California Law Sparks Controversy Over Impact on Underage Trafficking

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Recent developments in Los Angeles have reignited discussions around a California legislative reform that many argue has led to unexpected outcomes. This comes in the wake of reports highlighting the sex-trafficking of minors in one of the city’s infamous red-light districts.

Back in July 2022, Governor Gavin Newsom approved the “Safer Streets for All Act” (SB 357), a piece of legislation that prevents police from arresting individuals suspected of loitering for the purpose of prostitution. Advocates of the law believed it would reduce the harassment faced by suspected sex workers, particularly transgender women, and curb the profiling of women and minorities.

Governor Newsom, a Democrat with potential ambitions for a 2028 presidential run, stated at the time that the law aimed to end the “disproportionate harassment of women and transgender adults.” However, he also left the door open for future legislative revisions to address “any possible unintended consequences.”

Now, over three years later, emerging reports suggest that those unintended consequences may have indeed materialized. A notable investigation by The New York Times has uncovered a troubling prevalence of underage sex workers being trafficked along South Figueroa Street in Los Angeles. This area, notoriously known as “the Blade” and nicknamed “the Kiddie Stroll” by local prosecutors, has become a focal point of these alarming developments.

LA red-light district is known as ‘Kiddie Stroll’

In an investigative piece published this month, The New York Times detailed the prevalence of scantily clad, underage sex workers being trafficked in L.A.’s notorious South Figueroa Street corridor. That area of the city is known also as “the Blade” and by the nickname coined by local prosecutors: the “Kiddie Stroll.”

The paper said many of the girls are former foster children recruited by traffickers from group homes, either by conning them through brief romances or by brutalizing them up front.

Under the California law change, the NYT said, uniformed officers can no longer round up suspected prostitutes with the intent of recovering a minor among them. Officers instead must suspect that each girl is underage, a near-impossible standard when the loitering females are wearing adult attire and makeup.

The New York Post, which did its own exposé, said SB 357 prohibits police from approaching a trafficked minor based on how they are dressed, even if that minor is wearing lingerie.

Minor girls, foster kids targeted for prostitution: Officials

Stephany Powell, a former L.A. sergeant in the vice division and anti-trafficking advocate, told the Post the California law change ended up sending signals to pimps to “work those girls even harder.”

Federal prosecutors in August announced racketeering charges against members of a South Los Angeles criminal gang who “largely controlled sex trafficking and prostitution in Figuero Corridor.” The U.S. Attorney’s Office said gang members focused on minor girls and young women.

“The exploitation of vulnerable women and children through sex trafficking is one of the most heinous crimes our society faces,” Los Angeles Police Chief Jim McDonnell said in a news release announcing the charges. “The victims in this case many of them minors, runaways, or from the foster care system were preyed upon by individuals who sought to profit from their pain.”