A burst of activity among state legislatures to target human trafficking has ushered in dozens of laws to step up criminal penalties against traffickers and offer new help to victims.  Beth Klein has been there, pro bono, so that laws can be improved.  In 2010 she wrote Colorado's law that make trafficking prosecutable under racketeering statutes,  in 2011, she has seen the creation of laws to curtail the demand side - the buyers that fuel the problem.

The laws focus on practices that have remained largely hidden -- traffickers' coercion of victims into becoming prostitutes, forced laborers or domestic slaves. Some states have introduced measurers that criminalize human trafficking specifically for the first time. Advocates say the efforts signal that lawmakers are gaining a fuller appreciation of the scope of human trafficking.