late to register if you have any questions you can I have a few flyers right here and I have an email that you can reach out to and we can get you on that registration list absolutely wonderful thank you and thank you for welcoming us to that training yes ma'am we have US senator garner has the first question. The manager first thank you so much for the great work you do he said that. Human trafficking sex crimes are grossly under under reported yes Sir kind of your anecdotal understanding of what's been going Arkansas has you seen the crimes increased decreased a stable in Arkansas say the last two years so I can tell you that in twenty twenty one a huge way that we're able to track that is we when we go out and we speak we have an audience response system and that's how we gauge that but mostly our client care team keeps a tab on the helpline calls that we received so I can tell you that in twenty twenty one we received over four hundred help line calls that's coming from either parents or at people who are concerned about a potential victim than often also from victims themselves people who add maybe have gotten involved with prostitution that that was that the track a sex trafficking that the experienced that's the only statistic I can give you as of right now we've had a lot of transition as we've been bringing on new events here at path so it if that answers your questions at all Sir thank you yes if I could follow up on another question yes Sir what kind of the relationship between say sex trafficking and and and and drugs is there a direct correlation between those two things in your opinion I in my personal opinion I would say yes a not necessarily so sex trafficking we can say is seconds to drug trafficking drug trafficking is the largest crime that we know of right now however I would say that the correlation we do see is that drug abuse and it basically substance abuse in general that creates a vulnerability that traffickers want to use to their advantage that that can be either finding people who are already suffering from a substance abuse problem or actually getting them addicted themselves that there's that reliance either way it creates a dependency on that trafficker I'm on that perpetrator and it just kind of keeps those. Victims and stuck in it and that's the hard part and what we see a lot of is that victims often don't realize that they are victims and so that's that's a huge thing that we realized thank you so much ma'am I'm like follow the quick statement I agree I think I've read some article sitting here about how sex trafficking crimes going up I've also seen while direct correlation between drugs and just as a personal note I want to date to both those issues directly tied to kind of the crisis were having on the southern border we see an increase in human trafficking as we see more illegal crossings have and we also know that a direct correlation between the poor sis of our border and the ability and access to readily made drugs specially the deadly drug fentanyl so thank you so much for to do I don't want to include you in that statement part of it but that's a personal opinion until the federal government takes a serious path to immigration reform and fixing our southern borders this problem will continue to grow as you correctly pointed out we're on two major interstates that come directly from Texas that allows those traffickers to do this evil act both the sex crimes and also the drugs thank you so much manager. Representative Crawford. I. Thank you madam chair great presentation thank you excited about how you guys are doing things especially that car payment you know that I'm for right as I am for them not to just get a handout but yet the money comes back my question is how many schools are you guys able to hit in Arkansas is it just Little Rock have you expanded out we have expanded our I think the furthest that I've personally traveled in my position as elder radio I got to go speak at south or southern Arkansas community college down there that's a for this that we've traveled out my goal as community education director as I grow into the position is actually to be able to reach all those different school districts within the state actually I think that it's very important I have a heart for young people especially with the emergence of technology and the emergence of social media both of those things are very near and dear to my heart because those are ways that traffickers are able to manipulate and coerce and the real in victims especially young unsuspecting and naive victims of being able to really let them know that social media is an issue not in of itself but how it's being used against them so being able to go out to all the schools is my ultimate goal part of that is getting in touch the Wooster superintendents I've been to several classrooms but I think it's more impactful to going to speak to an entire student body and that proves more difficult because obviously our students have a lot to do and they have a lot of somebody's already planned but that is our ultimate goal to be able to reach them it's great follow up please yes. I'm how can we help you I would love this in our schools were in Portsmouth yes ma'am so sorry phones going on how can we help you. To help our kids that is an excellent question so personally if you want to reach out to me and connect me with superintendents with the difference school district I recently spoke to at school committee in Salem Springs that's a great Avenue because then just planting that seed to then put it on their hearts that their children need to hear it so any connections that you have to superintendents school district committees anything like that would be I'd be very grateful for that thanks I am great thank you. Members I do want everyone to get their questions answered we do have several more presentations today so want to give everyone time to give the presentation representative Bentley. Thank you chairman this may be better for another presenter but I'll ask you briefly is or any legislation that we can pass here to strengthen our laws in Arkansas that you know about like an requiring hotel workers to report suspected trafficking Senate you can think of that we might be able to do here in the legislature that's an excellent question ma'am I can't think of any off the top of my head that doesn't mean that I don't have suggestions that just is a little bit on the spot however I do know that the laws that you have been passing in Arkansas since twenty thirteen with mandatory continuation with the safe harbor act with the truckers against trafficking bill all of those things have been very influential and has been helping the call is definitely so I'd love to connect more get back to you on that question thank you. Representative Barker. I'm sorry that's representative cloud. Thank you madam chair thank you miss Fund era for being here and for your presentation. I can't imagine what these victims are conditioned to do so I'm I'm wondering what kind of success rate this path have can can you give us what what a success would be absolutely one of a the most beautiful and heartwarming stories that I have since my time being it pass is we had a victim who called us a call their help line for seven years she would call we go to Baker I say get in the car honey get in the car she was always too scared should be looking up at the window and she be looking up knowing that her pimp was watching her to see not just the money I just the money I just the money they said we can't give you any money honey to get the car and we can take you where you're going to be safe and she said no for seven years that was the pattern until