Prostitution

Minneapolis Prostitution Locations

Throughout the 1970s, prostitution was centered on Nicollet Avenue in the Whittier Neighborhood, especially in and around what later became the 5th Precinct between 24th and 25th Streets. Police moved their station house to this area specifically to fight prostitution.

A second and more enduring prostitution stroll was located on East Lake Street in the area of Third and Fourth Avenues throughout the 1990s. In the 20-teens it has spread to include further east on Lake Street as far as the Global Market.

Loring Park was long known for its gay male prostitution, especially on Oak Grove Street, and lesser so on Willow Street and Spruce Place. This stroll was mostly extinguished in the 1990s due to the expansion of Internet prostitution.

Lake Street Prostitution

“Over the decades, prostitution on Lake Street has ebbed and flowed, depending on the neighborhood response.

According to [one neighbor], who lives on 15th Avenue off Lake Street, the late 1980s and early 1990s saw the problems exacerbated by the crack epidemic. Neighbors and business groups organized with block clubs and revitalization efforts. New developments arrived, including the In the Heart of the Beast at the Avalon, which had formerly been a porn theater, as well as the Midtown Global Market, which opened in 2001.”

Source: “The Hard Life on Lake Street: Inside Minneapolis’ sex-work hub.” City Pages. May 17, 2017 by Sheila Rega.

Scope Within Minnesota

• The Office of Justice Programs of the Minnesota Department of Public Safety compiles quantitative data via survey to measure the scope of trafficking (both labor and sex) in Minnesota. OJP found that:
• In 2006, 43% of service providers reported serving at least one trafficked person, while 21% were unsure as to whether they had served a trafficked person. 6
• Over a three year period ending in 2008, service providers identified 731 sex trafficking victims and 93 labor trafficking victims. 7
• In 2010, 18% of law enforcement and 78% of service providers stated their agency has had either a labor or sex trafficking arrest or investigation. 8
• 124 girls were sold on the internet in the month of August 2010 alone, which is a 55% increase since February 2010. 9
• According to one service provider, 8,000 to 12,000 people are estimated to be involved in prostitution/sex trafficking in Minnesota every day. 10
• In a North Minneapolis research project on prostitution/sex trafficking, 56% of people involved reported having had their first experience in prostitution/sex trafficking as a juvenile (under age 18). Studies in other U.S. cities found similar figures (Chicago, 62%; San Francisco, 78%). 11

Notes:

6 Minnesota Office of Justice Programs and Minnesota Statistical Analysis Center, Human Trafficking in Minnesota: A Report to the State Legislature. 2006. p. 6-7.

7 Minnesota Office of Justice Programs and Minnesota Statistical Analysis Center, Human Trafficking in Minnesota: A Report to the State Legislature. 2008.

8 Minnesota Office of Justice Programs and Minnesota Statistical Analysis Center, Human Trafficking in Minnesota: A Report to the State Legislature. 2010. p. 4.

9The Schapiro Group. Adolescent Girls in the United States Sex Trade. 2010.

10 V. Carter, Executive Director, Breaking Free, Press Release March 13, V. Carter estimated 6-8,000 in 2000 as cited in D. Hughes, “Race and Prostitution in the United States”, http://www.uri.edu/artsci/wms/hughes/pubtrfrep.htm. For more information on prostitution see, D. Hughes, “Fact Sheet: Domestic Sex Trafficking and Prostitution in the United States” at same URL.

11 L. Martin (Ph.D.), “North Minneapolis Prostitution Research Project”, conducted at Folwell Center, Minneapolis, MN (research conducted fall 2006, write-up in progress) – Sample size: 135.

Source: The Advocate for Human Rights, “The Facts: Sex Trafficking,” 2011