According to the Times-Tribune, police in Scranton, Pennsylvania charged two women with prostitution on March 16, 2018. One woman, a thirty-three-year-old originally from Pittston, was initially charged with prostitution, making repairs/selling offensive weapons, use/possession of drug paraphernalia, and possession of an instrument of crime. On March 26, 2018, she pled guilty to prostitution and the other charges were withdrawn. As of March 26, 2018, she is awaiting sentencing.
The other woman, a twenty-six-year-old from Washington, D.C., was charged with prostitution and possession of an instrument of crime. Her preliminary hearing is scheduled for April 30, 2018.
Scranton police officers from the street crimes unit allegedly contacted both women online and negotiated payment in exchange for sexual acts. Both women were arrested in a parking lot located at 300 Meadow Avenue.
The Times-Tribune article does not indicate whether any attempts were made to identify either woman as a victim of human trafficking. There was also no mention of a search for any alleged sex buyers. While Pennsylvania law criminalizes the purchase of sex, sex buyers are prosecuted much less frequently than prostituted persons. In 2016, sex buyers comprised less than 22% of commercial sex related arrests in Pennsylvania.
Rather than focusing on arresting prostituted persons, The CSE Institute instead encourages demand-driven law enforcement tactics based on the Nordic Model. The Nordic Model decriminalizes the selling of sex and provides vital social services to enable prostituted persons to exit “the life”. This model also focuses on arresting those who purchase or sell others for sex as a means to curb commercial sexual exploitation, all together. The CSE Institute is hopeful that by mirroring the Nordic Model and focusing on traffickers who profit from exploitation, and the demand, which drives the market for commercial sex, local authorities can take meaningful steps towards eliminating sexual exploitation in their jurisdictions.
All views expressed herein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.