On January 23, 2023, Lackawanna County detectives arrested a woman at the Rodeway Inn in Moosic, Pennsylvania for drug possession and prostitution. According to The Times-Tribune, an undercover detective responded to an online advertisement allegedly posted by the woman where she advertised commercial sex. An arrangement was allegedly made between the woman and the undercover detective to engage in sex acts in exchange for money. The woman was later apprehended by authorities at the motel. Authorities allege that the woman then turned over forty-eight packets containing fentanyl, a gram of crystal methamphetamine, a digital scale, and several hypodermic needles. The Times Tribune does not indicate whether there were any attempts to identify the woman as a victim of human trafficking, nor is there any mention of potential investigations into alleged sex buyers who may have responded to the website advertisement.
After her arrest, she was charged with prostitution (a third-degree misdemeanor), two counts of possession of drug paraphernalia, two counts of intentional possession of a controlled substance by person not registered, and one count of manufacture, delivery, or possession with intent to distribute. The woman was ultimately released on $75,000 unsecured bail. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for February 9, 2023.
Relatedly, it is worth noting that multiple readers of The Times Tribune article felt compelled to comment on the exploitation of the woman. User SeriouslyNow wrote, “[b]usiness must be good if she posted bail!” and user SLR Pirate wrote, “I guess she had working from home job!” Prostituted persons are victims of sexual violence and often lack choice when engaging in commercial sexual acts. Conversely, a sex buyer always has the choice whether or not to purchase sex. Regardless, prostituted persons are still the object of ridicule, as evidenced by the comment section in The Times Tribune article.
We encourage Lackawanna County detectives to target the demand of commercial sex. Contrasting with historical methods of policing the sex trade which target already-marginalized people, a demand driven approach targets the people who buy sex and follows the basic economic theory that supply follows demand. Thereby offering a more effective means to battle human trafficking and curb commercial sex. The CSE Institute supports the Equality Model to combat commercial sexual exploitation. Commercial sexual exploitation has decreased in countries where the Equality Model has been implemented.
The Equality Model consists of four key elements: (1) decriminalization of the prostituted person, (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 exit services for victims of commercial sexual exploitation. The Equality Model directly targets the demand for buying sex by criminalizing sex buyers and traffickers, while decriminalizing the people who are being bought and sold for commercial sex. Furthermore, the decriminalization of people in prostitution recognizes those who are bought and sold for sex as exploited, not as perpetrators of a crime.
The CSE Institute will continue to provide updates on this matter.
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.