Local Research

 

RI H5250 Legislative Study Commission

RHODE ISLAND AT A GLANCE

Prostitution and Prostitution Related Charges in Rhode Island 2000 – Present  (THE REPORT IS BEING UPDATED AS MORE CHARGING DOCUMENTS COME IN.

Policing-Modern-Day-Slavery-Carceral-Care-in-Rhode-Island

Immunity in Reporting Laws for Sex Workers and Sex Trafficking Survivors:

Pawtucket Cases 2000-2010

COVID-19 Chapter 12 (1)

2021 RI DOC POPULATION REPORT

 

Rhode Island Policy, Legislation & Media

  1. Is it time to legalize prostitution in RI [link]
  2. Rhode Island Senators Consider Two Paths To Decriminalizing Prostitution [link] April 5th, 2022
  3. Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing on S2233, S2617 & S2713 (April 5th, 2020) [video]
  4. RI’s Bella Robinson fights to legalize prostitution, her profession at age 57 [link]

RI STATS

  1. RHODE ISLAND State Statistics Overview Operation Do the Math 2017 link
  2. RI DOC 2020 Annual Population Report
  3. Un-Licensed: Asian Migrant Massage Licensure and the racialized Policing of Poverty 2022 link
  4. RHODE ISLAND POLICE DON’T JUST MAKE ARRESTS. SOME ALSO ACT AS PROSECUTORS. link
  5. ACLU Report: RI lawmakers created 170 new crimes and harsher penalties since 2000 link
  6. USDA reported that 11 percent of households in Rhode Island are food insecure link
  7. According to  RI state court records, from 2009 to 2015, there were 118 charges against sex sellers; sixty-five against sex buyers, and thirty-nine against traffickers. link
  8.  ARRESTS OF ADULTS AND MINORS FOR PROSTITUTION AND DISORDERLY CONDUCT- BY AGE AND GENDER  FROM 1981 TO 2016 link
  9. FAST FACTS  FOR RAPE, PROSTITUTION, HOMICIDES, AND DRUGS 1991-2017 link
  10. Operation do the Math 2017 link

 

Rhode Island Supreme Court

  1. COYOTE v ROBERTS 502 F.Supp 1342-December 17, 1980
  2. re Lamarine_ 527 A.2d 1133 Supreme Court of Rhode Island July 1, 1987
  3. State v. DeMagistris,  1998
  4. State v. Rome :: 1994 :: Louisiana Supreme Court Decisions
  5. RI SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN ARCHAIC LAW WHICH DECLARED INMATES SERVING LIFE SENTENCES “CIVILLY DEAD” link
  6. ACLU STATEMENT ON RI SUPREME COURT RULING IN REPRODUCTIVE PRIVACY ACT LAWSUIT link   ( Benson v. Raimondo 2019)

US Supreme Court

  1. Shinn v. Martinez Ramirez,– “The court’s decision will leave many people who were convicted in violation of the Sixth Amendment to face incarceration or even execution without any meaningful chance to vindicate their right to counsel.”
    SUPREME COURT JUSTICE SONIA SOTOMAYOR
  2. Supreme Court Overturns Roe v. Wade link
  3. The Supreme Court Effectively Overturned Your Miranda Rights link
  4. Supreme Court Strikes Down N.Y. Concealed Carry Law—Could Lead To Rollbacks Nationwide link

COYOTE’s RESEARCH DATA

  1. COYOTE RI SEX WORKER RIGHTS TRAINING link
  2. Pembroke Center for Teaching and Research on Women- Coyote RI Survey Collection
  3. Pembroke  – Sex Work in the US After FOSTA (April 2018-19) Survey Quantitative Data
  4. Pembroke- Trafficking and the Sex Industry in the United States Survey 2017
  5. Trafficking and the Sex Industry in Rhode Island Survey- 2014-2016
  6. Sex Work in the US After FOSTA (April 2018-19) Survey Quantitative Data
  7. Continuing Educational modules for Health Care providers [link]
  8. Julianna Brown, Brown University -2018 Thesis “We Don’t Need Your Pity, We Need Our Rights:” Understanding the Experiences of Sex Workers within the HIV Continuum of Care in the United States  [link]
  9. The New Virtual Crackdown on Sex Workers’ Rights: Perspectives from the United States [link]– April 2019

