Florida has the third-highest rate in the nation for human trafficking. And as state officials have slowly come to understand the crime, they're learning more about the complex needs of the victims.
Department of Juvenile Justice Secretary Wansley Walters says traffickers deliberately exploit foster children and other vulnerable youths. She says the kids are victims, not necessarily criminals.
"Yet we are finding them in our juvenile justice system", Walters said. "And many times judges are putting them in residential programs simply because of the fear that that child is vulnerable to being exploited."
Last year the Legislature established a legal process for human-trafficking victims to get their criminal records expunged - typically for prostitution charges.
The new laws went into effect January first and only apply to crimes committed while the victims were being forced, threatened or coerced. And Governor Rick Scott's budget proposal includes $1.5 million dollars for DJJ to develop a system of care for victims who may need very complex services.