DOUGLAS COUNTY, Colo. — After more than three years of work, advocates, legislators and survivors celebrated the passage of a bipartisan law set to impose mandatory incarceration for child sex trafficking crimes.
Gov. Jared Polis signed Senate Bill 26-015 in early June, which sets mandatory minimum sentences for such crimes. The law requires a minimum of four years in prison for a range of child sex trafficking crimes, and at least one year in jail for soliciting commercial sexual activity with a child if the offender is sentenced to probation. Offenders could still face up to 12 years in prison for these crimes.
Joshua Constantine lives with difficult memories from his childhood.
"When I was about 4 years old, my mom and dad would take turns tucking me in bed at night," Constantine, who lives in Fort Collins, shared. "My father came in, and this time, besides tucking me in, he started to touch me inappropriately."
That initial interaction led to a childhood of sexual abuse. It wasn't until a few years ago that Constantine learned what he went through was child sex trafficking.
“He passed me around to other men. And I didn’t know the term trafficking until I met Maria at A Courageous Rose,” Constantine told Denver7 previously. Constantine now works to show others there is hope as an ambassador for the Fort Collins nonprofit A Courageous Rose focused on empowering survivors of trafficking.
Constantine believes the new law will better protect children in Colorado.
"If I knew that I could say something to someone and I would get out of that situation permanently, I may have been able to speak up, but I was so frightened and knew the consequences of what would happen," he said. "I couldn't speak up."
Colorado's 2025 Human Trafficking Council Annual Report found there were a total of 88 cases of sex trafficking of a minor and more than 1,100 individually reported incidents of suspected child sex trafficking.
Politics
Bipartisan bill seeks mandatory prison time for child sex trafficking crimes
Supporters praised SB26-015 during a press conference in Douglas County on Wednesday afternoon.
The advocate behind the bill, Janelle Goodrich, specifically cited how the mandated change in terminology from "child prostitution" to "commercial sexual activity with a minor" no longer insinuates the child is to blame for the actions of the adults in their lives.
"It is commercial sexual activity with a minor, which puts the ownership and onus directly back on the person who did it to them and created that trauma to them in the first place, and that drives the demand of human trafficking," said Goodrich, the founding executive director of From Silenced to Saved, a Denver-based organization that provides assistance to the FBI and other agencies in sex trafficking investigations.
Goodrich said that for her, this work has been years in the making.
"When I first started doing this work, almost 12 years ago, and I really thought that we were going to see a case to the end and somebody was going to be held accountable — and then I watched a minor get harder charges for things that they were involved in than the men that were purchasing her," Goodrich said.
During Wednesday's press conference, Douglas County leaders highlighted the work the county did to ensure this law made it through, including playing a part of in mitigating some of the cost to the state — one of the law's major hurdles — by allowing those convicted of solicitation to be incarcerated in county jail for a year of their probationary sentence rather than in the Department of Corrections.
"I think there was a moment in Appropriations where we got slapped with an $18 million fiscal note, and I have to recognize Douglas County Sheriff Darren Weekly," Commissioner Abe Laydon said. "I called the sheriff, and the sheriff said, 'We have room, we have room, we can get the bad guys, and we'll keep them here if we need to.'"
All perpetrators will also have to register as sex offenders for the crimes included in SB26-015.
Supporters believe the change in Colorado law sends a message.
"If you come to Colorado to buy children, you're going to get caught," Laydon said. "And if you get caught, you're going to go to jail."
If you or someone you know needs help, you are not alone. You can call Colorado’s Human Trafficking Hotline at 866-455-5075 or text 720-999-9724.
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