COYOTE TRAINING MATERIALS

  1. Know your Rights Cards (English)
  2. Know Your Rights Cards (Korean)
  3. Know Your Rights Cards (Mandarin Chinese)
  4. Know Your Rights Cards -Portuguese
  5. How To Be An Ally to Sex Workers (English)
  6. How to be an Ally to Sex Workers (Korean)
  7. How to be an Ally to Sex Workers (Mandarin Chinese)
  8. Best Practices for Connecting “People in the Sex Industry” with Services (English)
  9. Best Practices for Connecting “People in the Sex Industry” with Services (Mandarin Chinese)
  10. Best Practices for Connecting “People in the Sex Industry” with Services (Korean) 
  11. KNOW YOUR RIGHTS – Enforcement at the Airport
  12. An Activists Guide to Online Safety and Privacy
  13. NERC Amnesty Decrim Policy 2019 presentation

 

COYOTE PUBLICATIONS & PODCASTS

  1. What is Sex Trafficking [link]
  2. COYOTE RI SEX WORKER RIGHTS TRAINING- FREE HER FELLOWSHIP 2022 [link]
  3. After FOSTA Impact Report [link]
  4. Global Implications Of FOSTA [link]
  5. Texas Christian University Presentation- [link] Sept 2018
  6. How Abolition gets Trafficked 2 [link]Sept 2018
  7. The Effects of Polaris Project in Rhode Island [link]
  8. Sex Trafficking and the Sex Industry in the United States- [link]2017
  9. “We Don’t Need Your Pity, We Need Our Rights:” Understanding the Experiences of Sex Workers within the HIV Continuum of Care in the United States
  10. Policing Modern Day Slavery [link] 2014-2016
  11. 10 Years After Re-Criminalization [link]
  12. Decriminalize Now [link]
  13. Decarceral alliances in the fight to decriminalize sex work [link]
  14. Royce Presentation  Transnational  Sex Workers Justice by Yanhoo Cho [link]
  15. COYOTES project, tracking the trafficking funding. [link]
  16. What Are Your COVID Rules? [link]
  17. A Brief History of Prostitution – Geisha Diaries [link]
  18. Bella Robinson and Naomi Blech- Storycorps [link]
  19. Prostitution Raids Demonstrate how Anti-Prostitution Rhetoric Harms Victims [link]
  20. COYOTE RI’s Sex Worker Story Telling Series Podcasts [link]
  21. 2021 COYOTE RI IDTEVASW Memorial List
  22. How Many Sex Trafficking Headlines are Bogus? Lots of them! [link]

SUGGESTED READING

  1. Decriminalizing Indoor Prostitution: Implications for Sexual Violence and Public Health- SHAH &. CUNNINGHAM 
  2. Oblivious ‘Sex Traffickers’: Challenging stereotypes and the fairness of US trafficking laws Page 67 link 
  3. People in Alaska’s Sex Trade- Their Lived Experiences And Policy Recommendations
  4. Dangers-of-Safe-Harbor-Laws-Conner-2016
  5. THE MODEL PENAL CODE & SEX WORK CRIMINALIZATION Derek J. Demeri*
  6. Welcome to the New Jim Crow Virtual Timeline Exhibit- and Resources Used for Exhibit
  7. Sex worker “focused” is not sex worker-led
  8. National ACLU calls for decriminalization of sex work; cites Rhode Island’s experience- 
  9. Beyond Strange BedfellowsHow the “War on Trafficking” Was Made to Unite the Left and Right
  10. The Consequences of Misinformation about Sex Work and Sex Workers by NWSP December 2021
  11. Are You Being Sex Trafficked?
  12. Decriminalizing Sex Work – Policython Brief
  13. Coyote RI- Student- Intern Research
  14. The_Trafficking_in_Persons_Report_A_game
  15. Professor Explores Dark Side of the Anti-Trafficking Movement–
  16. Decriminalizing Sex Work – Policython Brief
  17. Over-Policing Sex Trafficking: How U.S. Law Enforcement Should Reform Operations 
  18. Quitting the Sex Trade: Keeping Narratives inside the Debates on Prostitution Policy and Legislation– 
  19. International Journal of Drug Policy—Volume 70,
  20. Duplicitous Freedom: Moral and Material Care Work in Anti-Trafficking Rescue and Rehabilitation 
  21. Protecting the Health and Rights of Sex Workers in the US and globally
  22. Condoms as evidence of prostitution in the United States and the criminalization of sex work- 2013
  23. Examining the Lasting Impact of SESTA

