Hi, Constitutional Soldiers,

We are a new Human Rights Organization called Stop Government Oppression. Please Stop! And it is our hope to find partners in overturning Minnesota’s discriminatory statute 609.322, subd, 1a 2nd Degree Sex Trafficking.

There is a worldwide understanding of what sex trafficking encompasses, but Minnesota has created its own definition of this offense.

We have diligently worked to gather the necessary evidence and data to prove the racial and gender discrimination of this statute.

We are asking that you not take our word for it, but that you take the time to read the summary of the research we have done, and that you do your own investigation into how Minnesota is using their 609.322, subd. 1a statute to entrap African American men and men of color.

And if you come up with the same conclusion as we did, please help us shed light on this unconstitutional statute, by signing and sharing this petition.

Inside you will find answers to the following questions:

1.      Is Minnesota Sex Trafficking Laws Racist?

2.      Is Minnesota Government Pimping?

3.      Is Minnesota Government Harboring Pedophiles and Real Sex Traffickers?

4.      Is Minnesota Government Entrapping Black Men? Or Does Volunteer Sex Work Automatically Make Your Boyfriend A Sex Trafficker?

We thank you in advance for any aid you may provide.

Respectfully,

STOP GO. PLEASE STOP

 

 

MINNESOTA GOVERNMENT SCHEME REVEALED 

Introduction

Conflating sex work and those collectively organizing its associated activities with human trafficking is one of the modern uses of discriminatory incarceration of African American men and men of color in Minnesota. The decision makers chose to enact statute 609.322 subd. 1a knowing consciously or unconsciously that people engaged in collectively organized sex work and its associated activities would be mainly African American men and men of color.

Sex Work and Sex Trafficking Are Not the Same

In 2000, the “Trafficking Victims Protection Act” (TVPA) clearly defined what constituted trafficking in the United States as sex trafficking being by force, fraud, or coercion. Yet, Minnesota took the language of force, fraud, or coercion out of its sex trafficking law.

In order for Minnesota to sustain a sex trafficking conviction, the state is only required to prove that a person solicits, induces, promotes, or receives profit from someone that is engaged in the consensual exchange of sex between adults; not that the person who engaged in the act was subjected to do so by force, fraud, or coercion.

Too often in Minnesota, especially regarding second-degree sex trafficking cases, the women are not sex trafficking victims, they are sex workers. These women are benefiting from the earnings derived from prostitution, and they have the free choice to quit working as a sex worker whenever they wish.

These women have no mental disabilities and have the ability to make fully informed choices that take account of both immediate and long-range consequences. They're also adults, and are not held in debt bondage, forced labor, or services by coercion, or bodily harm, or the threat of bodily harm, and they offer or agree to engage in prostitution.

The Primary Difference Between Sex Work and Sex Trafficking Involves Consent.

Conversely, sex trafficking is involuntary and is conducted without the consent of the person being sex trafficked. As such, people who are sex trafficked are victims, and people who consent to working as sex workers are not. Sex work and sex trafficking are not the same thing.

Forcing Volunteer Sex Workers to Become Sex Trafficking Victims

One of Minnesota’s definitions of prostitution is “offering” to be hired, or “agreeing” to be hired by another individual to engage in sexual penetration or sexual conduct. This is the same definition given for a “prostitute” in Minnesota.

One would assume that Minnesota recognizes that a woman that is a sex trafficking victim does not, and cannot, offer or agree to engage in sexual penetration or sexual conduct. One would also assume that the state of Minnesota recognizes that a sex trafficking victim is subjected or forced to engage in sexual penetration or sexual contact, but the state does not. Minnesota has included a definition to the word ‘prostitution’ that is clearly beyond the word’s ordinary meaning.

If a woman offers or agrees to be hired for the consensual exchange of sex between adults in Minnesota, and thus operates alone without fear of felony. But if she collectively organizes with someone (e.g., receives rides, shelter, or any aid) or gives something of value to them (e.g., money, shoes, clothes, jewelry, etc..), the state claims she is a sex trafficking victim.

