Rather than stopping child sex trafficking, Prop 133 hurts trafficking victims, treats them the same as perpetrators, and gives traffickers a tool to further exploit them
Denver, CO – On Thursday, September 17, the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CCASA) and Cobalt hosted a joint media briefing on how Proposition 133 (Penalties for Human Trafficking of a Minor) on the November ballot harms victims of sex trafficking, sexual and domestic violence, and child abuse, and deceives the public about its impacts. In addition to CCASA and Cobalt, Prop 133 is opposed by a growing coalition of victim service organizations, advocates, and survivors, including the Colorado Children’s Alliance (CCA), Colorado Organization for Victim Assistance (COVA), Violence Free Colorado, Rocky Mountain Victim Law Center (RMvlc), and COLOR Action Fund. CCASA’s Policy & Outreach Manager, Onnastasia Cole, issued the following statement:
Good morning. My name is Onnastasia Cole, and I’m the Policy & Outreach Manager at the Colorado Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CCASA). CCASA is the leading voice of Colorado’s anti-sexual violence movement and has worked for over 40 years to expand survivors’ protections, challenge how institutions prevent and respond to sexual violence, and increase survivors’ options for healing and justice. In my role, I lead CCASA’s trafficking-related policy work and represent the organization on the Colorado Human Trafficking Council, although I represent CCASA only in my comments today.
As a survivor-led statewide coalition, CCASA is dedicated to advancing survivor-centered policies that promote healing and prevent harm. That is exactly why we oppose Prop 133.
Prop 133 falsely claims to protect children and deter human trafficking, but in reality, it harms victims and gives traffickers another tool to exploit them. By mandating a life sentence without parole for sex trafficking-related charges, Prop 133 removes judicial discretion and puts trafficking victims who have already experienced profound trauma at risk of spending their lives in prison for acts they were forced or coerced to commit.
Prop 133 also treats victims the same as their perpetrators. Human trafficking impacts all age groups, but I want to call attention to the way Prop 133 impacts youth and young adults. Traffickers often target vulnerable minors, like those involved in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems, and groom and abuse them to gain power and control over time. Traffickers not only subject victims to sexual violence and other forms of abuse, but they also force or coerce victims to commit crimes included in Prop 133, like posting ads, recruiting new victims who are often peers, and facilitating encounters. This is commonly referred to as “forced criminality” by state and national leaders in the anti-trafficking field.
If Prop 133 passes, victims forced to commit trafficking-related crimes could face a life sentence if they don’t have enough documentation to prove their victimization, which is incredibly difficult to do. For example, a victim who is sex trafficked at 14 and forced to recruit another victim as a minor could receive a life sentence before turning 18. Similarly, an 18-year-old victim who has been trafficked since childhood and coerced to post ads and transport other victims under threat of additional abuse could face the same harsh punishment as the person who initially trafficked them, even if a judge knows their victimization was directly related to the crime they are charged with. Let that sink in for a moment.
Prop 133 is unnecessary and harmful, and Colorado can do better.
To protect victims, we need to ensure they feel safe enough to come forward. Traffickers often threaten to “turn in” victims who have been forced to engage in trafficking-related crimes to law enforcement to maintain power and control and ‘make examples’ of victims who have been prosecuted to scare and prevent others from coming forward. By increasing mandatory penalties and removing judicial discretion, Prop 133 increases the risk of reporting and tells victims that seeking help could cost them the rest of their lives, lives they’ve dreamed of and fought so hard for while simply trying to survive.
Prop 133 invests in prison over prevention, training, and victim services. To stop sex trafficking in Colorado, we must continue to address the conditions that traffickers exploit and strengthen long-term public safety. That means investing in strategies and policies that reduce vulnerability to exploitation and make it safer for victims to seek help, including safe, stable housing; trauma-informed services; community education; public awareness; survivor-centered reporting systems; and robust legal protections.
In the wake of the Epstein files and growing public awareness of human trafficking, CCASA continues to stand in solidarity with survivors and call for greater accountability for the people and institutions that exploit and abuse victims for their own gain. We can protect children and hold traffickers accountable without hurting victims along the way.
With just under seven weeks until the midterm elections, CCASA urges Colorado voters to look beyond the convenient taglines and see Prop 133 for what it is: an unnecessary, harmful initiative that will hurt the victims it claims to protect.
Learn more
Organizations and individuals interested in educating voters about how Prop 133 hurts the victims it claims to protect can join the growing grassroots coalition of victim service providers, advocates, and survivors opposing Prop 133 here.
Community members interested in joining the fight to end human trafficking can learn the signs of human trafficking, how to identify it, and how to connect victims to help by visiting Colorado’s This Is Human Trafficking public awareness website developed by trafficking experts, trafficking survivors, and law enforcement partners on the Colorado Human Trafficking Council. For example, victims like Luke, who was looking for a home and people like him when he was first trafficked into a large-scale sex trafficking ring, and Elena, who was longing for someone to love her when she was targeted and sex trafficked by a boyfriend using the “Romeo Effect,” could be sentenced to life in prison if Prop 133 passes.
Protect Victims from Life in Prison: Vote “No” on Prop 133
For questions or more information, please email policy@ccasa.org.
For media inquiries, please email communications@ccasa.org.