Rhode Island attracts sex traffickers, say experts
By Felice J. Freyer
Providence Journal Medical Writer
Sunday, October 26, 2008
PROVIDENCE –– When most people think of slavery these days, “they think of the Civil War,” says Shanna Wells, director of the Rhode Island Commission on Women.
But in fact, said Wells, slavery is occurring now in neighborhoods around Rhode Island, in the form of the forced prostitution of women and girls — some runaways, some brought here from other countries. Their captors are attracted to Rhode Island, she said, because it is one of only two states that consider prostitution legal, as long as it occurs indoors between consenting adults.
“The word has gone out that Rhode Island is the place to come to to open your brothel,” said Donna M. Hughes, a University of Rhode Island professor who has studied international sex trafficking. “We are rapidly becoming the sex trafficking capital of the Northeast.”
Melanie Shapiro, spokeswoman for the Rhode Island Coalition Against Human Trafficking, said that not long ago Rhode Island had a handful of brothels, and today there are 28.
Yesterday, a couple of dozen people gathered at the Grace Church to discuss the issue and then marched through the streets to call for action.
Wells said that efforts to toughen Rhode Island’s prostitution laws haven’t gotten much traction because legislators are not hearing about it from their constituents. So the coalition’s first task — and the purpose of yesterday’s march — was to raise awareness so that citizens will demand change.
According to Hughes, Rhode Island is among only three states where there have been no federal prosecutions for sex trafficking. “We need to ask the U.S. Attorney why,” she said. Similarly, the state has not made use of its own law intended to stop trafficking, and she called on Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch to explain why.
But the criminal justice system must not arrest victims or put the burden on victims to prove that they were coerced, Hughes cautioned. When prosecutions have required women to testify against powerful, brutal men, the cases tend to fall apart because the women “crack and have a meltdown on the witness stand.”
“Stop treating the victims as criminals,” she said. “Arresting them will not solve the problem.”
Instead, the anti-trafficking effort can learn from the fight against domestic violence, once considered a personal, private matter. Advocates pushed for laws requiring the police to determine who is the victim and arrest the abuser.
Paraphrasing a quote that is often attributed to the 18th-century British philosopher Edmund Burke, Shapiro said, “Evil requires only that good people do nothing. … Let’s get out there. Let’s do something about this.”
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http://www.projo.com/news/content/SEX_TRAFFICKING_10-26-08_E1C2BLU_v8.39dcf6c.html?npc
by which they mean, I believe, Asian Massage Parlors (AMPS), then they do not need to [pass a law that makes it illegal for a client and a provider to hookup with one another over the net and arrange a pay for play meeting.
RI already has the laws on the books to shut down brothels if they wish to do so.
I would like to know exactly what evidence there is of mistreatment of the woman who work in the AMPS and if there is, the responsible parties should be punished.
However, I know from personal experience with at least two Asian women who have worked in AMPS for many years that the treatment is pretty good, at least much better than they would have had in their native country, and there may be more pious morality going on here than actual desire to right wrongful situations.
I agree...its not just the brothels they wish to rid R.I. of, it's the whole law that allows prostitution to exist without fear of arrest.
They are just using trafficing as a platform to launch their true agenda.
with their prostitution laws...Mass. and conn. are very tough.
Most states have allowed cities to make a variety of municiple laws on the books so that prostitution can be stopped. Looks like RI has closed their eyes to public opinions and i'm surprised. Let's face it if you asked 100 people how they felt about prostitution maybe one would say it's freedom of choice or a victimless crime.
I am surprised more ladies don't travel there instead of dealing with the heat in Boston..Rates are lower in RI from what I checked out so great place for the gentlemen but maybe not for the ladies.
Kisses Haley
Bill to close prostitution loophole
Thursday, March 13, 2008
By Cynthia Needham
Journal State House Bureau
PROVIDENCE — With the nation’s eyes trained on former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s alleged involvement with a prostitute, Rhode Island lawmakers are considering a bill that would close the loophole in this state’s laws that makes prostitution legal if it occurs indoors.
The proposed legislation has become something of a perennial bill in recent years, but has never been passed by the General Assembly. This year’s version came before the House Judiciary Committee again last night, where its sponsor, Joanne M. Giannini, D-Providence, argued that extending the state’s misdemeanor prostitution statute to cover indoor activity would make it easier for the police to crack down on suspected brothels.
“A lot of people don’t realize that prostitution is legal in Rhode Island if you do it indoors,” State Police Inspector Stephen Bannon testified. In an accompanying letter, State Police Supt. Col. Brendan P. Doherty noted that under current law, “persons are free to solicit sex for money in newspapers and/or over the Internet as long as the conduct that is agreed upon takes place in private.”
But opponents, including the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, say the bill would unfairly target the women who are forced into prostitution.
The Judiciary Committee took no action last night, though House Majority Leader Gordon D. Fox, D-Providence, said in a statement that the House plans this session “to look very carefully at closing this loophole once and for all.”
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