one day she called they went to go pick her up and she got in the car and as they were driving her back she's the we're asking her what what changed and what changed he said. I'm pregnant I've lost five kids in this industry they've been taken away from me and I'm not losing this one and over the last two years we've watched her become a mother we watched her change her life around we've watched her get her own apartment we've watched her take parenting classes and all for this little one that she could take care of and so that's a success story to us that now she has her own car through the car program she has her own apartment she's feel safe and empowered to live on her own and to be the mother that god designed her to be so for us that's a success story we have several that are like that and that the team is just that if we don't give up it teaches them not to give up either. The representative Garner. Thank you madam chair I just got a quick question kind of based on what representative Crawford was asking mainly about scaling up and trying to integrated services into the other communities so I just have a couple of questions about how you got started are you guys with that specific church or a Christian Christian organizations do you work with other organizations who may or may not be Christian organizations you talked to civic groups and all those how can we scale a program like this up. And in other parts of Arkansas yes ma'am so while we are a crisis in your organization we're not tied to any one church anyone done a denomination and what we are partners that includes everyone whether that secular groups or other Christian organizations our goal is ultimately to put an end to the trend of trafficking in Arkansas and through partners like the national center nationally and one day internationally right that's this kingdom mindset however we are always open to any partners any people who want to invite us into it to come and speak or people who want to to see what we're doing to come and see what the program looks like to learn from our executive team and then maybe be able to implement elements of that program where they are as well so those are different options and if you have any further questions I'd love to connect with you yes ma'am just a quick follow up yes art it is is there a way are are you are ready collaborating with other groups or are there other groups obviously they're doing similar kinds of things other churches other organization you all have a consortium or do you have a way to work together so that you're sharing programs or you know looking at at at ways that other people are doing it and rural areas or or urban areas or anything like that yes ma'am that's a great question that's actually one of our goals it's like you can read our minds yes with that's one of our goals is ultimately to be able to create and network that so strong that then if there's implementation and there's overlap within different organizations so yes ma'am that's the roll thank you very much yes. Representative love. Thank you madam chair first of all thank you for the work that you do and I I have talked with the lease in the past in regards to you know funding for safe houses and different things so committee that is one thing that we can do is to provide more funding for safe houses for a traffic Children but I do I do want to ask this from the first presentation. I learned something that was surprising that more than about sixty percent of the kids are from communities of color. in what I was gonna I was gonna ask me because this is thirty six percent African American sixteen percent Hispanic twelve or more to the twelve percent multiracial on and I that combines of over sixty percent of the key issue in traffic. Is that number stay true to form when you reach Arkansas. I would say yes from the from the survivors that we interact with I would also argue that a lot of it is socio economic as well so it and I don't know Nine. If we can break it down of racially as much for our particular group and specifically the clients were serving right now because we have a smaller number currently and but I would say socio economically is when we interact of those clients they talk about the poverty that they've experienced and unfortunately a part of that does relate over into the ethnicity that we see that a lot of them coming to us you know it and as legislators you all know better than I do but I can tell you that there's a combination of ethnicity and then socioeconomic that the end more impoverished Suicide groups of society whether that has to do with ethnicity or not those are the ones that are being victimized just a lack of resources and so that's a huge part of our heart as well as to be able to provide therapy provide medical attention provide those things that their parents or family of their resources one allow for okay so the follow up so is there anything specifically in these communities that we could do I mean awareness campaigns I mean like yes there has to be something that we can do to really draw attention and and are there any specific communities were seeing this happen and happening in That that you can think of I meant no large numbers in yes Sir so as I'm thinking it will be because the average age is in last we checked both the average age of victims of sexual exploitation and sex trafficking is twelve to fourteen years old so with that I would say that the immediate need is in the schools as as the council members over here were mentioning so I would say being able to get into different school districts that have a lack of funding but then more portly may be allocating more funding towards those school districts to have programs and campaigns that are against trafficking. Is that your question did I do okay. Yes Sir. Your Mike is often thank. Yes you did you get on but I guess what I'm trying to figure out is is there any specific schools that you're seeing on the this is taking place and so that we can really target you know if we have. There are definitive us in small resources is there any area of like say for instance are you seeing this more than delta you see in this one little rock are you seeing more of it in you know Weston Arkansas right what we can really target our resources that's what I'm that's when I see your question sorry Sir yes I would say that so I like I mentioned ninety percent of our survivors are residents of Arkansas I would even argue that we have a majority from Little Rock itself so I think that there definitely needs to be an allocation of resources into Little Rock metropolitan area Sir. Thank you so much for being with us thank you more questions may arise in this or wait you gave us a way to contact you I think with the information that you can yes ma'am and with your permission I can approach the bench with sure thank you so much cash at the end thank you all so much I really appreciate your time and members without objection we're going to go a little bit out of order and that here next from into the light. We have Gretchen Smeltzer the executive director of into the light and bath and may get your last name wrong that that Craddock chief. Eligible. Okay I'm gonna have you set for us please the program director and lead trainer of into the light. Yes if you would please the pull the Mike toward you and introduce yourselves to us. One that's scratched bill and I'm the program director and lead trainer for into the light. I make a private the C. six advocate based in the little rock area. And I'm correction sponsor on the founding executive director of into the light thank you. Well good afternoon madam chair and fell committee members it is indeed an honor to