Wash. Rev. Code § 28A.320.168

Current through 2024

Section 28A.320.168 - Curricula-Mandatory instruction in sex trafficking awareness and prevention

(1) Beginning no later than the 2025-26 school year, school districts must offer instruction in sex trafficking awareness and prevention. The instruction may be offered beginning in grade seven, but each student must be offered the instruction at least once before completing grade 12. The instruction, at the discretion of the school or school district, may be integrated into a relevant course or a course may be repurposed to include the instruction.

(2) Subject to the availability of amounts appropriated for this specific purpose, on or before June 30, 2024, the office of the superintendent of public instruction must review curricula related to the awareness and prevention of sex trafficking.

(3) To the extent practicable, the office of the superintendent of public instruction must make available in the library of openly licensed courseware under RCW 28A.300.803, curricular resources related to the awareness and prevention of sex trafficking that include:

(a) Information about the race, gender, and socioeconomic status of sex trafficking victims and perpetrators;

(b) Medically and legally accurate definitions of sex trafficking, and information about term stigmatization and how it may reduce reporting and increase the difficulty of detecting and prosecuting sex trafficking crimes;

(c) Information about reporting systems and community engagement opportunities with local, state, or national organizations against sex trafficking, and basic identification training to determine if an individual is at risk of or has been sex trafficked; and

(d) Information to help students recognize the signs and behavior changes in others that may indicate grooming for sex trafficking or other unlawful, coercive relationships.

(4) This section governs school operation and management under RCW 28A.710.040 and 28A.715.020, and applies to charter schools established under chapter 28A.710 RCW and state-tribal education compact schools established under chapter 28A.715 RCW to the same extent as it applies to school districts.

RCW 28A.320.168

Added by 2023 c 328,§ 2, eff. 7/23/2023.

Findings- 2023 c 328 : "The legislature recognizes that:

(1) The United States has the second largest concentration of past and current trafficking victims, and Washington state is currently the sixth largest epicenter of sex trafficking in the United States.

(2) More than 45 percent of all sex trafficking victims are minors and attending our nation's schools every day.

(3) Currently, most trafficking avoids detection, with one study from the national institute of justice finding that "fewer than half of all suspected traffickers in the United States had been arrested." Recent national institute of justice supported research reveals that labor and sex trafficking data appearing in the federal bureau of investigation's national uniform crime reporting program may significantly understate the extent of trafficking crimes in the United States.

(4) The undefined nature of human trafficking contributes to widespread ignorance for public agencies in a position to address the crime. Sixty percent of state and local prosecutors nationwide "do not consider trafficking a problem in their jurisdictions," and over 70 percent of local, state, and county law enforcement agencies wrongly "view human trafficking as rare or nonexistent" in their local communities.

(5) Nearly half of prosecutors and law enforcement agencies across the country are unaware of specific existing antitrafficking laws or definitions that constitute acts of human trafficking, which manifests in current ineffective mitigation strategies.

(6) Child sex trafficking survivors are disproportionately girls of color. In King county, 52 percent of all child sex trafficking victims are black and 84 percent of youth victims are female, while black girls comprise 1.1 percent of the population.

(7) Sex traffickers are not overgeneralized to any demographic but are disproportionately white men. In King county, 80 percent of sex traffickers are white men.

(8) Females of color bear the brunt of prostitution imprisonment as a result of sexual violence in sex trafficking due to mandatory arrests. For example, Latinx women account for nearly 61 percent of juvenile prostitution arrests. By contrast, sex traffickers face little to no consequences for their role in exploitation.

(9) Twenty-five service agencies participated in a 2007 survey. Nineteen of these agencies provided information that aligned with what are understood to be "red-flag" indicators of trafficking situations. Victimization and human trafficking are considerable concerns for eastern Washington, particularly Spokane, and there is a wide spectrum of trafficking activities that include sex slavery, forced prostitution, forced panhandling, farm labor, janitorial work, and domestic servitude.

(10) On any given day, between 300 and 500 people, some as young as 11 years old, are trafficked in the Puget Sound area for labor or sex.

(11) Intersectional, accurate, and actionable sex trafficking education is necessary to enable all students to break down stereotypes of affected parties in sex trafficking and provide them with tools for identifying and combatting this crime." [ 2023 c 328 s 1.]