Pennsylvania State Police arrested and charged a woman with prostitution after receiving multiple complaints about suspected prostitution at a Washington County hair salon. Residents of the neighborhood near the salon were concerned about activity they witnessed and asked the police to investigate. Officers found websites discussing sex buyer’s interactions with the woman, her description, and her personal information. In response to the complaints, troopers arranged to meet the woman at the hair salon.
On April 19, an undercover trooper went to the salon for the appointment. The woman allegedly locked the doors to the salon and agreed to perform a sex act in exchange for payment. The troopers then arrested her. While the state troopers mentioned they are investigating an appointment book containing names of individuals who may have purchased sex from the woman or otherwise visited the salon, law enforcement has not definitively stated that any identified sex buyers will be arrested or prosecuted. The woman’s attorney reports that she has engaged in commercial sex for over a year to support herself and earn money for her daughter’s medical care.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, CBS Pittsburgh, and WPXI published the first and last name of the woman arrested for alleged prostitution crimes and the WPXI broadcast also included the woman’s photo in their report on the arrest. These practices perpetuate the harmful notion that people in prostitution are criminals rather than people who are exploited. The “choice” to sell sex is often made due to vulnerability, addiction, and in an effort to survive. Any choice made under these circumstances is no choice at all. Sex buyers always have the choice to not purchase sex and further the exploitation of an already vulnerable population.
Additionally, criminalization of persons in prostitution only enhances the traumatization and stigmatization. A single criminal conviction can serve as a massive barrier to stable employment, housing opportunities, immigration opportunities, federal student loans, and more. In this case, the woman’s criminal history suggests a life of financial vulnerability. After perpetual cycles of criminalization and subsequent victimization, she is ultimately faced with countless collateral legal consequences.
Formally charging victims with prostitution does nothing to eradicate the sex trade. It is the traffickers and buyers who perpetuate sexual exploitation and keep the commercial sex trade alive. The CSE Institute advocates for the Equality Model to combat commercial sexual exploitation. The Equality Model seeks to reduce the demand for commercial sex by criminalizing sex buyers and traffickers and decriminalizing prostituted people. The four pillars of the Equality Model are: (1) decriminalization of the person who is selling sex, (2) criminalization of sex buyers and facilitators, (3) educating the public about the harms of prostitution, and (4) funded, holistic exit services for victims of commercial sexual exploitation.
The CSE institute encourages law enforcement to target the demand for commercial sex by investigating, arresting, and prosecuting sex buyers and traffickers. The sex trade is a market-based system that relies on supply and demand. Prostitution would not occur without sex buyers, who are the demand that drives the sex trade. Buying sex and sexual exploitation are inherently linked. Thus, to target the root of sexual exploitation, law enforcement must use their resources and efforts to target sex buyers rather than those being exploited in prostitution.
The CSE Institute will provide updates on this matter as they become available.
All views expressed herein are personal to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Villanova University Charles Widger School of Law or of Villanova University.