H. B. 2466
(By Delegate Spencer)
[Introduced January 24, 2007; referred to the
Committee on the Judiciary.]
A BILL to amend the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, by
adding thereto a new section, designated §61-2-14g, relating
to establishing the crime of trafficking of persons; and
penalty.
Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended
by adding thereto a new section, designated §61-2-14g, to read as
follows:
ARTICLE 2. CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON.
§61-2-14g. Trafficking of persons; penalty.
(a) As used in this section:
(1) "Debt bondage" means the status or condition of a debtor
arising from a pledge by the debtor of his or her personal services
or of those of a person under his or her control as a security for
debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not
applied toward the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature
of those services are not respectively limited and defined;
(2) "Involuntary servitude" means a condition of servitude
induced by means of:
(A) Any scheme, plan or pattern of behavior intended to cause
a person to believe that if he or she does not enter into or
continue the servitude, he or she or another person will suffer
serious physical injury or physical restraint; or
(B) The abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process;
(3) "Peonage" means holding someone against his or her will to
pay off a debt; and
(4) "Sexual conduct" means actual or simulated sexual
intercourse, deviate sexual activity, sexual bestiality,
masturbation, sadomasochistic abuse or lewd exhibition of the
genitals or pubic area of any person or the breasts of a female.
(b) A person commits the crime of trafficking of persons if he
or she:
(1) Recruits, harbors, transports or obtains a person for
labor or services through the use of force, fraud or coercion for
the purpose of subjecting the person to involuntary servitude,
peonage, debt bondage, slavery, marriage, adoption or sexual
conduct; or
(2) Benefits financially or by receiving anything of value
from participation in a venture under subdivision (1), subsection
(b) of this section.
(c) A person violating the provisions of this section is
guilty of a felony and, upon conviction thereof, shall be
imprisoned in a state correctional facility not less than three nor more than ten years.
NOTE: The purpose of this bill is to establish the crime of
trafficking of persons.
This section is new; therefore, strike-throughs and
underscoring have been omitted.
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