SIOUX FALLS S.D. (KELO)– Call to freedom, an anti-human trafficking group based in South Dakota, spoke on the verdict in the Sean Combs trial, voicing their concerns about the result of the trial and the precedent it may set.
Sean “Diddy” Combs was found guilty on two counts of transporting individuals for prostitution but was acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking. Combs faces a maximum sentence of 10 years for each of the prostitution charges. He remains in jail as he awaits sentencing and was denied bail.
Call to Freedom Founder, Becky Rasmussen, said they work with clients every day that have been victimized by human trafficking daily, adding the verdict was not what they were hoping for.
“Yesterday when we got the verdict — we don’t view it as a win. We appreciate the ability that the system is now prosecuting some of these cases, however it was not the verdict we were hoping for,” Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen said there are several elements that can go into sex trafficking and more education on the topic is needed.
“There is a lot of education that needs to happen for people to truly understand force, fraud, and coercion and what elements are present when that is a sex trafficking case,” Rasmussen said. “What we saw is women that were in fear, women that were coerced by drugs, women that didn’t feel like they had a voice to say no and to safely leave that situation.”
Human trafficking is the use of force, fraud, or coercion to exploit somebody for either sex or labor. Rasmussen said human trafficking can take many forms and may not be what people expect.
“It doesn’t always look like what you see the movies, where people are tied up or they’re kidnapped. What we’re seeing is manipulation by a trafficker, just as in the P. Diddy case, you saw, she was married, the victim was married to her perpetrator,” Rasmussen. “We see a lot of what we call grooming and manipulation, where they’re actually building relationships with the victim before they introduce them to their trafficking situation.”
Rasmussen said that the results of this trial will serve to silence the voices of victims rather than empower them. She added there is also a bias in the community of what prostitution looks like, saying there can be several different elements in place when it comes to sex trafficking.
“We really have to look at what elements are happening behind the scene, are there drugs involved? Are they forcing this individual through, holding their children as well as maybe forcing them through holding their basic needs? These are all indicators of human trafficking and specifically sex trafficking,” Rasmussen said.
Rasmussen said her hope is that there will be additional conversations talking about what human trafficking looks like.
“Our hope is that we have more conversations and education that were intentional within our systems to change laws, to better define force fraud and coercion so we’re not in these situations,” Rasmussen said. “We would really like our judicial system to look at this process and really use it as a case study on how we can approach this.”
