Decriminalization Ends Sex Trafficking

Friday, January 23, the San Francisco Chronicle broke a front-page headline story about four homes in San Francisco’s Sunset district that were raided by the federal government. They broke up a ring that was allegedly smuggling undocumented women from Asia and forcing them to commit prostitution. The madam and her husband are being charged with conspiracy and trafficking of humans for sexual purposes. The girls that are the victims in this situation are being held by the federal government in Santa Rita jail and are facing deportation. Under provisions of the USA PATRIOT ACT visas may be exchanged for information to be used against the traffickers, but there is no guarantee. Girls that testify may have their families and loved ones targeted and killed by the traffickers. If they are deported after testifying they may also be killed. Although SWOP disagrees with coerced prostitution and the trafficking of women and children, we must consider the unintended outcomes of action taken against the victims of organized smuggling rings.

One step toward a solution is to decriminalize prostitution. Decriminalized prostitution would remove the black market profit incentive for traffickers and would reduce the smuggling of women. Prohibition provides cover for traffickers and pimps. It allows them to use the laws against prostitution to intimidate, especially when it comes to children. Women and girls being held against their will are afraid to go to police because they will be treated as criminals. The existing law leads to isolation of women. This is especially true for those that have language barriers. It prevents them from seeking police protection for themselves or others that are in trouble. Decriminalizing prostitution doesn’t mean decriminalizing trafficking. The purpose of halting trafficking is to protect the women who are the victims of it, but until we decriminalize prostitution we will not achieve that goal.

Existing zoning laws for all businesses would prevent brothels from locating in residential neighborhoods. Other countries like Australia, New Zealand and the Netherlands have successfully decriminalized and regulated the sex worker industry. We can use the existing models and experiences to ease the transition in our own country. Decriminalization of prostitution will not be the end of the problems or the answer to all our questions. It will however protect women and sex workers who have been marginalized in our community from acts of violence. It will be the beginning of the hard work that will follow in order to come up with a real solution to a problem that has always existed and will not be solved by our present law enforcement approach.