New South Carolina law strengthens protections for human trafficking victims, criminalizes child luring

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WCBD)- New legislation that state leaders say will help law enforcement better combat human trafficking and strengthen protections for victims is now law in South Carolina.

Gov. Henry McMaster (R) held a ceremonial signing on Thursday for S.142, a bill that expands the definition of human trafficking to include certain sex crimes against minors, such as exploitation and prostitution.

According to a recent report from the South Carolina Attorney General’s Office, more than 350 investigations into human trafficking were opened across the state in 2023, the majority of which involved minors being sex trafficked.

“Protecting our children and victims of human trafficking is essential to building safe communities and allowing our state to continue to thrive,” Gov. McMaster said. “By enacting this legislation, we are not only defending our people but equipping our prosecutors and law enforcement with additional tools to ensure criminals are held accountable.”

The bill also creates the offense of luring a child, which applies to adults who lure or entice someone under 16 years old — or attempt to — with the intent to harm them. The offense is a felony punishable by a fine of up to $10,000, up to 10 years in prison, or both.

The addition is a win for Rep. Lee Hewitt (R-Georgetown) and other leaders across the state who have repeatedly voiced the need for such a charge in recent years.

He first filed a child luring bill in 2019 alongside Congresswoman Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) when she was a member of the South Carolina House after an alleged incident the previous year.

“A gentleman pulled up in a van and he tried to get some children by saying ‘would y’all like to pet my dog’ over to his van,” — Hewitt explained in September. “We found that there seemed to be a gap between kidnapping and what is luring that leads to that.”

Calls for state legislators to pass the law were renewed last year after a similar incident in Mount Pleasant. A parent told News 2 that a man was approaching children on Pitt Street and asking them to get in his car to go fishing.

Hewitt’s bills stalled in the House Judiciary Committee, with some lawmakers arguing that the state’s kidnapping statute already addressed the issues. Hewitt and others disagreed.

“It [was] only against the law once they shut that door,” he said. “Well, we all know that’s too late. That child is gone.”

The child luring portion was ultimately added to the comprehensive human trafficking bill in June during the conference committee process.

“Every year we’ve been filing this bill,” Hewitt said. “Thank goodness we’re able to finally get it across the finish line this year.”

The whole bill also includes a provision that would allow victims to petition the court to have certain nonviolent offenses expunged if the crimes were committed under duress or through coercion while as a victim of human trafficking.

“When you have minors getting sucked into a life of trafficking…a lot of that involves committing other types of crimes,” Wilson said. “For instance, a child or victim selling marijuana or committing some other crime because they were a victim of a human trafficking ring should be able to have an easier pathway to expunging that record.”

It also extends safe harbor protections to victims under 18 wherein they cannot be prosecuted for prostitution or any other non-violent misdemeanor or class F felony while entangled in a human trafficking ring.

Additionally, the bill creates a program within the attorney general’s office that would allow victims of domestic violence, trafficking, stalking, harassment, or sexual offenses to keep their addresses confidential.

“Victims and their advocates should not fear their abusers finding them and punishing them for speaking out,” the bill’s primary sponsor Sen. Katrina Shealy (R-Lexington) said. “This is an important step forward in protecting the innocent and making it easier for them to come forward.”

The new law has been in effect since July 2.