State and federal officials are expected to announce today the creation of a new statewide task force designed to crack down on human trafficking in Maryland. The task force ? created by Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler, Maryland U.S. Attorney Rod Rosenstein and Baltimore City State?s Attorney Patricia Jessamy ? is designed to enforce a new state law against the crime Jessamy calls “modern day slavery.”
During the 2007 legislative session, Maryland joined 32 other states in unanimously passing its first anti-trafficking statute.
Thenew law, which became effective Oct. 1, expanded Maryland?s current pandering law to make sex trafficking of a minor a felony, carrying a maximum penalty of 25 years.
The task force will coordinate statewide efforts to combat the crime.
There have been more than 1,000 documented victims of human trafficking in the U.S. and more than 100 hundred successful federal prosecutions, according to Gansler.
