Juvenile prostitutes as victims

Too often teenage girls forced into prostitution are victims of human trafficking.

“We know that once these girls are in, they’re threatened, they’re brutalized, they cannot get back out,” said Jeff Bauer, director of public policy at The Family Partnership.

Current state law doesn’t help their cause.

“In our child protection statutes, under the definition of a child in need of protection and services, one of those definitions is any child involved in prostitution,” he said. “On the other hand if you look at the criminal statute in Minnesota as it relates to prostitution, that same child is considered a criminal.”

Sponsored by Rep. Steve Smith (R-Mound), HF556 would exclude prostitutes from being found delinquent petty offenders, if they are under age 18.

“At no time should the state make children criminals when they are victims,” said Rep. Kerry Gauthier (DFL-Duluth).

Approved March 9 by the House Public Safety and Crime Prevention Policy and Finance Committee, it awaits action by the House Judiciary Policy and Finance Committee. It has no Senate companion.

“The trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation of children is a growing problem in the state,” Bauer said. “From February to August 2010 the incidences of juveniles being trafficked increased 55 percent.”

He said the bill has three main parts:

• it removes prostitution from juvenile delinquency and it redefines prostitution to apply to those 18 years and older;

• it directs the commissioners of health, human services, public safety and others to develop a victim-centered model for how to deal with these children; and

• it increases the fine on adult purchasers of adult prostitution services from

$250-$500 to $500-$750.

“The money would be split between the arresting law enforcement agency — they get some of that to train their officers on how to deal with victims of trafficking and sexual exploitation,” Bauer said. “The prosecuting agency gets a little bit of that to incentivize the prosecution of these cases, and the third portion will go into a special fund at the Department of Public Safety to be distributed to service providers who work directly with these children.”