Is Minnesota Sex Trafficking Laws Racist?

The Branding of African American Men and People of Color as Sex Traffickers by the State of Minnesota is Very Concerning.

Those charged for aiding or receiving profit derived from prostitution in Minnesota, are predominantly African American men and men of color.

Data reports from the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission shows that from August 1st, 2011-2019, 85% of African Americans and people of color were sentenced, compared to 16% that were white under Minnesota statute 609.322 subd. 1a. These men were sentenced to imprisonment up to 15 years for each woman they aided in prostitution.

In 2018 Human Trafficking Report was done. In that report, it was noted that “sex buyers in Minnesota are predominantly white men”. In that same report, it showed that there are more white women prostitutes in Minnesota than any other race.

These buyers and prostitutes who are predominantly white are typically only given a fine, if they are even charged at all. The fine is only given to the buyer and the prostitute, if there is no one aiding the woman in the prostitution of herself.

If there is someone aiding the woman, then Minnesota claims that the woman and the buyer, are  sex trafficking victims, and she nor the buyer are given a fine.

The Stigma of Being Branded a Sex Trafficker

The consequences of Minnesota’s definition of sex trafficking does not only include a long prison sentence, but the exclusion of various professions and the requirement of registering as a sex offender.

The people that are being branded by the state, through its definition of sex trafficking, will include their life being associated with the stigma of the federal, international, and common meaning of what sex trafficking is. This could include someone that has kidnapped a child, or an adult surreptitiously for prostitution by force, or someone that has used fraud or coercion to do so.

They will not be looked at with Minnesota’s definition. because people of common intelligence do not know or understand that Minnesota has taken force, fraud, or coercion out of its definition of sex trafficking. This means that African American men and men of color are erroneously being branded as sex traffickers.

Is Minnesota Government Pimping?

Government Pimping

Minnesota has decriminalized prostitution in the state and has determined that the only individuals who can profit off of this ‘Government Pimping’ scheme are:

1)      The prostitute.

2)      A minor dependent on the prostitute.

3)      A parent over the age of 55.

4)      Lawful businesses in Minnesota (e.g., cab companies, hotel, and motel companies, etc.) and of course,

5)      The Minnesota government and its contractors.

The Minnesota government and its contractors receive millions of dollars a year from the federal government, to rescue and aid women and girls forced, defrauded, or coerced into performing commercial sex acts and yet it violates federal statutes and U.S. constitution with this government pimping scheme.

And if this isn’t concerning enough, consistent with government oppression and hypocrisy, the Minnesota government will fine a volunteer prostitute when convicted, release her back to the streets on probation knowing she’s going right back to prostituting herself, and then collect those fine payments from her which came from the very same thing that resulted in her conviction for volunteer sex work.

The Double Standard- Decriminalization of Prostitution

Convicting the prostitute or patron is not a true priority in Minnesota. In State v. Suspitsyn, 941 N.W. 2d 423, The District Court dismissed Suspitsyn and other patrons’ soliciting prostitution charges on the grounds that “the record does not provide facts supporting probable cause that [respondents were] soliciting prostitution “while in a public place.” This solicitation activity occurred entirely online and via text messages. Thus, for the most part the Minnesota courts have made prostitution legal for the prostitute and patron if the solicitation occurs online and via text messages, and if the sexual contact happens at the patron's private home.

Yet if that same prostitute and a man other than the patron agreed to benefit together from collectively organizing the consensual exchange of sex between adults, or the person other than the prostitute or patron posts an online ad for the prostitute, or drives the prostitute to the patrons private home, then it is only that person other than the prostitute or patron (predominantly African American men and men of color) that are held accountable for the actions of all three consenting adults, and subsequently charged as a sex trafficker.

But there is also something very dark and deeply concerning that we found in this method of prosecution.

