Was looking at columns I wrote in early 2014, and this one caught my attention.
Oh, the comments today will be priceless….
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Seeking a career in government? Skip healthcare, welfare, transportation, and education. For job security, consider joining the battle against sex trafficking.
From D.C. to state capitals to local police stations, greater attention and resources are being devoted to what the FBI calls “the fastest-growing business of organized crime and the third-largest criminal enterprise in the world.” Politicians and bureaucrats have launched the usual responses: public hearings, press conferences, blue-ribbon commissions, task forces. Policy prescriptions are proliferating, too: tougher penalties for offenders, the creation of special courts, greater surveillance tactics for law enforcement, social-media campaigns.
Sex-trafficking crusaders exaggerate the severity of the problem in order to garner coverage in a hyper-saturated media environment. But regardless of the accuracy of their data, anecdotes about “the most common form of modern-day slavery” (again, the FBI) can be harrowing. That’s why it’s unfortunate that the people who claim to care so intensely for sex trafficking’s victims ignore a powerful tool to combat the offense.
Prostitution enjoys government’s blessing in Columbia, Senegal, and Bangladesh. But unbeknownst to many Americans, turning tricks is legal, regulated, and taxed in several developed nations — most notably, Greece, Germany, the Netherlands, and parts of Australia. (Bonn, The New York Times reported in 2011, “has begun collecting taxes from prostitutes with an automated pay station similar to a parking meter.”) Late last year, Canada’s Supreme Court unanimously ruled that its country’s anti-prostitution laws were “grossly disproportionate,” and ordered Parliament to craft coherent legislation.
Not impressed by foreigners’ enlightenment and open-mindedness? It’s not necessary to look abroad to find “fallen” women operating on the right side of the law.
In 1970, a rural county in the northwest portion of Nevada adopted a brothel ordinance. The following year, Carson City set policy for the entire state. Casino pressure ensured that prostitution remained verboten in Sin City’s Clark County, but out in the sticks, the locals could decide for themselves whether to license (quoting the statute) “house[s] of ill fame or repute.” Some do, some don’t.
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