San Luis Obispo District Attorney endorses state law that would classify human trafficking as a serious and violent crime

SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY, Calif. – San Luis Obispo District Attorney Dan Dow took to Facebook Live on Friday to endorse a proposed state law that would make human trafficking a strike under California's Three Strikes rule and classify the crime as serious and violent.

"Due to a shortcoming in current California law, human trafficking is not defined as serious and violent," Dow said.

"So the crime of human trafficking is not a strike under California's Three Strikes law."

The Three Strikes law allows for enhanced sentences for individuals convicted of serious and violent offenses, Dow said.

Senate Bill 1042, authored by Senator Shannon Grove, would add human trafficking to the list of crimes that are defined as serious and violent, making the crime of human trafficking a strike under the Three Strikes law.

Adding human trafficking to the list of serious and violent crimes will help strengthen the protections for the thousands of victims of sex and labor trafficking across California, Dow said.

"When I speak in the community about human trafficking here in our county, almost everyone is shocked to learn that this exploitative crime is designated as not serious and not violent," Dow said.

"The time is long overdue to correctly classify human trafficking as a serious and violent strike."