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Sex Trafficking and the State: Applying Domestic Abuse Interventions to Serve Victims of Sex Trafficking

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Abstract

Advocacy and scholarship addressing sex trafficking as a human rights issue has become a transnational effort, but there has been less attention to sub-national efficacy. Through analyzing progressive justice system responses to domestic violence in Duluth, Minnesota that have been adopted worldwide, this paper demonstrates how to effectively apply these local advances in order to address sex trafficking on a global scale. This paper makes a theoretical contribution to understanding the intersections between domestic abuse and sex trafficking. A key empirical finding is that a coordinated community response (including the justice system and women’s organizations) is crucial for advancing domestic abuse training, monitoring, and legislation—and this coordination can also be productively utilized for improving responsiveness to victims of sex trafficking across a diverse range of socio-legal and economic contexts.

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Notes

  1. Speaker from the organization PRIDE (From Prostitution to Independence, Dignity & Equality) in Minneapolis, MN and survivor of prostitution. Presentation in Duluth, Minnesota at the Duluth Trafficking Task Force meeting on November 19, 2010.

  2. In a ceremony hosted by UN Women in Geneva, the Duluth Model was awarded the 2014 Future Policy Award for Ending Violence against Women and Girls (UN: United Nations 2015).

  3. 22USC § 7102; 8 CFR § 214.11(a). The TVPA has been reauthorized in 2003, 2005, 2008, and 2013.

  4. Interview with Vednita Carter, Director of Breaking Free (an agency that provides services for victims of sex trafficking and prostitution) in Minneapolis, MN. Interview conducted telephonically. July 11, 2013.

  5. Source: http://www.ovw.usdoj.gov/domviolence.htm.

  6. Breaking Free “About” page. Accessed 12.2.12. http://www.breakingfree.net/about_us.aspx

  7. Anonymous interview with a police officer. Duluth, Minnesota, December 5, 2011.

  8. Interview with Melanie Shepard, women’s advocate, Duluth, Minnesota, November 21, 2011.

  9. Interview with Melanie Shepard, women’s advocate, Duluth, Minnesota, November 21, 2011.

  10. Anonymous interview with a police officer, Duluth, Minnesota, November 21, 2011.

  11. Anonymous interview with a police officer, Duluth, Minnesota, November 21, 2011.

  12. Public statement by a member of the Duluth Police force. Duluth Trafficking and Prostitution Task Force meeting. March 3, 2011.

  13. Public statement by a member of the Duluth Police force. Duluth Trafficking and Prostitution Task Force meeting. October 14, 2010.

  14. Anonymous interview with a Duluth City Attorney, Duluth, Minnesota, November 16, 2011.

  15. Anonymous interview with a Duluth City Attorney, Duluth, Minnesota, November 16, 2011.

  16. Anonymous interview with women’s advocate, Duluth, Minnesota, December 5, 2011.

  17. The name of the judge has been anonymized.

  18. Anonymous interview with a Duluth City Attorney, Duluth, Minnesota, November 16, 2011.

  19. Anonymous interview with a Duluth City Attorney, Duluth, Minnesota, November 16, 2011

  20. Anonymous interview with a Duluth City Attorney, Duluth, Minnesota, November 16, 2011.

  21. Minnesota Statute 609.321, Subd. 7a (2009).

  22. Minnesota Statute 609.321, Subd. 7a. 2014. “Prostitution and Sex Trafficking; Definitions.” https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=609.321

  23. Minnesota Statute 609.321, Subd. 8. 2014. “Prostitution and Sex Trafficking; Definitions.” https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=609.321

  24. Minnesota Statute 609.321, Subd. 9. 2014. “Prostitution and Sex Trafficking; Definitions.” https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/?id=609.321