be here and share with you how into the light is working to end child sex trafficking and bring hope to survivors I thoroughly enjoyed getting to listen to the lady from Nick make we do work closely with Nick Nick national center for missing and exploited children and to hear from grace and admire the work that they're doing they're at pass. After several years of sharing our prevention program and working one on one with young survivors of commercial sexual exploitation I am honored to have known many beautiful resilient tenacious warriors children with baby cheeks and too much world knowledge heartbreak in cynicism edged on their faces. Children who are fluent in the language of the streets and the score courts system but sadly lacking in the language of childhood and love. Children that too often have never known home. Never heard a bedtime story or said their prayers as mom or dad take them in. Children who were sired but never parented. Beautiful resilient children who in spite of all evidence to the contrary there to rise another game day. Lane to a glimmer of hope they are our motivation behind the statistics the strategies in the services are the children who are counting on us all of us all of us across Arkansas we are very much a part of the collaborative mindset a team approach this problem is bigger just listening to your questions it's Michael I want to tell him everything I want to tell them some measure there's so much that. They just need to understand a little better but bottom line is that that the children it's about the children so I want to share with you just for a brief snapshot of some children that have now. Those hands. Those little girl hands still chubby and child like this petite little flowers brought in in the middle of the night running from the four men who transported her here from another state for their use man that would face no charges. One tier. One single solitary tear trail down her stoic face. She letter pain service and find release in one solitary tear. Would you like to see my brand she asked pulling a cider jumpsuit she revealed the scarring on her shoulder we're a traffic or it could is marking to her branding her as his property. That is gift. Her favorite memory. Her Daddy gave a little bicycle or she must have been about five years old she recalls it was pink and her little basket on front and training wheels she could have been more than five or six because Daddy didn't start selling her until she was seven. I wish. I wish my mom wanted me not the money she got off me. I wish she Love Me like she loves my siblings and my son. I wish she didn't let her boyfriend's touch me and beat me. She honestly never Love Me even if she says she did. I wish she chose to keep me and not her boyfriend. Now Gretchen are executive founding director will tell you a little bit more about how we go about the short. Thank you it's an honor to be with you this afternoon I'm thankful that Beth was able to share and communicate the voice of many of those that we love and serve and into the light and have served our mission into light is to end child trafficking in debate bring hope for to survivors twelve years ago I didn't know anything about the issue of human trafficking I was just a mom we were in the process of adopting our son from overseas and I came to understand more about the issue of orphans in the vulnerabilities that orphans face around our world and so I thought surely human trafficking just happens overseas not in our world was I understood and learn more more about the vulnerabilities that made someone at risk for being a victim of human trafficking understood that trafficking was happening right here in my small town in my state of Arkansas and I knew from that point on that I need to do everything I could to address this issue that if orphans and those that had extreme vulnerabilities were at risk for this I wanted to step in and do whatever I could and that's what we do it until life we step in and do whatever we can. I want to share a slide with you that maybe will help you understand a little bit more about how this can happen to someone and at what process into light intervenes on the left you see my child is experienced child sexual abuse and many of the things that they that happens when someone is abused at a young age you know the linking of love sex and abuse their boundaries are violated that they don't understand it have healthy boundaries often battling guilt and shame and they may see themselves as a sexual object that this is all that I'm good for they may by a low self esteem especially as they enter those tween years and then you have the situation in and that make did a great job explaining this where a child has need and the family may be homeless the child may feel like home is not a safe place there even either running away from something or to something and they run away from home which makes them extremely vulnerable to being trafficked and then there there's poverty in need at that point right there's one. Just what past shared poverty is a great vulnerability to this. And then you see where sexual exploitation of children happens and this is where into light begin serving children so when a child is having to have sex or engage in a sexual sexual acts in order to have a place to sleep or food to eat our meet basic needs that does meet the federal definition of human trafficking or child sex trafficking and this is where into the light will step in and sometimes this happens if a child in home is not safe and an adult welcomes them into their home and they're offering them shelter and a place to stay and food to eat and then they say oh you have to also you know if you want to stay here you have to do this or maybe mom's boyfriend in order for him to continue playing the bills right and meeting the needs of the home she has to get engage or he has to engage in sexual acts with the boyfriend so that does meet the definition of child sex sex trafficking and then we have our media unfortunately that really glorifies this life right and and just makes it seem as though this might be the end to all your struggles and pain that you can make a lot of money in this life and have nice cars. And you know be with the best you know powerful men and then there's always a demand and we cannot forget the demand there is a constant demand in our world to buy children and women for sex we have to know that that's this is a business at the end of the day it is a business and we have to know that and that's what drives this and then a child is in approached by someone who's a trafficker a recruiter pulling them into this life and this is where you see the child that in the beginning had been just sexually abuse but has been groomed all along by society culture and and what they've been exposed to and now a trafficker has them and they're you know ready they're groomed they're prepared to be engaged in this life and be sold for six to ten to twenty times and I. So this is where into light works in these areas in a common saying you will hear an anti trafficking movement is sex trafficking happens in relationships and healing happens and relationship healing from any type of physical emotional psychological trauma begins when we feel safe. Our methodology is rooted in establishing safe healthy and long term relationships with children who have been victimized by the sex industry. If you can see this child that I just described on the screen that we taught discussed the traffickers Cantu so everything that we do and into the light we pursue this child is vulnerable to this or has been trafficked as hard as we can to try to establish a healthy relationships because we