On June 9, state troopers arrested a 23-year-old woman after she allegedly offered commercial sex to two undercover officers in Williamsport, Pennsylvania. She has since been charged with prostitution and possession of a controlled substance. She waived her preliminary hearing and was scheduled for formal arraignment on September 15.
On June 9, Pennsylvania State Police officers orchestrated an undercover operation at the intersection of West Fourth and William streets in Williamsport. During this operation, the woman allegedly agreed to accept $400 each from two undercover state troopers in exchange for “sexual favors,” according to the criminal complaint. At the time of the woman’s arrest, officers also allegedly found a small amount of marijuana in her possession.
This arrest is merely the latest example of the systemic failures plaguing law enforcement’s response to the sex trade. When law enforcement orchestrates paid-sex sting operations, they utilize precious resources to criminalize the very people they are supposed to protect. This predatory tactic does absolutely nothing to dismantle commercial sexual exploitation – it does not stop traffickers, nor does it deter real buyers who drive the demand for commercial sex. In this case, it is unclear whether Pennsylvania State Police orchestrated this undercover operation to specifically target people in prostitution. Nonetheless, state troopers could have offered the woman in prostitution support and resources. Instead, they capitalized on her vulnerability. The criminalization of prostitution in this case will have detrimental impacts, both on this young woman and the anti-trafficking movement as a whole.
Holistic, trauma-informed exit services, including stable housing, mental health care, substance use treatment, and job retraining, are vital for people in prostitution. Assuming the allegations in this matter are true, saddling a 23-year-old woman with accusations of prostitution, possession of drugs, and a $5,000 bail fee does not aid her ability to access to these necessary services and exit “the life” if she chooses to do so. Rather, her arrest creates a criminal record that may disqualify her from future employment, isolate her from society, and leave her financially indebted to the criminal justice system. By arresting her, the state is actively perpetuating the cycle of exploitation and obstructing this young woman’s ability to move forward with a life outside of prostitution.
The demand for commercial sex is what keeps the sex trade alive. However, in this operation, no sex buyers were arrested and no demand was reduced. The CSE Institute advocates for the Equality Model and supports law enforcement targeting demand in the sex trade. The four key elements of the Equality Model are (1) decriminalization of persons in prostitution, (2) criminalization of sex buyers and facilitators with a commitment to treating buying sex as a serious crime, (3) a public education campaign about the inherent harms of prostitution, and (4) funded, robust, holistic exist services for victims of commercial sexual exploitation. The Equality Model recognizes that people in prostitution are not perpetrators of crime – they are survivors of gender-based violence whose needs should be centered in all efforts to combat the sex trade.
The CSE Institute urges Pennsylvania State Police to target sex buyers, rather than people in prostitution. Arresting vulnerable individuals is performative policing that targets the wrong side of the demand equation that does not make our communities safer – it only perpetuates the cycle of abuse. It is time for law enforcement to stop treating survivors like criminals and start doing real work by prosecuting the buyers driving the market and providing exit services that survivors deserve.
The CSE Institute will continue to provide updates on this matter.
All views expressed therein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.