SEX TRAFFICKING: Supply, Demand, and Distribution

The notion of demand is one aspect of a three part interaction in human trafficking and prostitution.  There is supply which references the prostitutes or victims of trafficking who the sex is being bought from; there is demand which represents the purchasers or “johns” who seek sexual services; the third element is distribution which is the final transaction and often is facilitated by human traffickers or pimps.  Distribution in the commercial industry comes in different forms such as escort services, strip clubs, street prostitution, massage parlors, storefronts, and web based transactions.  There is a disproportionate level of legal accountability between the prostitutes, johns, and traffickers; often times it is the woman who is arrested while the male customer is not.  Law enforcement claims many excuses for this, mostly having to do with not enough time, money, and/or manpower while vehemently denying blatant sexism and failing miserably to recognize an elementary marketing rule: in order to sell something, one must have customers to sell it to.  It is the need that creates the product or service, not the other way around.   Instead, the blame is placed on the woman who may or may not be willfully prostituting herself, making it impossible to initially determine if she is intentionally committing a crime, and yet, it is the prostitute who is arrested most of the time.  Then there is the customer, who as Dr. Williamson stated in the lecture, is always committing a crime, yet rarely ever arrested. 

            Demand is addressed in different ways.  The direct approach from a distribution standpoint is to provide the customers with locations that the illicit transaction can take place.  Again, these are mainly in brothels, strip clubs, or other places where the act can occur out of the sight of others.  How demand is addressed from a law enforcement perspective is that the vast majority of arrests and prosecutions are not of the johns.  The legal system’s punishment of the demand aspect of buying sex is far less severe than that of the supply and distribution end of it.  There have been recent revisions in sex trafficking laws, however that charge the buyers of a trafficking victim with being an actual human trafficker.  Also, if a buyer claims to not have known the victim is under the age of eighteen, he can still be charged with soliciting a minor, whereas under the previous laws, he could avoid this.

            One of the current legal system approaches to prostitution is to simply arrest the woman, and have her face a judge to hand down any variety of punishments.  Another tactic is to stage sting operations where a male officer poses as a customer and pretends to solicit a prostitute.  The other side of the sting operation is that a female officer poses as a prostitute, and waits for a john to approach her while other officers wait hidden in the background, ready to pounce on the john and arrest him.  A more structured way the legal system deals with prostitution is how each offense is addressed and verifies the punishment given.  For example, a first time offender is offered the opportunity to enter “John School”, and for a fee of two hundred fifty dollars, he can have his charge dismissed and nothing will show up on his record if he completes the class.  There does not seem to be the same opportunities for first time offenders who are prostitutes (that I know or have heard of) to wipe the slate clean for their rap sheets.

 For these reasons, the legal system’s approach to prostitution seems illogically biased and highly sexist.  The history and the evidence prove this.  Some miniscule strides have been made such as the recent law revisions on human trafficking, as well as some progressive programs that give prostitutes necessary resources to leave the profession such as the GIFT program based out of Minneapolis.  Yet, there is not nearly enough done to address demand.  There should be more legal accountability such as arrests, incarceration, and maybe even some sort of a public humiliation element such as having a john’s name of picture appear in a newspaper or on television.  It may serve as a deterrent for a lot more men if they knew for sure that their loved ones would find out and might also be subjected to the humiliation.  Not to say that innocent people should suffer for one person’s crime, but it could play a part in the prevention aspect of this issue.  Overall, not enough is being done to address demand and more serious and drastic tactics must be implemented in order to make lasting changes.

Early prevention starts with education. It should start at the high school level with some of the facts of prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases being included in sex education or health classes.  Speakers such as former prostitutes as well as law enforcement officials should visit schools and inform adolescents of this issue.  Raising awareness in the community such as with literature, town hall meetings, organized races, or through the media are other ways to aid in early prevention.  With so many resources providing prostitution services that are available on the internet, law enforcement officers can stage “sting” operations and set up the perpetrators in order to prevent a transaction from occurring.  The internet, just as with cell phones and smart phones, leaves a “paper” trail.  It leaves a trace, in other words, evidence that can be confiscated once an arrest takes place and a warrant is served so that the entire operation can be shut down so as to prevent future crimes of this nature.  Again, to reiterate the humiliation end of it, there should be more widely known methods of public humiliation as a way to prevent potential customers of prostitution from following through on the transaction.  This may be why so many men enter John School; it wipes the slate clean, no one finds out, it stays off their record, and they can essentially go on with their lives and pretend that it never happened.  If there were laws in place (I would call it the “Name, Blame, and Shame Law”) that guaranteed a man would be exposed for this crime; his family, friends, employer, and complete strangers would know, it seems that there would be far less men who would partake in this.  In any matter, the legal system would be wise to invest in prevention programs as well as addressing demand in prostitution and human trafficking.  With so much time and money spent on the supply end of it, a newer, more progressive approach should be considered because it is obvious that by not holding the demand aspect accountable, prostitution and human trafficking will continue to plague our communities.

 

Works Cited

Shively, Michael. Jalbert, Sarah Kuck. Kling, Ryan, et al.  Final Report on the

            Evaluation of the First Offender Prostitution Program.  Cambridge.  Abt

            Associates, Inc.  2005.

 

Williamson, C.  (2011, October).  The Invisible Component.  Lecture conducted

            From Toledo, Ohio.