While our work on bills continues, I was reminded this week of why our efforts to pass legislation dealing with human trafficking and sexual exploitation of children are so important. As the Spokesman-Review reports, Spokane County inmates orchestrated sex crimes from their jail cells by arranging prostitution of underage girls. The article points out that Spokane County prosecutor Larry Haskell has charged one perpetrator with new counts of human trafficking and promoting commercial sexual abuse of a minor — offenses added to the law as part of our anti-trafficking efforts. Too often we think of sex-trafficking as a crime that happens in far-off countries. The reality is child sex exploitation, forced labor and other forms of modern day slavery are happening right here in our country, in our state and even in our neighborhoods.

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