End Slavery In Nevada

THE CASE

INTRODUCTION

Bekah Charleston and Angela Delgado-Williams were sex trafficked due to Nevada’s system of legalized prostitution and are now, via their lawsuit Charleston v. State of Nevada, seeking to hold the state of Nevada responsible for protecting the commercial sex trade and enabling sex slavery.

ARGUMENT

Nevada’s prostitution scheme, including the way it is promoted and advertised, conflicts with tough federal laws that ban sex trafficking and taking women across state lines for purposes of prostituting them as well as the Thirteenth Amendment’s ban on any form of involuntary servitude upon which the federal anti-trafficking law is grounded.

DESIRED OUTCOME

The lawsuit seeks an order that would: 1) void any county ordinances licensing brothels, 2) invalidate the state law permitting prostitution, and 3) provide exit services and resources to women prostituted through Nevada's legal brothels.

Update To The Case

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE) issued a statement with an update in the lawsuit, Charleston v. Nevada.

THE FACTS

Research shows that legal prostitution has failed to protect women from sexual exploitation, violence, or psychological trauma and that it has led to a massive illegal sex industry in the state of Nevada. Also, legalized prostitution violates the United States Constitution by enabling slavery. 

THE 13TH AMENDMENT

WHAT IS THE 13TH AMENDMENT?

The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution forbids all forms of slavery and involuntary servitude from existing in the United States, except as a punishment for crime. It was ratified in 1865 to abolish slavery following the Civil War. Even though slavery was illegal after the Amendment’s ratification, states continued to create conditions of de facto slavery through various laws, including contract laws.

One such Alabama statute made it a crime for anyone “with intent to injure or defraud his employer” to enter into a written contract for services, receive payment, and breach the contract by not performing or returning the money. Bailey v. State of Alabama, 219 U.S. 219, 227-28 (1911) (cleaned up). Alabama maintained that the statute’s purpose was to prevent fraud.  The Supreme Court held in Bailey v. State of Alabama that such laws violated the Thirteenth Amendment, because threatening criminal charges for failure to perform a contract was a way to coerce labor through a form of debt bondage.  

In short, states cannot use a regulatory system to do indirectly what they cannot do directly. Southern states still could regulate contract law. They just could not regulate it in a way that guaranteed chattel slavery would continue in another form.

HOW DOES THE 13TH AMENDMENT
APPLY TO BROTHELS IN NEVADA?

Nevada is violating the Thirteenth Amendment by creating conditions that enable slavery, specifically in the form of sex trafficking and involuntary sexual servitude. Nevada has provided legal cover for prostitution, which is inextricably intertwined with rape, coercion, and violence.  The demand for prostitution leads to sex trafficking.  

By making prostitution legal in certain counties, Nevada has given not only local men an incentive to purchase women in prostitution, but given other men a reason to travel to Nevada, which markets itself as a sex tourist destination, and derives a significant percentage of its GDP from tourism. This is called the sex buying demand. When it goes up, so does the number of women “necessary” to supply it, and at least some will be forced to do so.

Men travel to Nevada to buy sex because they incorrectly believe it is legal throughout the state, and the sex industry in Nevada exploits this misconception with impunity, that is, by operating both legal and illegal brothels that violate federal immigration and anti-trafficking law, without facing enforcement from Nevada. Thus, the State of Nevada has violated the Plaintiffs’ constitutional right not to be enslaved, though maintaining a legal scheme that enabled and protected the Nevada sex trade.

October 20, 2020 at 2:00pm EDT

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WEBINAR DETAILS 

October 20, 2020 at 2:00pm EDT

LEADER BRIEFING: Courts to Hear Case Arguing Nevada Complicit of Slavery Because of Prostitution Laws

Occasionally, we are faced with landmark opportunities that have the potential to change the world as we know it. This is one of them. 

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has agreed to hear oral arguments in the landmark case, Charleston v. State of Nevada. Two survivors of sex trafficking in Nevada’s legal brothels are suing the State of Nevada for its laws allowing for legalized prostitution. These bold survivors are arguing that Nevada is in violation of the 13th Amendment, which forbids slavery and involuntary servitude from existing in the U.S. Nevada is violating the 13th Amendment by creating conditions that enable slavery, specifically in the form of sex trafficking and involuntary sexual servitude.

We invite leaders in the #EndExploitation Movement to this briefing for an insider’s update on the case, how this impacts our movement (especially our efforts to combat the full-decriminalization of prostitution), and the game plan for educating the public on this with your help!

Panelists:

• Rebekah Charleston, Survivor of Nevada’s Legal Brothels, Plaintiff in this case

• Jason Guinasso, Attorney; Lead attorney in this case

• Christen Price, Legal Counsel, National Center on Sexual Exploitation; Co-counsel in this case

• Melissa Holland, Founder, Awaken; Provides direct services to women in prostitution in Nevada & leads local efforts to overturn  NV’s prostitution laws

• Angela Delgado-Williams, Survivor of Sex Trafficking in Nevada

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