Lois Lee, founder and president of “Children of the Night,” an organization that provides housing and educational services for sex trafficking victims, points out how the public relations campaigns to shut down websites like Craigslist or Backpage.com has simply pushed the industry further underground. Unlike Lois Lee, many people in the anti-trafficking industry consider the terms “prostitution” and “trafficking” to be synonymous; therefore, they want strong anti-prostitution laws. However, these groups are generally blinded by their ideology and never mention how it would be easier to catch traffickers in a more transparent environment.
Unfortunately, our government has demonstrated poor leadership at the federal level with this issue. …show more content…
Just a few months after the 9/11 attacks, a Miami prostitute contacted the local authorities because one of her clients, a Middle Eastern man, alluded to an upcoming terrorist attack. Hence, the local authorities put her in touch with the FBI, but they never found any relevant information regarding terrorism. Nonetheless they proceeded to tap the phone of that informant’s madam in Miami, Judy Krueger. Thereupon, the FBI listened to more than 14,000 of Krueger’s calls. Ultimately, they discovered that Krueger was part of a national escort agency, “The Circuit,” which featured highly-paid call girls earning as much as $1,000 an hour in most major U.S. cities. Again, there was no evidence that any of these women were being coerced in any way. Nonetheless, Krueger received a sentence of 21 months in prison, a stronger penalty than the Medicare fraudster, Howard Lippton’s. Moreover, Krueger’s sentence would have been 30 months longer if she hadn’t snitched on a dozen other people across the …show more content…
There are several reasons why the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) strongly supports the decriminalization of prostitution and this is arguably the most important. We all would hope that the police would respond with an effort comparable to something from an episode of CSI if we were ever murdered. Yet, prostitutes don’t expect such basic protections. The fact that prostitutes are generally reluctant to report any instance of abuse has emboldened some sadistic serial killers. The Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway, once said, “I picked prostitutes as my victims because I hated most prostitutes, and I did not want to pay them for sex. I knew they would not be reported missing right away and might never be reported missing. I picked prostitutes because I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught.” He eventually pled guilty to the murder of 49 different women, most of whom were prostitutes. Thus, December 17th has since been recognized as the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers as that was the date that Ridgway was
Unfortunately, our government has demonstrated poor leadership at the federal level with this issue. …show more content…
Just a few months after the 9/11 attacks, a Miami prostitute contacted the local authorities because one of her clients, a Middle Eastern man, alluded to an upcoming terrorist attack. Hence, the local authorities put her in touch with the FBI, but they never found any relevant information regarding terrorism. Nonetheless they proceeded to tap the phone of that informant’s madam in Miami, Judy Krueger. Thereupon, the FBI listened to more than 14,000 of Krueger’s calls. Ultimately, they discovered that Krueger was part of a national escort agency, “The Circuit,” which featured highly-paid call girls earning as much as $1,000 an hour in most major U.S. cities. Again, there was no evidence that any of these women were being coerced in any way. Nonetheless, Krueger received a sentence of 21 months in prison, a stronger penalty than the Medicare fraudster, Howard Lippton’s. Moreover, Krueger’s sentence would have been 30 months longer if she hadn’t snitched on a dozen other people across the …show more content…
There are several reasons why the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) strongly supports the decriminalization of prostitution and this is arguably the most important. We all would hope that the police would respond with an effort comparable to something from an episode of CSI if we were ever murdered. Yet, prostitutes don’t expect such basic protections. The fact that prostitutes are generally reluctant to report any instance of abuse has emboldened some sadistic serial killers. The Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway, once said, “I picked prostitutes as my victims because I hated most prostitutes, and I did not want to pay them for sex. I knew they would not be reported missing right away and might never be reported missing. I picked prostitutes because I thought I could kill as many of them as I wanted without getting caught.” He eventually pled guilty to the murder of 49 different women, most of whom were prostitutes. Thus, December 17th has since been recognized as the International Day to End Violence Against Sex Workers as that was the date that Ridgway was