PHOENIX (AZ Family) — Voters approved several ballot measures, including Proposition 313, which will send convicted child sex traffickers to prison for life. This dramatically increases the mandatory sentence.

Voters support it, but legal experts say it will be important to ensure that victims caught in a dangerous web are not also sent to prison for life.

It’s not just brazen killers who will spend life in prison in Arizona; Now, they are also child sex traffickers.

“I think people looked at it and thought it was a good idea, and in theory, yes, it is a good idea,” said Jay Rademacher, a former Maricopa County prosecutor turned defense attorney.

Currently, in Arizona, those convicted of child sex trafficking of victims under the age of 15 face a minimum sentence of seven years.

This support now converts a sentence not only into a life sentence but also into the impossibility of parole.

Rademacher fears this could influence the leader of a sex ring to permanently silence victims to prevent them from reporting crimes.

“What incentive does a pimp or John have now to keep his son alive?” Rademacher said.

He said this type of sentence is great for the leader of a higher-level sex trafficking ring, but where it becomes limiting is when the victims, now young adults in the ring, are forced to recruit other children, a helpless cycle for those trapped inside. .

Should they go to prison for life?

“There are many situations where it can be applied to people who may not deserve such a harsh sentence, especially when that sentence is the same as what they might receive for killing someone,” Rademacher said.

“First degree murder?” asked true crime correspondent Briana Whitney.

“First degree murder, felony murder,” Rademacher responded.

But former undercover Mesa Police Detective Matt Browning spent decades infiltrating human sex trafficking rings and said investigators and prosecutors work together to catch the person at the top and protect those who help them. get there.

“The 21-year-old girl is not going to be sentenced to life imprisonment when she was forced, coerced, to hospitalize her sister due to the threats she received. They will take that 21-year-old and use her to help hunt bigger fish,” Browning said.

Browning said this often ends in a plea deal, which avoids trial altogether or, in some cases, drops charges.

“The main guys, the main dealers? Yes, you’re done. Life in prison. The people you have destroyed and hurt along the way will be used to go against you,” he said.

Browning said that in the years he spent investigating this type of child sex trafficking in religious cults and drug trafficking rings, he said the predators at the top who make the decisions are almost never able to rehabilitate a safer situation for everyone if they are behind the bars forever.

“They will not live a normal life after harming, abusing, sexually abusing and raping an underage boy or girl,” Browning said.

Rademacher said this harsher sentence won’t change anything else in these cases: The burden of proof for prosecutors remains the same, and discovery and litigation remain the same.

The only difference is that if you are found guilty, the judge has no discretion over the sentence; It’s straight to prison for life.

For perspective, that’s much longer than anyone convicted of second-degree murder.

Do you see a spelling or grammatical error in our story? Please click here to report it.

Do you have a photo or video of a breaking news story? Send to us here with a brief description.

Copyright 2024 KTVK/KPHO. All rights reserved.