Human trafficking victims often treated as criminals | Biloxi Sun Herald

OCEAN SPRINGS - Attorney General Jim Hood this morning discussed the need to bring more attention to human trafficking in the state and his plans to strengthen the laws dealing with such crimes.

Currently, he said, most minor victims of human trafficking who are being forced to prostitute themselves are being treated as criminals instead of the victims that they are.

The attorney general is planning as early as Friday to introduce bills to lawmakers to start treating these minors engaging in such activity at the direction of human traffickers as victims.

Hood and others talked in depth about the subject at a human trafficking training conference this morning at Gulf Hills Hotel and Conference Center.

The Sun Herald updates this story in Friday's online and print editions.