<![CDATA[Women and children are the most vulnerable groups in society who tend to become victims of prostitution. Prostitution is a form of criminal act of human trafficking. Trafficking in persons is a violation of human rights and is an extraordinary, organized, and transnational crime. This research aims to determine the prevention of prostitution as a criminal act of trafficking in persons through penal measures and to determine the formulation of criminal sanctions against perpetrators of criminal acts of trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation. This research is normative juridical research with statutory and conceptual approach methods as well as descriptiveanalytical research specifications. The findings in this article are that the change in the regulation of prostitution from the Criminal Code to the Trafficking Law (2007) occurred because of a change in the paradigm of prostitution from an ordinary criminal act to a violation of human rights, this increased criminal sanctions from the aspects of staff (type) and strafmaat (weight). The formulation of acts regulated in the Criminal Code and the Trafficking Law (2007) are similar in terms of the substance of the criminal act, namely that they both ensnare perpetrators who act as intermediaries or pimps in human exploitation. However, there are differences in the construction of the weight of the criminal sanctions. The Criminal Code provides criminal threats with an alternative system, which allows judges to choose between imprisonment or a fine. Meanwhile, the Trafficking Law (2007) applies the danger of cumulative sanctions, where perpetrators can be charged with imprisonment and a fine at the same time. The formulation of criminal sanctions against perpetrators of criminal acts of human trafficking in the Trafficking Law (2007) is formulated with the pattern of increasing the severity of criminal threats (staff at). The increase in the severity of the threat of criminal sanctions aims to provide a more optimal deterrent to perpetrators of criminal acts of human trafficking.]]>
