Local Research

 

RHODE ISLAND PROSTITUTION & SEXUAL ASSAULT  LAWS 

  1. Chapter 37 RI sexual assault 
  2. Crime Victim Compensation Program Rules & Regulations
  3. Rhode Island Crime Victim Compensation Program Statutes
  4. 1896 Prostitution
  5. 1909 Prostitution
  6. 1923 Prostitution
  7. 1938 Prostitution
  8. 1956 Prostitution
  9. Coyote v. Roberts, 502 F. Supp. 1342 (D.R.I. 1980) case opinion from the US District Court for the District of Rhode Island.
  10. Coyote v. Roberts, 523 F. Supp. 352 (D.R.I. 1981) case opinion from the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island
  11. Overview of RI State Prostitution_Etc. Law Changes
  12. Massage Licensing 2020
  13. Overview of RI State Prostitution_Etc. Law Changes
  14. The History of Sex Work Law in Rhode Island
  15. Rhode Island House considers creating a study commission to examine laws on sex work
  16. WIKI: The History of Prostitution in Rhode Island-
  17. CoyoteRI AMICI FOSTA Appeal 2022
  18. DSW Amicus Brief FOSTA APPEAL
  19. Woodhull fosta us opposition

  20. Woodhull reply brief

RI INCARCERATION

RI DOC 2020 Annual Population Report  link

RI DOC 2021 Annual Population Report  link

RIDOC-Recidivism-2021

Law Enforcement and Legal Responses to Domestic Violence in Rhode Island

 

 

RI H5250 Legislative Study Commission

  1. Commission Documents link
  2. RI ACLU- Study Commission Testimony and study commissionvideo2/28/2022
  3. Dr. Philp Chan Medical Director of the sexually transmitted diseases (STD) clinic & infectious disease specialist
  4. Update on Sexually Transmitted Infections- RI DOH
  5. Associations between sex work laws and sex workers’ health- A systematic review and meta-analysis of quantitative and qualitative studies
  6. Melissa Broudo & Danielle Ozuna  video link 
  7. Round Table Discussion 5/23/22 link
  8. J. Leigh & Henri “Intersection of LGBTQIA and Sex Workers’ Rights  video link
  9. Study Commission 4/24/23 Bella Robinson COYOTE RI video link
  10. COYOTE Recommendations for Commission
  11. Study Commission 5/22/23- part 1 Video Link
  12. Study Commission 5/22/23- part 2 Video Link
  13. Complete Study Commission 5/22/23 Link
  14. Shih Brown University Testimony
  15. Draft Final Report Marginalized Individuals Commission May 22, 2023- RAM Clean – 5.18.23

 

COYOTE’s RESEARCH,  DATA & BILL DRAFTS

  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
  10. FourYearsOfFosta 
  11. Prostitution and Prostitution-Related Charges in Rhode Island 2000 Present
  12. RI PROSTITUTION IMMUNITY BILL DRAFT 2023

 

RHODE ISLAND AT A GLANCE

 

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

New England Housing Report July 2022  link

ACLU CALLS TO DECRIMINALIZE SEX WORK IN RHODE ISLAND Link

 

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)
  7. ACLU SUES PAWTUCKET OVER POLITICAL SIGN RESTRICTIONS; HEARING ON RESTRAINING ORDER SET FOR THURSDAY 7/28/22 link
  8. ACLU SETTLES SUIT WITH PAWTUCKET OVER POLITICAL SIGN RESTRICTIONS link
  9. ACLU CHALLENGES STATE’S “ABSURD” POSITION THAT “MARIO’S LAW,” ALLOWING FOR EARLY RELEASE OF JUVENILE OFFENDERS, DOESN’T APPLY TO MARIO LINK

US Supreme Court & Federal Courts

  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
  5. Supreme Court Makes It Effectively Impossible To Sue Federal Cops, Smashing a 51-Year-Old Precedent  link
  6. U.S. Supreme Court decision in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District: link
  7. Supreme Court sides with Oklahoma in the battle over crimes on Native American territory link
  8. Texas Loses Supreme Court Clash on Veteran Discrimination Suits (Torres v. Texas Department of Public Safety, U.S., No. 20-603.) link
  9.  Supreme Court curbs EPA’s ability to fight climate change  link
  10. A Radical Supreme Court Term in Review July 2022 link
  11. NEW: SCOTUS agrees to take up NINE new cases, including Gonzalez v. Google, involving the scope of tech companies’ immunity under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The order list is not yet posted on the court’s website, but here is a link
  12. U.S. Supreme Court mulls anonymous jury case link
  13. FEDERAL JUDGE RULES UNCONSTITUTIONAL STATE’S RESIDENCY RESTRICTION FOR SEX OFFENDERS Link
  14. HIGH COURT EXTENDS CURB AGAINST BEATING PRISONERS Link
  15.  United States v. Smith (S.D.N.Y. May 11, 2023), a district court judge in New York made history by being the first court to rule that a warrant is required for a cell phone search at the border, “absent exigent circumstances

 

OTHER COURTS

  1. New Orleans short-term rental rule struck down by court link
  2. STATE OF IDAHO SETTLES ACLU LAWSUIT CHALLENGING IDAHO’S UNCONSTITUTIONAL USE OF ITS SEX OFFENDER REGISTRY (As Judge Winmill ruled last year, our clients have demonstrated irreparable harm: the State of Idaho has ruined their lives by labeling them as ‘sex offenders’ for engaging in consensual sex) link

  3. Oral Arguments, in Lacey/Larkin Appeal (#backpage) in the 9th district court of appeals, around the 1 hr and 34-minute link.