know that if this is happened to a child that they are very vulnerable to it happening again. We have three prong star program that we deal and into the light and the first part of that is bringing awareness. An education and equipping and prevention. We bring awareness to our communities you have a hand out that shows R. three arms and also shows statistics of the different counties where we work and the victims and the survivors that we have served in those different counties. we we have in a program called enlightened that we will share with any child will share in schools Community groups with and one on one and we focus on sharing this with high risk use of children are juvenile that are engaged in our juvenile justice system and children that are in child protective services we also quit first responders law enforcement those are on the front lines working with children. We focus Our efforts And all of these different areas engaging we receive referrals to work with high risk children from the juvenile justice system Department child family services the child advocacy centers a Costa and we also receive referrals from law enforcement. And then we have our intervention fees and that happens when we have a child that has experience commercial sexual exploitation and our staff are available twenty four seven we have seven full time advocates that are available twenty four seven to answer a call and respond day or night. at that moment our goal is to establish a healthy safe relationships are just like Nick Nick talked about that relationship is so vital for it to begin and to be established clearly so they know they have a safe healthy person that can be supported with them. Throughout their life we educate them on sex trafficking We discuss healthy relationships healthy boundaries goal setting and we discussed what unconditional love is what true love looks like If a child is showing a red flags for trafficking often times at this point when they're educated on the issue this is when a disclosure happens because we have to understand children often do not understand what sex trafficking is they don't understand that this is a business that this is a that this boyfriend or this Daddy figure in their life is using them for his financial gain their group they have Graham them and they have made them believe that they are a part of something bigger than themselves that they are contributing to the family and this is what they're good for this is their identity so once children have disclosed trafficking they are connected to an advocate and I advocate provides case management services long term support does all the things that I just discussed before the healthy boundaries unconditional love and they collaborate with all sectors of society anybody in that child's life to try to educate them on the trauma that this trial is in toward are advocates are very well trained and understanding complex trauma so tall that is experience victimization a sex trafficking has complex trauma and their behaviors can be very difficult to deal with they also often make you not want to pull close to them they make you want to push away and so it's important that our advocates understand trauma and how it impacts the survivor and we we do that by being very calm informed and also using a strength based approach. so our advocacy is long term it begins as soon as that child is referred to us and it doesn't in so they may begin women begin meeting with them or their thirteen and we have those that we're still working with them now that they're nineteen or twenty so it's important we that we stay consistent with them and support them a lot of them do not have the family support systems in their life that help you know bring stabilization and help them not be vulnerable to it again so we are constantly building rapport connecting them other services in the community. And that's mention this we are constantly building relationships with our community partners it's so imperative into light is not the answer to addressing the issue of human trafficking we have never thought that we were it's so important that we build relationships with law enforcement of the juvenile justice system Department child and family services Eight legal representatives anybody that is in their life to help them understand what this child is indoors and the kind of care and support that they need and we know that it's imperative for them to see healthy relationships model by their community and that's a big goal of collaboration we've had the opportunity to help that partner with the FBI and start established that child sexual exploitation and human trafficking task force that began in Northwest Arkansas and is now statewide and we are just very proud of the efforts that have come out of that we are now seeing traffickers actually being prosecuted and held accountable for their actions and we're very excited about this. Again I just want to reiterate reiterate that it's so important for us to pursue these children and that's what our staff do it into the light they work tire tiring Leslie. Using and I just we really appreciate being with you Bethel and this was some quotes for some of the survivors that we serve and into the light and I do wanna give you plenty of time to ask questions okay so these are just some quotes straight from survivors my into the light advocate has been able to listen to me when I'm struggling everything in my life was changing and hard but she was there. Into the light is helped me in many different areas they have always been there for me from day one even after aging out of foster care systematic advocate still makes it a priority to contact me and drive to come get me for lunch to be sure there's nothing I need and that I'm all right I'm so very grateful to have gotten the chance to be assigned to an advocate it means the world to me. I never thought I would get away from him it's hard to believe I get to choose what I want I will have my GED St then I will get to choose what I do next it's incredible. Thank you thank you for all you did to help me really live. I never had anyone take me seriously before but now with and into the light advocate I feel heard and validated. Thank you. Thank you so much for this presentation we do have some questions representative Springer. Thank you madam chair good afternoon good afternoon and thank you all for being here I'm I'm learning a whole lot from these presentations so thank you so much I just want to follow up on the question that was asked by representative low with respect to the focus and poor of these of incidents are taking place what counties are they being addressed in what most of part I know the previous president Pat said that they they have a lot of cases then Pulaski County and so as I look at your report and I'm not sure if the numbers that you have here are for twenty fifteen to twenty twenty are you all these numbers focus then on one year I guess I have a yes I have a multiple questions I'm I apologize but I'm trying to see because what I add up the numbers that you have over in the corner there like two hundred and eighty two persons that you've served and so the question is are they full of the our the period seven year period or they just for one year and then I see at the bottom you have twenty twenty two you have like a hundred and seven so I'm trying to understand and then for for for they are in the in the focus if they are actually in Pulaski County or they in Northwest Arkansas because these of the get the majority of the council on this show that they're in Northwest Arkansas if you could kind of clarify that yes. into light we have to make two offices ones in Mountain