Forthcoming: The Fallacy of Free Will in Prostitution: Encouraging Prostitution Reform to Prevent the Repeated Victimization of Vulnerable Persons

The crisis of human trafficking has gained increasing attention during the past decade. Sale, coercion, and exploitation of human beings still thrive in the darkest corners of the safest cities. In 2003, the United Nations passed the Trafficking in Persons Protocol, urging states to pass legislation prosecuting perpetrators of trafficking and protecting victims. While nations across the world have begun to institute new laws to fulfill the obligations created by the protocol, these efforts still fall short of controlling the worst activities. The failure to protect women and children from sexual exploitation lies with ineffective legislation. A lack of ability to prosecute, weak criminal sanctions, and a failure to treat victims as trafficked persons has stunted progress in trafficking control. This note addresses the specific problem of sexual exploitation of victims by analyzing the Palermo Protocol’s stipulations as it refers to sexual exploitation and prostitution and comparing and contrasting different methods of combating sexual trafficking through prostitution reform. Finally, this note will suggest how the United States can change its laws to further the Palermo Protocol’s mission and protect victims of human trafficking. While there is no perfect solution currently, there are valuable methods the U.S. can apply to seek improvement of the status quo.