S.C. improved fight against human trafficking, a lot more to do
January is National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, and South Carolina has a lot to be proud of when it comes to fighting modern-day slavery. Our state has made the biggest improvement in the nation in fighting human trafficking, according to Shared Hope International's latest Protected Innocence Challenge report.
When I first took office in 2011, I had no idea that South Carolina had a human trafficking problem. I thought it was a crime that happened only in movies and foreign countries. Since gaining more perspective on the topic, I am motivated to continue to combat the crime, which is one of the goals of Human Trafficking Awareness Month in South Carolina - to raise the public's awareness of the problem.
South Carolina was one of only four states that raised its grade from the previous year. Our score went from 70.5 in 2017 to 82 in 2018, the biggest improvement in the nation. Compare that to a score of just 48.5 in 2011, and you can see how far our state has come in the fight against human trafficking.
A lot of our improvement is because our state legislature passed tougher legislation, including changing the definition of child abuse and neglect so the Department of Social Services can now provide much-needed specialized services to minors who are sex-trafficking victims. The legislative changes also included increasing the sentencing for those guilty of trafficking minors and positioning the State Task Force to provide oversight of the quality of care victims receive in our state. We thank our state lawmakers for improving our human trafficking legislation. As far as we've come, there's still a lot of work to do to prevent this crime, protect those who may fall prey and prosecute those exploiting South Carolinians.
While South Carolina is the most-improved state, we still are striving for an "A." We could continue to improve through funding to provide ongoing training for law enforcement officers to better identify and support victims. Additional funding would also enable more employees to focus on and support combating human-trafficking efforts within the Attorney General's Office.
Human trafficking is the second-largest criminal enterprise in the world, behind only drug trafficking. Human trafficking brings in an estimated $150 billion a year worldwide. Our efforts to fight human trafficking can never match traffickers' dollar for dollar, but clearly we need more resources to support our ongoing efforts. We are asking the Legislature for an additional $400,000 in next year's budget for additional staff for the Human Trafficking Task Force.
Much of the improvement in fighting human trafficking is also linked to our Human Trafficking Task Force. When we started it in 2012, it was composed of the 12 mandated agencies. Today, we have over 300 individual members. That's crucial given the multi-sector approach needed to combat this crime, including law enforcement and prosecutors. According to our latest statistics, there were 64 cases of human trafficking in South Carolina closed in 2018. We still have 20 pending at the beginning of 2019.
Richland, Greenville, Horry, Charleston and Beaufort counties again ranked in the top five for reported human trafficking. Regional Task Force efforts have brought added awareness of the crime in these areas of our state. However, it's a problem in communities across South Carolina and can be found in urban, suburban and rural areas.
But even as we raise awareness of the crime and continue to improve our response to it and develop much-needed services for victims, there is still more we need to do moving forward. I ask you to please contact your state House member and state senator and ask them to give the Attorney General's Office the resources needed to continue its efforts to combat human trafficking. I also ask you to get involved in support of anti-human trafficking efforts at either the state or regional level. Your participation matters.
Alan Wilson is attorney general for South Carolina.