Home which is Baxter County and the other one is in Springdale which to which is in Washington County so our focus is Northwest Arkansas north central Arkansas the counties that we serve sort we're able to provide services into sixteen counties of making here it works in Pulaski County so our children often they are very transitional they may start out in Baxter County they're taking into care or put in a residential facility in Pulaski County and so make it is here to support those children no matter you know from if they come from one of those other counties she supports them here locally because that's so important that we provide that consistent relationship with them no matter where they go. Those numbers are from two thousand and fifteen to present so those are the numbers that we have served and that where the children the victims have come from. And then those that two thousand twenty two are very very current numbers that we're serving at this moment. Thank you. And and the idea of just this idea that this happens in some counties but not others that that's that's a false idea there's not a county in the state of Arkansas that doesn't have a problem with sexual exploitation of children it's just that we are limited in how much we can serve so we're focusing on the sixteen counties but they're seventy two counties in Arkansas seventy five and seventy five thank you I used to each Arkansas history was the law that that They're out there but they're not being identified as readily and Gracie's the status of twelve to fourteen as the average age that this begins happening so if you can think about what you thought like in seventh grade you know that you still have a little bit of magical thinking you are easy to manipulate but the staff will also tell you that for young boys the average age to expose the cannot exploitation of them is nine to eleven and I had a lot of talk and I'm just gonna tear here but let's talk about court orders and things like that and people always want to identify the. Be careful that you don't focus too much on interstate corridors and hubs and things like that we have this natural tendency to want to think it someplace else and so it's there where they have that Herbert's there were these interstates come through but it's here it's here in our own backyards and that's what we don't wanna that's what we don't hardly know what to do about when it's right here in our own backyards but it is wherever your backyard monthy so you're saying there's a problem for the entire state nuts that certain counties the entire state of Arkansas all right thank you. Representative very. Thank you madam chairman has thank you all for being here and we've heard from everybody at the table except for the young lady at a bar and I'll be curious just to hear of your an advocate to my understanding can you explain to us what you do in a little bit about your background. Yes Sir to enter simply it's an is a law it's kind of a. Multi functional of position because it looks different for each client in each place I go to some of the rock I one of things I do is look as a residential facility where we have several clients over there for to get treatment whether it's for drugs and most of them are trafficking victims and is talking with them and building relationships and they have just creating a safe place for them to talk about whatever they might be going through it's not always talking about their trauma but this simple task another thing I do is I go to court with all my clients whether it's like a federal case or DHS corps I've attended several courts over the past couple years I've been working with into the light so just to support them to have emotional support it's not testify or anything but just being there to support them and so they know that they have a safe person with them because trials commute often very overwhelming for them and such a few things I do sometimes it's last summer I got to support my client issues can birth to one Perkins it's just different things like that thanks to do. Great well thank you thank you all for your service I'm very familiar with human trafficking primarily in central and south American is slowly is migrated more more towards you know the United States and it is a very difficult issue in a very difficult to to be able to help a lot of these children so thank you all for everything that you you do for the children in need thank you. Senator Hammer. Thank you measure by the post thank you ladies the question like to ask is from a victim's perspective what do they express the level of punitive action should be to help them in their healing process we can sit down here and you know pass laws but unless somebody's been through what the people that you represent have been through I think we try to do good things we do good thanks but from a victim's perspective what are they think the level of punitive action ought to be in order for them to feel like they can move on and healing. I think we might all answer that the same but also have a different response and that I believe they would love to see all those that they are having to interact with. Be educated on the issue that they they have a there's people that they're having to engage with was the court system law enforcement mental health providers you know advocates if they're all under state understands complex trauma they understand what this person has gone through there's just a level of understanding there and also that they have a voice and a choice that their voices heard in this and I appreciate you asking that question it into light we have of remember that so survivor and it's so imperative that you have survivors engaged in this and they their voices heard as you're addressing this issue follow up manager yes well let me build a more direct. I'm up. I have ideas what I'll be done to people to do to the victims what they do but I'm not sure that's what the victim wants to what level should we go punitive wise you know I'm a capital punishment got to be honest with you nothing some things rise to that level when you do two people what happens to the folks who represent I think that I'd be in the discussion but maybe the victim doesn't feel. That's what we need to do I just like to know from a victim's perspective how much of a pound of flesh should be extracted so that they can feel as though we are putting up you know we're we're putting a stop to this one of the things that's difficult is that a victim very often is bonded to her trafficker sell a lot of times they won't want to testify against their traffickers and it takes a long time for them to heal it's something around ninety percent of the even adults that are involved in trafficking do not realize their trafficking victim when it's happening it's it's brainwashing much like you would see with a prisoner of war in fact if you look at the if you look at M. R. I.'s of trafficking victims and MRI's of prisoners of war they look very similar they had just been some damage the the. Many people don't understand that like if you're in a in like a PM control situation in your part of his sample that you are you that the averages that you have to bring in a thousand dollars and not okay and that means that the hundred dollars a service this child is being right ten times and not minimum we have actually seen and I may be talking too much but we have seen. Evidence to who we're at the one of the young lady has backed her trafficker to only make or have sex with ten guys not twenty that night because she is hurting and it was like you'll be twenty are you will you know and and some really rough talk there. So we're talking about people that have been very