Reply #85: My point is the means are not necessarily criminal

[jeff47]

There are women who have decided that leaving their poverty-stricken country and prostituting themselves is their least-bad option. From what little I can gather from the media, this is why that sweep in the UK didn't find a lot of trafficked women. As for why they're brought to another country, well people from poor countries work cheap. Whether it's on their backs or in a factory.

I fully admit that this scenario is nearly a "Sophie's Choice" level of decision where there is no good option. But the women in that situation have gone into this career with their eyes open.

And if prostitution is legalized, why exactly should the Johns be arrested? If the crime is trafficking, then the traffickers need to be arrested for kidnapping. We should attack the actual problem (and crime). Because arresting the Johns won't stop trafficking, just like it doesn't stop it in countries were prostitution is illegal.

There are solutions, such as some sort of licensing scheme for prostitutes which could be used to bring them in one-on-one contact with the authorities on a regular basis where they could ask for help. AFAIK, Nevada's brothels don't have a big trafficking problem, which may be partially due to the licensing system there. But I suspect such a scheme would have the same problems as having prostitution illegal where the traffickers would just not get licenses.