During sex trafficking investigations where there are minor sex workers involved, we’ve found that adult sex workers are usually found to be the ones recruiting the minors, promoting them online, teaching them the ropes, and even having sex with them.

These adult women even admit these facts to law enforcement, including the minor sex workers, but these things are ignored as officers search for men other than the white patrons to pin these crimes on.

This is what decriminalization of prostitution in Minnesota looks like.

Is Minnesota Harboring Pedophiles and Real Sex Traffickers?

Buying and Having Sex From Minors Makes You A Sex Trafficking Victim.

The other Minnesota definition of prostitution is: “offering” to hire or “agreeing” to hire another individual to engage in sexual penetration or sexual contact. This is also the same definition as “patron” in Minnesota. One would assume that Minnesota recognizes that a man that is offering or agreeing to hire a prostitute cannot be a sex trafficking victim.

In ‘Human Trafficking in a Digital Age,’ Sona Movsisyan said: “Further, the lack of prosecution of Johns, combined with the uncertainty of treating adults in prostitution as victims, has allowed commercial sex to continue to flourish in Minnesota.”

The federal definition of sex trafficking reads that, “patronizing a commercial sex act, in which the commercial sex act is induced by force, fraud, or coercion, or in which the person induced to perform such an act has not attained 18 years of age is sex trafficking.”

Again, Minnesota claims that it is not.

According to an August 2017 University of Minnesota report titled ‘Mapping the Demand: Sex Buyers in the State of Minnesota’, there are no sentencing enhancements for buyers that normally purchase sex from real trafficking victims in Minnesota.

An estimated 26,000 men participate in purchasing commercial sex yearly in Minnesota, less than 200 men were charged with purchasing commercial sex under Minnesota law between 2010 and 2015.

Approximately 15% of those who purchased commercial sex during those years includes both sex buyers who purchase children and those who purchase adults.

Sex buyers in Minnesota are predominantly white men from middle and upper socio-economic backgrounds, and out of the sex buyers charged with purchasing sex between 2010-2015, only approximately 18% had a public defender.

Data reports from the Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines Commission showed that from 2001-2019, there were 315 people that were sentenced for buying sex from minors, under Minn. Stat 609.324.

There were 304 of the 315 (96.5%) sex buyers that received no prison sentence.

11 out of the 315 had a presumptive disposition to prison.

6 of the 11 (54.5%), received a mitigated dispositional departure (receiving probation when they should have gone to prison).

And when patrons are caught up in sex trafficking investigations that involve minors, even where there is evidence the patron knew the age of the victim and had sex with the victim, the patron isn’t charged.

In fact, the patron actually becomes a sex trafficking victim for patronizing a commercial sex act with a child, or a real sex trafficking victim.

Is Minnesota Government Entrapping Black Men? Or Does Volunteer Sex Work Automatically Make Your Boyfriend a Sex Trafficker?

Online Sting Operations

In Minnesota, a sex trafficking investigation is not started by investigating the alleged sex trafficker it’s started by investigating the prostitute and/or patron.

Law enforcement set up online sting operations soliciting sex from sex workers or selling sex to patrons.

The Same Individuals the State Has Decriminalized Prostitution For.

Once a prostitute is apprehended from the online sting operation, she's questioned, and her cell phone is confiscated without legal consent or warrant. The officers don't intend to charge her at all, they just want to know what men are around the sex worker and if any of these men ever provided the woman with rides, shelter, clothing, drugs, etc. or if the woman has ever voluntarily given money to any man.

If the woman says that she's given her boyfriend money before or bought him some shoes or other gifts, but he's never made her sell herself. This doesn't matter! The boyfriend will be charged with trafficking her for sex.

If the woman says her father has given her a ride to the gas station and she gave him money for gas, and he knows his daughter does volunteer sex work. Her father will be charged with trafficking her for sex. Family members come in second place on the sex trafficking list of sex traffickers.