traumatized and yet at the same time he has hurt her so badly he has made himself in the role of her protector and so she or he that the victim is very reluctant and also that sometimes these girls will have children and the traffickers will use that child against them a if you want to this I'll take your child if you wanted this I take your little sister it's it's a vicious violent thing M.. One thing they'll just be more direct about your question how would it feel to you if you have been under this this man's controlling you've been sold and you've been beaten and you've been writing you can start you've been injected with drugs that you never wanted into your body. And then he goes before the before a judge embellished Senator sees out the very next day are you gonna testify against him when he has enough cash in his pocket from from you've been on your back to pay his bail immediately and be back out on the street no they're scared to death their very lives are at stake so when the trafficker is locked up he needs to be locked up to or for the rest of his life or at least long enough that he he'll grow up and there should never be less than twenty years you know if they have bought and sold their modern day slave holders that are are exploiting vulnerabilities and selling women and children for sex. And they need to be held accountable we have got to hold accountable also the buyers if nobody bought six there would be no children sold for sex so we got to stop the slap on the wrist for people that are buying sex we need Arkansas is better than that I am I'm born and bred Arkansas and I'm proud to be an Arkansan and I you know I I get riled up when someone or test me back Chicago we as hell of the loan back there you know that be fine the Arkansas is better now we have got to stop this just slap on the wrist for buyers of sex we've got to hold them accountable and demand reduction that so important and it's true madam chair that we have gone from a F. to a B. as far as law enforcement and being able to to up prosecute and take down some of the traffickers but shall hold that came from shared hopes report card and the one they did on this this year we're back two and a half and so was everybody except Florida and Texas maybe and because they graded us this year on that dumb Services so what we have done good at we're doing better we're making a lot of steps toward punishing traffickers we are not coming along and providing services for the victims like we need to we don't have any day it's hardly just a very few for minor children that are victims of sex trafficking so what do they do when they're brought in order to take up very often the land end up locked up in JDC Amit dozens upon dozens of children that were victims of sexual exploitation and they were locked up in JDC partly because it was not juvenile detention centers no place else to put them so we have treated the victims like the criminals and the and the trafficker is is running free. Thank you for your direct answers thank you. I have members we're going to take two more questions because we have a couple of more things that we need to do as a committee we have a representative or senator garner and representative and Clerk. Senator garner first. Thank you madam chair I hope you work look in my face will appear on your scribe and. When you start off. What those guys people do those children I don't think there's an issue to give me more righteously anger. Then whenever I hear about what. Those kind of people do children. You know we try to do things like you said earlier about allowing victims to be more comfortable in court rooms we passed a law for motional support Dalton court rooms that a judge found unconstitutional last session passed a law where you they could do zoom so they would have to be in front of the. Person who did that to him and I've heard from people that the judge will allow that to happen either. But I think to follow up on Senator hammers point We've taken a lot of steps as a legislative body to expand prison beds sometimes in controversial fashion I'll say. I think part of that is so that we can take those. Once they're found guilty monsters. And the woman there low code lock him up in the wake D. I put among the jail house today let me honestly. In your opinion. Do we need do a better job of making sure those who are convicted and are found guilty serve as much time as humanly possible in a setting where they cannot form children again in the future the reason I bring that up is because we just heard of a case in Arizona. Or a man who was convicted of rape in two thousand three. Of a ten year old girl that he listed multiple times was called at the Arizona border. Smuggling in a family with three children under the age of eleven. You like the had twenty years jail sentence. A thousand two thousand three I can do math he got out before twenty years. So what's your opinion about the state's response to make sure that people like this are not just convicted are not just have the crop grounds in the book but that we as a state in force that to make sure that these. People don't get out there and re offend and harm others. I agree that the sentencing should increase since we have done this work since two thousand fifteen we have seen three traffickers convicted. And the largest the the high sentencing with seventeen years. And and and if they're convicted and Gretchen help me out with this is that if they are tried on a federal basis and trafficking is a federal charge then I believe they have to service it ninety percent of their sentence somebody help me out of here now but if they're convicted by an in almonds on state charges then then that's reduced to what is it twenty five percent Jana. Six. So that so that's an issue they can it can look like they've gotten a big sentence but then they don't have to serve it well that's that's something that certainly we're going to be looking at I know we have some groups already working on that so I don't want to spend too much time here looking at sentencing guidelines but we certainly will take on all of this that you have presented us with today and be looking into that as we move forward and we want to do everything that we can to strengthen this and make this right and thank you for telling us about what has caused our rate to go down that's something we need to look at as well thank you so much for being with us I really appreciate you and if there are more questions that people have for you do you have your contact information here with us. Have contact info we have our contact information there and Beth and I also have cards if anybody would like to. get those from us and thank you if you didn't get this will have it will have this available three staff as well. And we'll get this presentation sent out to all of you on the committee and any others who want that you can request that through a through blank thank you so much for being with us thank you so much next we have presentation from Arkansas crime information center known as a C. I. see pertain to human trafficking arrest that's exhibit any that you have and Mister Brad Cozart the director is here with us today. Reading I think I get the emphasis on the wrong syllable there Mr consort that's great Cozart is most commonly misspelled dispensation my name and address representative Cozart he will tell you that my name is the most common this pronunciation is. So I read because or on the director the Arkansas crime information center And while we are a criminal justice agency we're not a law enforcement agency so we don't have investigative powers we don't have arrest powers were not involved actively in the pursuit or prevention