#sex trafficking

A House bill that would authorize victims of sex trafficking to file civil lawsuits against their perpetrators has passed unanimously in the Senate Judiciary Committee. Now, it advances to the full Senate floor for second reading. Voting in favor in committee on Tuesday were committee Chair Karl Rhoads and Sens. Stanley Chang and Joy San […]

The Senate Judiciary Committee is scheduled for decision-making next week on a House bill that would authorize sex trafficking victims to file civil lawsuits against the perpetrators of what’s been called a “form of modern-day slavery.” House Bill 111 cites a report published in 2018 by Arizona State University and the Hawaiʻi State Commission on […]

The sign-waving initiative aims to unite the community in raising awareness about human trafficking and exploitation.

The award recognized the military, local law enforcement and community agencies that have come together through Operation Keiki Shield to combat internet and child sex trafficking crimes within the active-duty military in Hawaiʻi.

Maui joins in a national effort to honor and educate communities about missing and murdered indigenous people, including Native Hawaiian women and girls.

US Senator Mazie K. Hirono (D-HI) has invited Kalei Grant, a Native Hawaiian trafficking survivor leader who now advocates for other survivors of sex trafficking and other forms of gender-based violence, to be her guest for President Biden’s State of the Union Address.

Under Hawaiʻi law, sex trafficking and labor trafficking in the first degree are both Class A felonies, which are punishable by up to 20 years in prison.

Native Hawaiian women have been unable to access critical resources included in the Violence Against Women Act, but a recently passed amendment to the law will make it possible.

Locally, FBI agents identified and located seven adolescent victims during this operation that ran on Aug. 12, 2022.

US Senator Maizie Hirono has asked FBI director Christopher Wray to pay special attention to the safety of Native Hawaiian women and girls, in view of recent statistics showing they represent more than two-thirds of sex trafficking victims in Hawaiʻi.

A former Honolulu Police officer was arrested and indicted for alleged child sex trafficking and other offenses on Thursday.

The Senate Government Operations Committee introduced a short form bill (SB 2930 SD1) that aims to establish two new divisions within the Department of the Attorney General to address fraud, white collar crime, political corruption and sex and human trafficking. The measure would appropriate $834,000 for the operations of the Special Investigation and Prosecution unit and $754,000 to operate the Sex and Human Trafficking unit.

Hawaiʻi Attorney General Clare Connors is leading a bipartisan coalition of 37 Attorneys General that is urging the American Law Institute to reject proposed changes to the Model Penal Code that would weaken states’s abilities to prosecute sexual assault, abuse, exploitation and trafficking crimes.

Childhood abuse, as well as serious family and community problems, identified as key factors of sex trafficking.

According to Hoʻōla Nā Pua, sex traffickers often take advantage of the privacy and anonymity accessible through the hospitality industry. Many of the victims are young Hawaiʻi residents.

Among the bills that passed over include a measure that prohibits electronic cigarettes for anyone under 18 years of age, and a bill that creates a trust fund from public and private funding for Hawaiʻi’s elderly population.