  4. State of TX VS IQBAL JIVANI. pdf

LITIGATION:  CASES INVOLVING PROSTITUTION OR TRAFFICKING 

  1. Amicus Brief of Floor64 d/b/a The Copia Institute, Engine Advocacy & Reddit. 2/20/19 link

  2. WOODHULL FREEDOM FOUNDATION, HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH, ERIC KOSZYK, JESSE MALEY a/k/a ALEX ANDREWS, and THE INTERNET ARCHIVE. “Appellants opening brief” filed in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit   2022-09-06 Appellants Opening Brief

  3. Woodhull fosta us opposition

 

COYOTE PUBLICATIONS & PODCASTS

  1. What is Sex Trafficking [link]
  2. Student Testimonies H5254 (2019) [link]
  3. COYOTE RI SEX WORKER RIGHTS TRAINING- FREE HER FELLOWSHIP 2022 [link]
  4. After FOSTA Impact Report [link]
  5. FourYearsOfFosta
  6. The New Virtual Crackdown on Sex Workers’ Rights: Perspectives from the United States (2018) link
  7. Global Implications Of FOSTA [link]
  8. Texas Christian University Presentation- [link] Sept 2018
  9. How Abolition gets Trafficked 2 [link]Sept 2018
  10. The Effects of Polaris Project in Rhode Island [link]
  11. Sex Trafficking and the Sex Industry in the United States- [link]2017
  12. “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
  13. Policing Modern-Day
  14. Slavery [link] 2014-2016
  15. 10 Years After Re-Criminalization [link]
  16. Decriminalize Now [link]
  17. Decarceral alliances in the fight to decriminalize sex work [link]
  18. Royce Presentation  Transnational  Sex Workers Justice by Yanhoo Cho [link]
  19. COYOTES project, tracking the trafficking funding. [link]
  20. What Are Your COVID Rules? [link]
  21. A Brief History of Prostitution – Geisha Diaries [link]
  22. Bella Robinson and Naomi Blech- Storycorps [link]
  23. Prostitution Raids Demonstrate how Anti-Prostitution Rhetoric Harms Victims [link]
  24. COYOTE RI’s Sex Worker Story Telling Series Podcasts [link]
  25. 2021 COYOTE RI IDTEVASW Memorial List
  26. How Many Sex Trafficking Headlines are Bogus? Lots of them! [link]
  27.  Important facts on monkeypox- link
  28. Interventions to improve health and the determinants of health among sex workers in high-income countries: a systematic review

COYOTE TRAINING MATERIALS

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

OUT-OF-STATE RESEARCH & DOJ Reports

DOJ Report on Lowell CI (FL)

Trans Women in Hawaii’s Sex Industry

SUGGESTED READING

  1. Decriminalizing Indoor Prostitution: Implications for Sexual Violence and Public Health- SHAH &. CUNNINGHAM 
  2. Beyond Strange BedfellowsHow the “War on Trafficking” Was Made to Unite the Left and Right
  3. Who Needs Legislators? Discrimination Against Sex Workers Is Sex Discrimination Under Title VII link
  4. Rape kit access bill opposed by AG, Day One link
  5. Rhode Island Passes Sweeping Statewide Rape Kit Reform
  6. The FBI and the Madams: Herbert Hoover saw the political effectiveness of cracking down on elite brothel madams—but not their clients—in New York City. link
  7. Oblivious ‘Sex Traffickers’: Challenging stereotypes and the fairness of US trafficking laws Page 67 link 
  8. People in Alaska’s Sex Trade- Their Lived Experiences And Policy Recommendations
  9. Using Human Rights to Hold the US Accountable for its Anti-Sex Trafficking Agenda: The Universal Periodic Review and new directions for US policy (2012) link
  10.  Repeal FOSTA and Decriminalize Sex Work Crystal A. Jackson, Jenny Heineman (2018)
  11. Dangers-of-Safe-Harbor-Laws-Conner-2016
  12. REPORT ON LEGAL ADULT-SEX WORK  (CONTENT CREATORS)
  13. THE MODEL PENAL CODE & SEX WORK CRIMINALIZATION Derek J. Demeri*
  14. Welcome to the New Jim Crow Virtual Timeline Exhibit- and Resources Used for Exhibit
  15. Sex worker “focused” is not sex worker-led
  16. National ACLU calls for decriminalization of sex work; cites Rhode Island’s experience- 
  17. The Consequences of Misinformation about Sex Work and Sex Workers by NWSP December 2021
  18. Are You Being Sex Trafficked?
  19. Decriminalizing Sex Work – Policython Brief
  20. Coyote RI- Student- Intern Research
  21. The_Trafficking_in_Persons_Report_A_game
  22. Professor Explores Dark Side of the Anti-Trafficking Movement–
  23. Decriminalizing Sex Work – Policython Brief
  24. Over-Policing Sex Trafficking: How U.S. Law Enforcement Should Reform Operations 
  25. Quitting the Sex Trade: Keeping Narratives inside the Debates on Prostitution Policy and Legislation– 
  26. International Journal of Drug Policy—Volume 70,
  27. Duplicitous Freedom: Moral and Material Care Work in Anti-Trafficking Rescue and Rehabilitation 
  28. Protecting the Health and Rights of Sex Workers in the US and globally
  29. Condoms as evidence of prostitution in the United States and the criminalization of sex work- 2013
  30. Examining the Lasting Impact of SESTA

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

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

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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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

Earning Housing_ Removing Barriers to Housing to Improve the Health and Wellbeing of Chronically Homeless Sex Workers