  25. http://www.pavsa.org/traffickingProstitution.php

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Acknowledgments

Many of the interviews for this article were conducted by students in an undergraduate senior seminar at the University of Minnesota Duluth. Dr. Walsh is deeply grateful for the research efforts of Larissa Enyong, Katie McShea, Lee Skolasinski, Elizabeth Wicklund, and Marny Xiong, all students whose interviews and initial findings prompted further investigation. I thank members of the Domestic Abuse Intervention Programs (DAIP) in Duluth, Minnesota as well as other members of the Duluth Trafficking Task Force for sharing their knowledge and experience. I especially thank Candice Harshner, Executive Director of the Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault (PAVSA) in Duluth, Minnesota; Shunu Shretha, PAVSA’s Trafficking Program Coordinator; and Vednita Carter, Founder and President of Breaking Free. All shared valuable time and information, and are inspiring women working at the grassroots level serving victims.

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  1. Department of Political Science, University of Minnesota Duluth, 1123 University Drive, 304 Cina Hall, Duluth, MN, 55812, USA

    Shannon Drysdale Walsh

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Correspondence to Shannon Drysdale Walsh.

Appendix

Appendix

Minnesota Laws on Sex Trafficking and Prostitution

In order to be able to extend domestic abuse services to people who are being sex trafficked, the police and courts must be able to recognize that any prostituted people who have a pimp/manager/boyfriend are likely victims of sex trafficking under federal law (if the prostitution was induced by force, fraud, or coercion), and always victims of sex trafficking under Minnesota law (regardless of force, fraud, or coercion). Minnesota law makes proving force, fraud or coercion unnecessary by simply defining trafficking as third party involvement in prostitution.Footnote 21 Under Minnesota law, sex trafficking victim means a person subjected to sex trafficking practices (e.g., pimping), defined as “(1) receiving, recruiting enticing, harboring, providing, or obtaining by any means an individual to aid in the prostitution of the individual; or (2) receiving profit or anything of value, knowing or having reason to know it is derived from an act described in clause (1).”Footnote 22

Alternatively (and similarly), a “prostitute” is defined as “an individual who engages in prostitution by being hired, offering to be hired, or agreeing to be hired by another individual to engage in sexual penetration or sexual contact.”Footnote 23 “Prostitution” is defined as “hiring, offering to hire, or agreeing to hire another individual to engage in sexual penetration or sexual contact, or being hired, offering to be hired, or agreeing to be hired by another individual to engage in sexual penetration or sexual contact.”Footnote 24 If there is third party involvement (pimping), then the justice system can (and should) treat women who would ordinarily be classified as prostitutes as victims of sex trafficking. However, since women who have pimps are under their control and unlikely to identify them, proving third party involvement should not be a requirement for treating prostituted people as victims of sex trafficking.

The Program for Aid to Victims of Sexual Assault (PAVSA) in Duluth articulates how to recognize trafficking, noting that “In simple terms, [sex] trafficking is buying and selling of an individual or individuals for sexual exploitation. Trafficking occurs when an individual is made to perform any kind of sexual activities in exchange of money or anything of value: shelter, food, clothes, drugs etc.”Footnote 25 In other words, sex trafficking is the pimping out and purchase of sex from another person.

In addition, Minnesota adopted Safe Harbor legislation in 2011, with all provisions effective in 2014. According to the Minnesota Department of Public Safety (2013), the Safe Harbor Law includes five key changes: 1) The Law excludes sexually exploited youth under age 16 from the definition of a delinquent child. Thus, it resolves a prior conflict in the law defining sexually exploited youth as both victims and delinquents. 2) It creates a mandatory first-time diversion for 16 or 17 year olds who has been exploited in prostitution. If children come through more than once, this enables the state to divert them from the justice system again or to use juvenile proceedings. 3) The Law includes the definition of sexually exploited youth in Minnesota’s child protection codes. 4) It increases penalties against commercial sexual abusers. 5) The Law mandates the creation of a victim-centered response to sexually exploited youth (Minnesota Department of Public Safety 2013, 1–2, some information is quoted directly from this report).

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Walsh, S.D. Sex Trafficking and the State: Applying Domestic Abuse Interventions to Serve Victims of Sex Trafficking. Hum Rights Rev 17, 221–245 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12142-016-0404-8

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