  24. Over-Policing Sex Trafficking: How U.S. Law Enforcement Should Reform Operations Human rights clinic- University of Southern California

  25. The Economic Consequences of Decriminalizing Sex Work in Washington, DC—A Conceptual Model
  26.  Recommended Reading-Syllabus 2 [link]
  27. Sex Worker Syllabus and Toolkit for Academics [link]

 

RI HISTORY

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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2000-2016

2000 to 2017

“We Don’t Need Your Pity, We Need Our Rights:” Understanding the Experiences of Sex Workers within the HIV Continuum of Care in the United States

Julianna Brown April 20, 2018, Health and Human Biology

 

Prosperity Now Scorecard highlights strengths and weaknesses in Rhode Island’s ability to help families prosper- Feb 8th, 2018

There’s Now A Study Backing Up Link Between Police Shootings, Racial Segregation- Feb 8th, 2018

Thousands of Marijuana Citations Issued Since Possession Decriminalized Study also finds racial disparities in rates of citations issued to African Americans and whites in cities that provided demographic data

ACLU Report: RI lawmakers created 170 new crimes, and harsher penalties from 2000– Jan 30th, 2018

Prostitution decriminalized: Rhode Island’s experiment  BY ELANA GORDON- August 3rd, 2017

Decriminalizing Indoor Prostitution: Implications for Sexual Violence and Public Health Scott Cunningham and Manisha Shah-2017  MS21721manuscript

Decriminalizing prostitution could ‘dramatically’ reduce sexual violence and STI transmission finds study Dec 20th, 2017

 

Trending Globally: Politics and Policy – Episode 4 – Sex Work Is Work- Dec 2016

Sex workers’ rights activist Bella Robinson (Coyote RI)  and sociologist and Watson postdoctoral fellow Elena Shih discuss the “trafficking” and “rescue” narratives muddying the reality of what sex work is–and what sex workers really need.

I am a former escort. Trust me, criminalizing prostitution doesn’t help Matthew Lawrence November 3rd, 2016

Donna Hughes, URI professor of sex worker demonization

Major props to Emily Schell,  another Brown University student that we had the pleasure of collaborating with this semester.- May 2016  https://decriminalizenow.wordpress.com

BRIGHT STAR  May 11th, 2016

Prostitution and Sex Work-December 2015

Policing Identity: Intersections of Race, Gender, and Sexuality in the PIC (A Recap in Tweets) APRIL 27, 2015 by CHERISE MORRIS

EXAMINING RHODE ISLAND’S PROSTITUTION AND SEX TRAFFICKING LAWS– March 7th, 2016

Donna Hughes, URI professor of sex worker demonization

Happy Endings? (1:14)

‘Happy Endings?’ is a documentary that explores the Asian Massage Parlor industry in Providence, RI. Follow ‘Heather’ a Korean immigrant, who opens a spa in August 2005, in a state where a loophole in the law does not make the exchange of sex for money a crime, as long as it happens “behind closed doors”.

HOW ABOLITION GETS TRAFFICKED

Prostitution & Prostitution Related Charges in RI