Jonathan Martin submits the draft law to strengthen human trafficking penalties

Fort Myers Republican Sen. Jonathan Martin submitted an invoice (SB 1804) This would impose strict sanctions for offenses involving sex traffic, especially those involving children or people with mental incapacities.

The measure continues the efforts of the parliamentarians to Fight back against these crimes. The draft law states that trafficking in persons is a “form of modern slavery”, violating all the “decent standards” in society and adds that these crimes “destroy the innocence of young children”.

Severe penalties for criminals, which may include capital punishment or life in prison for children under 12 years or persons with mental incapacities, have been established. The range of sanctions depends on the severity of the crime.

Florida is currently in seventh place in the nation for human trafficking, 738 cases reported in 2024 according to Review of the world population. For states with the largest populations, Florida comes in third place after California and Texas.

However, given the population differences, Florida is still much below the trafficking of people in Mississippi, which has the highest rate of 6.31 to 100,000 people and Nevada, which has a rate of 5.99 per 100,000 people. This is compared to the rate of 3.4 cases of human trafficking per 100,000 people.

According to Martin’s draft law, a person who is aware of the trafficking of persons by using the physical force for sexual violence on a child under 12 or a person who is mentally defective, would have committed a capital offense, who may come with a death sentence. People under the age of 18 engaged in human trafficking could cope with life prison.

Certain procedures should be followed to determine a sentence of death or life imprisonment. If a prosecutor decides to request the death penalty, a notification should be granted to the defendant, and the notification should be filed in the court within 45 days of the notification.

The notification should include a list of aggravating factors that the state intends to prove and has reason to believe that it would be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt.

The draft law lists several aggravating factors, such as the crime committed by a person previously convicted for an offense in accordance with the laws regarding the trafficking of persons who currently execute a sentence or in probation; the offender having prior convictions for a violent capital or crime; or the offender being a registered sexual predator or someone previously appointed as such.

Factors of additional aggravates include the offender who creates a significant risk of death for others; using a firearm during the crime; committing a crime that was particularly attractive or cruel; aiming at a victim who was particularly vulnerable due to the age, disability or family authority of the offender on them; causing serious bodily injury; or violation of an ordinance or protection order while performing the crime.

For criminals who face a jury process, at least two aggravating factors must be unanimously determined by the jury before a death sentence can be pronounced.

If an defendant renounces his right to a conviction procedure by a jury, the court would be obliged to consider all aggravating and attenuating factors of the case and could impose either a life penalty in prison, without the possibility of conditional freedom or a death penalty.

The death penalty conditions that are imposed on an offender should be revised by the Supreme Court of Florida or the US Supreme Court to determine if the sentence is constitutional.

If it had passed, the draft law would come into effect on October 1.

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