2017 Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes
Title 18 - CRIMES AND OFFENSES
Chapter 30 - Human Trafficking
Section 3018 - Evidence and defenses to human trafficking

Universal Citation: 18 PA Cons Stat § 3018 (2017)
§ 3018. Evidence and defenses to human trafficking.

(a) General rule.--Evidence of the following facts or conditions shall not constitute a defense in a prosecution for a violation under this chapter, nor shall the evidence preclude a finding of a violation under this chapter:

(1) Specific instances of past sexual conduct of the victim of human trafficking, opinion evidence of the alleged victim's past sexual conduct and reputation evidence of the alleged victim's past sexual conduct shall not be admissible in a prosecution under this chapter, except evidence of the alleged victim's past sexual conduct with the defendant shall be admissible where consent of the alleged victim is at issue and the evidence is otherwise admissible under the rules of evidence. A defendant who proposes to offer evidence of the alleged victim's past sexual conduct under this paragraph shall file a written motion and offer of proof at the time of trial. If, at the time of trial, the court determines that the motion and offer of proof are sufficient on their faces, the court shall order an in camera hearing and shall make findings on the record as to the relevance and admissibility of the proposed evidence under the standards of this paragraph.

(2) The age of the victim of human trafficking with respect to the age of consent to sex or legal age of marriage.

(b) Victim's consent to employment contract in labor servitude.--The consent of the victim of human trafficking to an employment contract, notwithstanding if there was not fraud involved in the contract's formation, shall not be a defense to labor trafficking if force or coercion as described in section 3012(b) (relating to involuntary servitude) were involved in the making of the contract.

(c) Victim's age in sexual servitude.--Except as provided in section 3102 (relating to mistake as to age), evidence of a defendant's lack of knowledge of a person's age, or a reasonable mistake of age, is not a defense for a violation of this chapter involving the sexual servitude of a minor.

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