236.1
. (a) Any person who deprives or violates the personal liberty
of another with the intent to obtain forced labor or services, is
guilty of human trafficking and shall be punished by imprisonment in
the state prison for 5, 8, or 12 years and a fine of not more than
five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000).
(b) Any person who deprives or violates the personal liberty of
another with the intent to effect or maintain a violation of Section
266, 266h, 266i, 266j, 267, 311.1, 311.2, 311.3, 311.4, 311.5, 311.6,
or 518 is guilty of human trafficking and shall be punished by
imprisonment in the state prison for 8, 14, or 20 years and a fine of
not more than five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000).
(c) Any person who causes, induces, or persuades, or attempts to
cause, induce, or persuade, a person who is a minor at the time of
commission of the offense to engage in a commercial sex act, with the
intent to effect or maintain a violation of Section 266, 266h, 266i,
266j, 267, 311.1, 311.2, 311.3, 311.4, 311.5, 311.6, or 518 is
guilty of human trafficking. A violation of this subdivision is
punishable by imprisonment in the state prison as follows:
(1) Five, 8, or 12 years and a fine of not more than five hundred
thousand dollars ($500,000).
(2) Fifteen years to life and a fine of not more than five hundred
thousand dollars ($500,000) when the offense involves force, fear,
fraud, deceit, coercion, violence, duress, menace, or threat of
unlawful injury to the victim or to another person.
(d) In determining whether a minor was caused, induced, or
persuaded to engage in a commercial sex act, the totality of the
circumstances, including the age of the victim, his or her
relationship to the trafficker or agents of the trafficker, and any
handicap or disability of the victim, shall be considered.
(e) Consent by a victim of human trafficking who is a minor at the
time of the commission of the offense is not a defense to a criminal
prosecution under this section.
(f) Mistake of fact as to the age of a victim of human trafficking
who is a minor at the time of the commission of the offense is not a
defense to a criminal prosecution under this section.
(g) The Legislature finds that the definition of human trafficking
in this section is equivalent to the federal definition of a severe
form of trafficking found in Section 7102(8) of Title 22 of the
United States Code.
(h) For purposes of this chapter, the following definitions apply:
(1) "Coercion" includes any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to
cause a person to believe that failure to perform an act would result
in serious harm to or physical restraint against any person; the
abuse or threatened abuse of the legal process; debt bondage; or
providing and facilitating the possession of any controlled substance
to a person with the intent to impair the person's judgment.
(2) "Commercial sex act" means sexual conduct on account of which
anything of value is given or received by any person.
(3) "Deprivation or violation of the personal liberty of another"
includes substantial and sustained restriction of another's liberty
accomplished through force, fear, fraud, deceit, coercion, violence,
duress, menace, or threat of unlawful injury to the victim or to
another person, under circumstances where the person receiving or
apprehending the threat reasonably believes that it is likely that
the person making the threat would carry it out.
(4) "Duress" includes a direct or implied threat of force,
violence, danger, hardship, or retribution sufficient to cause a
reasonable person to acquiesce in or perform an act which he or she
would otherwise not have submitted to or performed; a direct or
implied threat to destroy, conceal, remove, confiscate, or possess
any actual or purported passport or immigration document of the
victim; or knowingly destroying, concealing, removing, confiscating,
or possessing any actual or purported passport or immigration
document of the victim.
(5) "Forced labor or services" means labor or services that are
performed or provided by a person and are obtained or maintained
through force, fraud, duress, or coercion, or equivalent conduct that
would reasonably overbear the will of the person.
(6) "Great bodily injury" means a significant or substantial
physical injury.
(7) "Minor" means a person less than 18 years of age.
(8) "Serious harm" includes any harm, whether physical or
nonphysical, including psychological, financial, or reputational
harm, that is sufficiently serious, under all the surrounding
circumstances, to compel a reasonable person of the same background
and in the same circumstances to perform or to continue performing
labor, services, or commercial sexual acts in order to avoid
incurring that harm.
(i) The total circumstances, including the age of the victim, the
relationship between the victim and the trafficker or agents of the
trafficker, and any handicap or disability of the victim, shall be
factors to consider in determining the presence of "deprivation or
violation of the personal liberty of another," "duress," and
"coercion" as described in this section.