or arrest or detention any that of of the human traffickers and sexual factors a we do tend to maintain records of what I have to do for you today that I've afford is just give you some idea of the numbers that we keep our system we have in our system right now. So basically we have what I'm showing you six different provisions out of three statutes that that deal with human trafficking so three different activities have a couple different ways of the of the people being convicted. The The first one that the five twenty seven three or five the base when the felony C. it's been around since the the eighties he was the only statute on the books on the books that we maintain records on for human trafficking until two thousand thirteen when a number of these others were added at that time. So those first two boxes that you see there have to do with the rest. So the the top of one has to do with the number of counts that were of. Total in Reston one board has to do with the number of persons so basically looking a year by year and and the colored boxes indicate that there's a change so that means that there is more counts arrested for that year than there were people so somebody was arrested for more than one count. But essentially over the total time what you're seeing here is that they're gonna hundred eight people arrested for the sexual trafficking charges that included a hundred twenty two counts so that's the numbers that we have in our system for rest. If you want to the the next two columns next to boxes have to do with convictions so again that top box all the way across is how many convictions so total number convictions in those two boxes shows fifteen people have been convicted over that include nineteen counts that they were charged with. Over the same period of time. Next to boxes have to do with cases that have been all process means they were dismissed not dismissed permanently but charges were temporally dropped with the opportunity for prosecutors refiled in within a year the numbers that we're showing in our record so far as over that period of time of twenty four of persons have had their cases no process included thirty of. counts anecdotally what we are hearing most of the time when cases a bit all processes are being re filed in federal court because the the sentence in federal court is a hundred percent time served so if they get a conviction in federal court that's that's they will stay there for that whole time so a lot of these cases have been all process is we're understanding anecdotally if they've got an opportunity to refile in federal court. And then the final two columns that have there has to do with cases are actually dismissed that means the care they've been dismissed permanently cannot be refiled and again over that period same period of time we're going seven persons had their cases dismissed including which included eight counts. So you add that up that's of from cases from arrest convictions Per from running from convictions dismissals and all process as opposed to the number of arrests so we have final dispositions on forty six people out of a hundred eight people who were arrested and we have final dispositions on fifty seven of the hundred twenty two counts they were arrested Those remaining numbers could be as a result of a number of reasons some of which will be that the cases are may be fairly new and are still in the court system I think it probably more likely improbable that there's cases out there that had some kind of disposition that we have never had reported to us. And with that I'd be happy to answer any questions. We do have a couple an. Senator Hammer. Thank you ma'am sure good afternoon I thank you her delays testimony while go about needing to and maybe this isn't your field of expertise so just tell me if it is a but for the for the person who's doing the purchasing to doing the buying do they show up on the sheet anywhere they do senator it's of the of those six statutes there if you'll notice the of the the third fourth one of five eighteen one oh four B. one and B. two have to do with patronizing a victim of human trafficking and page residents to look human trafficking is a man of my so those two those two charges have to do with people who are purchasing and they're also people who are convicted of that by staff you're also mandatorily required to register as sex offenders in do you know do they carry the same severity of punishment as the seller. Off the top of my head center I don't I couldn't answer that without means were research and last question do you know if the term track the term trafficking applies to the one who's selling but it doesn't apply to the one that is buying correct that's correct. You see a problem if we use the term to work could be applicable to whether you're buying or selling so that they could be charged and convicted prosecuted to the same level I don't I mean making it all the same level certainly the of legislative decision you'll make you just use or trafficking in the laws for people who are doing the selling and patronizing for those who are doing the by. Okay all right thank you representative Gazaway. Thank you madam chair of. Mr resort I have a few questions about. how we treat human trafficking as we can look at the trends and also some questions about the role and not sure that you're gonna be able to answer those but I think we have department of corrections on the agenda today if there's anyone here. Who could answer those questions from the department of corrections I certainly appreciated. But I guess to start out it looks like when I look at criminal convictions for. trafficking of persons at the victim is a minor. looks like in twenty twenty one we had for convictions which is as many as we have had. it a lot in that year alone since twenty sixteen is that right yes of those convictions the force the number of counts if you look beyond the call of the chart below that that same year that's to people who are working Victor four counts total okay so those of the counts than that seek the nexus actual convictions. So to individuals and twenty twenty one for trafficking a minor if you have do you have any idea what kind of sentence they got because I looked at the law and it looks like that that's a Class Y. felony that would carry up to life in prison as it should but do you have any idea what they're sentence was. Normally we got me we would have that information of its on the censoring for we we will put that in our database when I pull these numbers I was not pulling sentences are not having already people pull senses I'm just giving you the cases themselves okay well I think that be very helpful as we go forward to figure out. Help people are actually being sentenced in Arkansas and then you know get this is gonna be my question I'm not sure you can answer it is there anyone here from the department of corrections. They are on the agenda and I know they may or may not be prepared to answer this but however you first they're on the on the agenda for our a rule change right so I have I wasn't having them come today to answer specific questions that you're recognized thank you manager and I understand so if if they're not capable they're prepared answered I understand but for information I think you would be in lightning What is the parole eligibility currently. For someone who's convicted of human trafficking and then specifically for someone who's convicted of trafficking of minor because I would piggyback off of what senator garner said we had someone in Arkansas who was just arrested in this it was out on parole who was just arrested in the state of Arizona if convicted child rapist from Arkansas