Crackdown on prostitution shows true nature of crime

A special two-day report in The Vindicator this week by reporters Jordyn Grzelewski and Joe Gorman placed a spotlight on the causes and effects of what some erroneously call the “victimless crime” of prostitution

Our detailed and illuminating report parallels an increased focus on and heightened prosecution of prostitution and human-trafficking incidents in the Mahoning Valley, the state of Ohio and the nation.

That focus is rightly placed as it helps to debunk a common myth that combating prostitution is a waste of public time and resources by an unreasonable and intrusive Nanny State.

But considering that prostitution and its big brother human trafficking have proven links to sexual harassment, rape, battering, verbal abuse, domestic violence, illicit drug trafficking, child-sex abuse, assault and homicide, one can hardly call the crime one without countless victims.

Research shows that women in prostitution have the highest rates of rape and homicide of any group of women studied, and that they suffer injury equivalent to victims of state-sponsored torture. In addition, mortality among sex workers is disproportionately high – the leading causes of death being homicide, drug ingestion, accidents, and alcohol-related causes, according to a study in the Journal of Epidemiology.

When placing prostitution in the context of human trafficking, its destructive and criminal impacts come into even sharper focus. Human trafficking, the illegal trade of human beings for sex and forced labor, generates billions of dollars annually in ill-gotten profits around the globe – second only to the scourge of drug trafficking, according to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Trafficking victims

About 17,500 people are estimated to be trafficked in the United States every year, according to the Congressional Research Service, while approximately 100,000 Americans are believed to be victims of trafficking at any given time in our nation.

Sadly, the Buckeye State suffers disproportionately from this social cancer. Ohio ranks fifth highest in the nation in cases with 375 reported last year, according to Polaris, a nonprofit organization that tracks human trafficking. These 2016 numbers represent a whopping 400 percent increase in Ohio since 2013.

Clearly, at that spiraling rate, local state and federal authorities can ill afford to turn a blind eye. To gain any measureable ground in the battle, however, both the supply and demand sides of the scourge must be targeted aggressively.

That includes the johns and the pimps, including the biggest and most notorious pimp of them all, the Dallas-based sleazy website Backpage.com that for years has served as a fertile recruitment ground for the industry.

We commend the growing ranks of law-enforcement agencies and government departments that have made a war on prostitution and human trafficking a much more serious priority.

As Grzelewski and Gorman reported in their series, that crackdown has been visible in the Mahoning Valley. The Austintown Police Department, for example, has made about 25 arrests on prostitution-related charges so far this year, more than eight times the level of all of 2015.

Just last week, Warren police raided and shut down a house in a residential area believed to have been a center for drug and human trafficking.

Then earlier this week came reports of a cooperative sting by state and local authorities that put a dent in the Valley sex industry. A coalition sting of about 10 local police departments and state agencies netted arrests of nine men on prostitution-related charges.

“The demand for the sex trade is a major driving force behind human trafficking, and that is why undercover operations like this are so important,” Attorney General Mike DeWine said after the sting. He also vowed more raids will follow.

In Washington, U.S. Sen. Rob Portman is leading the charge against human trafficking in Congress. The bill he introduced last month, the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act of 2017, would no longer provide legal cover for Backpage.com to ply its trashy trade. We reiterate our call for its swift and bipartisan passage.

Collectively, deterrent actions at all government and law-enforcement levels must continue and intensify.