Sex Trafficking of Juveniles.
On January 16 the Public Safety, Health and Civil Rights Committee we heard an in depth and very disturbing presentation about Minneapolis children being used and sold and learned that very real forms are slavery exist in our City today. At it, Sargent Grant A. Snyder reported on an innovative victim-centered approach being used to rescue victims of these terrible crimes. Minneapolis appears to a nexus for child sex trafficking. Victims are boys as well as girls and are found throughout the city. Every child rescued last year was a runaway. The approach recognizes juveniles involved in prostitution as victims and by working with them police are able to rescue them and prosecutors are more often able to bring felony charges against the people who traffic those girls and boys. The traditional method of arresting and prosecuting the youth as prostitutes has been far less effective, criminalizes the victims and does not address the root of the problem or prevent it fr...