arrested in Arizona recently with several minor children bring them across the board this guys out on parole what are we doing in Arkansas with regard to our parole for people who are convicted of child or a child sex trafficking and other human trafficking violations I'd like to know that a representative Gazaway I believe miss Wallace's indicated that she would be prepared to answer these questions so she will come forward at this time this is Lindsay Wallace chief of staff office of the secretary department of corrections and I'm glad he's here because that's outside the beta of ace I thought it might be thank you. Thank you madam chairman madam chair representative Gazaway so for trafficking of a person with the victim being a minor it's a seventy percent they would serve seventy percent of their sentence so if the victim is not a minor it would just be regular parole eligibility I think that's a seriousness level eight so it would be above the line so I think a fourth less good time I'm sorry half less good time. Yes. Or. Yeah okay there we go so I have minus good term what does that translate to one second I'm trying to pull up so if a person earns all the meritorious good to share so if they observe mandatory so their sentence would be reduced up to up to mmhm let me pull up my sentencing commission or if you don't under local. Home levels so above the line is at half of the sentence minus good time so let's see if they received a ten year sentence if the victim was a minor they would serve seven years if it was a if it was a ten year sentence and they did not have a minor victim it would be five years would be to half and then reduced down to two and a half years if they receive maximum good time. Okay thank you I appreciate that when we talk about minor for purposes of these statutes are we talking about someone under the age of eighteen or is that another definition to do either of you know definition of minors eighteen under eighteen Arkansas law for purposes of the statute I think for any any statutes it's under eighteen is deemed to be a minor criminal anyway. There is extended juvenile justice your your jurisdiction for minors a year for the court to maintain supervision pass that but to be a minor for the you know conviction of a crime to talk about it seventeen and under. Well. Yes I think the point is not I'm sorry manager. You may have a follow up. Yes okay thank you. My concern with that is it you know my understanding is in the State of Arkansas the age of consent. The store clean it's been sixteen and we're talking about the sexual type offenses you know are we talking about sixteen and under we talk about eighteen or and under some as the upper statutory rape for instance your thirteen is the age at at image if we don't know that's fine I just I'd like to get the answer to that as well and I can figure it out thank you president Gazaway that may be something that we need to look at and I talk about offline and maybe bring back to this committee at a later time and miss Wallace Williams thank you so much Mr consort and this Wallace while you're here let's move directly into your presentation we have a real change thank you madam chair committee members good afternoon and what you have before you is a rule proposal made pursuant to act one eighty seven of twenty twenty one which was sponsored by representative I and senator Wallace and this proposal is related to extend the extended juvenile jurisdiction transfers and access to juvenile records for specific purposes as set out in this rule proposal so we've got in front of use language that is agreed upon and we met with DHS the Division of Youth Services and the goal of this is just to ensure that these younger offenders that come under either of the department of corrections custody or supervision percent to extended juvenile jurisdiction are able to continue to receive whatever necessary treatment or care that today were already being receiving as that whenever they were in DHS custody it's very tailored approaches specific and for a very small subset of what we see our population historically over the last twenty years we've had maybe ten or fewer offenders that this would have helped us with and essentially what this does is allow us to pick up and as I said provided continuity of care for these offenders that come into our custody or under our supervision it's not applicable to every juvenile it's only those extended juvenile jurisdiction offenders and the offenses are limited so it. Not every offense that a juvenile could have been prosecuted for as a juvenile offender it's a mature murders it sure you're right sure aggravated robberies those really significant offenses and again it's not the entirety of the record it is meant to provide specific information that will be utilizing creating risk assessments treatment plans classification or supervision plans for this particular group of offenders and with that Madam Terrel answer any questions. Seeing no questions without objection this rule is reviewed. I think you have did you have a question pertaining to this representative Ryan yes. Okay go ahead please yes ma'am thank you very much. Ma'am the origination of where these children are are making their contact. Wonder what percentage is used the computers are used within this to wind up putting these children in harm's way. And just wonder if you consider blocking the screens of any of the child molester felons that have been arrested so that they are blocked away from the children possibly lacked what a representative Gazaway was saying under eighteen or thirteen or fourteen if you thought about that one so the Division of correction has a policy for sight and sound separation for any juveniles that come into our custody I'm and I'm again we've had so few of these that I'm not sure whether they would actually be coming into our custody as a sixteen year old seventeen year old or if it would be eighteen nineteen twenty twenty and still be falling under the extended juvenile jurisdiction policy but we do for juveniles that come into our custody there is sight and sound separation for many the adult offenders so they are not co mingled in that population whatsoever. Thank you and that for this rule this rule stands reviewed without objection thank you thank you so much all right members we have a just a couple more things I did want to introduce to you Mr Jonathan Taylor Mr Taylor if you wouldn't mind standing I don't think all of our members have met you he is the executive director of the Arkansas governor's council on developmental disabilities and we were talking before the meeting started about how the honorable this population is to human trafficking and I'm I know that all of us will want to meet him and talk to him especially about this long of a population and in light of everything that we've heard today so thank you for being with us and and listening to this presentation. And then on Friday of this week we will be having Legislative Council and coming before Legislative Council is an interim study about changing the language. Two from child **** to a child sexual abuse materials which also pertains to what we're hearing today and that is something that is recommended by the center for missing and exploited children to match with the language that they use and so you'll be hearing that Friday if you're here at council any other business that we need to talk about today. Are we do okay thank you so much we do have some brochures from path here so I'm going to leave these here at the front you can stop by and pick that up on your way out thank you everyone for your attention today and for being with us and with that we are dismissed.