Attorney General Alan Wilson told the South Carolina Human Trafficking Task Force Friday that the state has new tools to help fight traffickers.

The state legislature strengthened state laws against human trafficking, at the urging of the Attorney General’s Office.

One law created a 30-year, non-parolable offense for trafficking in minors.

Lawmakers also changed the wording of the law against human trafficking to make it easier to prosecute the buyers of trafficking victims under the human trafficking law.

South Carolina Legal Services also has a first for the state: a full-time attorney who will do nothing but provide free legal services to trafficking victims for noncriminal matters.

The Task Force also heard from two high school students, the outgoing and incoming chairs of the Youth Advocacy Subcommittee, on the importance of educating young people about human trafficking.

The state will hold its first ever Human Trafficking Youth Advocacy Summit for high school students June 27 in Columbia.

All young people should learn more about it so they can avoid becoming victims.

Attorney General Wilson said, “I personally believe that the best way to wage the war on human trafficking, in addition to prosecuting it vigorously, is to raise awareness at the earliest ages that we possibly can, and how do we do that? How do we engage young people? That was the question that was asked. And so hearing from these young people from their vantage point was very instructive to me and many of the other people there.”

For interested high school students, you can learn more about the Human Trafficking Youth Advocacy Summit at the state’s Human Trafficking Task Force website: http://human-trafficking.scag.gov/southcarolina-human-traffickingyouth-advocacy-summit/