Entrapping the Boyfriends and Family Members of Prostitutes

But it is predominantly the boyfriends of sex workers who are being charged with sex trafficking and overwhelmingly these are African American men.

But the most concerning thing is the woman becomes a victim of sex trafficking by her boyfriend and when she gets on the stand and admits she's been in sex work for years prior to meeting her boyfriend and he has never made her or asked her to sell sex, he's convicted anyway.

And this cycle repeats itself for the same woman, so much so that she goes on to become a sex trafficking victim in three more investigations of her new boyfriends. Many of these women have been victims of sex trafficking in two or more cases and they’re continuously released without charge to continue their sex work until law enforcement can entrap another black man using them. This is all in the protected victim data. And this data is mixed in with data on real sex trafficking victims and sent to the FBI's tracking database, even with the undercover officers posing as a prostitute being counted as real sex trafficking victims. Even the male officers.

We've come across women that have been victims in four different sex trafficking cases. Many of them are associates of each other and are even mentioned in each other’s investigations as volunteer prostitutes.

Conclusion

This Government Pimping Scheme should concern all of us, even if you are not a Minnesotan, because other governments will seek to adopt this model if they see the unchallenged success Minnesota has had and federal grant money pouring into the state.

In case this was all too much to take in, that is ok because it was too much for us as well, which is why we will give you a simple recap of what you are supporting change for:

• Abolitionist groups that support decriminalizing prostitution for sex sellers and sex buyers (so prostitutes will have a customer base for their sex work) Contribute to the political campaigns of Minnesota lawmakers.
• Minnesota lawmakers pass the bills they want, effectively decriminalizing prostitution and harshly penalizing anyone who benefits from a prostitute selling herself.
• This  allowed these adult women to recruit, entice, harbor, promote, and provide for minor sex workers, and even have sex with them, with no consequences for their actions.
• This as also allowed patrons to solicit and have sex with these minor sex workers without consequence.
• This has also resulted in Black and Brown men being targeted for sex trafficking investigations using the actual crimes committed by the prostitutes and patrons and the evidence to charge and convict them.
• Law enforcement use online prostitution stings, posing as volunteer prostitutes or patrons, who they have decriminalized prostitution for, in hopes of turning patrons into sex trafficking or capturing prostitutes to confiscate their phones illegally to see what men they are communicating with who they can charge with sex trafficking.
• When these sting operations capture men other than a white sex buyer, the prostitute and patron are forced to become victims of sex trafficking in these men's cases.
• Even if the prostitute was an undercover agent, he or she will still be considered the victim in the case and counted as a sex trafficking victim to inflate the data for federal grant funding.
• If the woman was an actual prostitute, she will be forced to get on the stand for the state, even if she testifies in favor of the defense, because all the state has to do is put a so-called expert on the stand and say she is lying to protect the defendant.
• Conviction of the man is guaranteed, and he goes to prison for 15 years or more and often receives an upward departure to give him more time.
• The woman victim and patron victim are then free to go on with their prostitution activities and having sex with minors.
• If they are caught in another prostitution sting operation again, this process repeats itself exactly the same way and eventually you need to call this one career and self-promoted sex worker ends up being a sex trafficking victim in sex trafficking convictions over and over again.
• The abolitionist organizations that contribute to lawmakers’ campaigns run victim centers for these women, then receive state and federal grant money from the U.S. Government under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA), which requires there to be force, fraud, or coercion, or it to be a minor.
• Prostitutes are predominantly White.
• Patrons are predominantly White.
• Aiders of Prostitutes and Patrons are predominantly Black.

So, if you do not support this Entrapment and Government Pimping Scheme, and Harboring of Pedophiles and Real Sex Traffickers…...then Please sign and share this Petition.

 

STOP GO. PLEASE STOP!

HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATION

P.O. Box7852 Saint Cloud, MN56301● Stop.go.please.stop@gmail.com●