If a child runs away from home, within 48 hours on the street that minor will be recruited or coerced into prostitution, according to the FBI.

The vast majority of these victims are girls, who can end up in situations far worse than the dysfunctional homes they fled. Brutalized and virtually enslaved by pimps who control the cash flow, these adolescents and teenagers grow up in a violent, sordid netherworld they can rarely escape on their own.

This is the dark side of paradise, the underbelly of Waikiki and downtown Honolulu, where child sex-trafficking flourishes.

Helping these young people return to regular lives requires a comprehensive network of government responses, from arresting and vigorously prosecuting the pimps and the johns whose demands drive the sex trade, to treating the underage prostitutes as the victims they are.

Hawaii has made great strides on this issue over the past several years, but more work remains.

At the turn of the 21st century, the age of sexual consent in Hawaii was 14, among the lowest in the nation. In 2001 the Legislature raised the age to 16, more in line with the rest of the country. In the years since, lawmakers, police, prosecutors, social workers and other advocates have continued to push for and achieve reforms that give this small but exceedingly traumatized and vulnerable population of exploited children a fighting chance at a decent life.

A major milestone was reached last year with the passage of a bill, now enshrined in law as Act 246, that specifically includes underage victims of sex and labor trafficking within the scope of the Child Protective Act and other laws related to child abuse.

That law gives these exploited minors access to Department of Human Services case workers and all of the accompanying services, such as housing, therapy and other rehabilitative outreach previously reserved for victims of domestic abuse.

Treating these young people as individuals worth saving rather than as hopeless perpetrators was a major step forward.

The recent grand jury indictments of two men accused of pimping two underage Oahu girls highlights another recent advancement in the legal system surrounding child-sex trafficking: If convicted of all the prostitution charges they face, the men could get life in prison, thanks to penalties toughened in 2011.

This welcome trend toward tougher sanctions for pimps and johns and more help for prostitutes, especially those who are minors, will continue in the upcoming legislative session, with the expected introduction of three bills co-authored by Reps. John Mizuno, Mele Carroll, Karen Awana and Sen. Suzanne Chun Oakland.

Among the measures’ goals:

» To impose heavy fines on convicted pimps and johns and put the money in a special fund to help prostitutes, considered victims of human trafficking.

» To limit advertising for services associated with prostitution, such as massage parlors.

» To eliminate the option of a deferred acceptance of guilty plea for adult pimps convicted of trafficking minors. This plea allows defendants to expunge their records if they meet the court’s requirement to stay out of trouble for a set period.

Passing human-trafficking legislation is never easy, and elements of these measures are sure to be controversial and potentially expensive, if enacted. But the bills deserve full and fair hearings as important attempts in Hawaii’s ongoing efforts to stem the sex trade.

As FBI officials explained last year, child prostitution remains a "persistent threat" in the United States, especially for teenagers on the margins — alienated from their families and surviving on the streets as runaways. Sadly, there is no shortage of adults willing to exploit these children — one advocate puts the average age of entry into prostitution in Hawaii at 13.

For decades, our state lagged in providing an effective escape hatch for these exploited youth. Now we are catching up, and it’s up to policymakers to continually refine the legal and social-services network .

A lifetime of sexual slavery should never be the punishment for a misspent youth.