The former detective was sentenced to 33 months for running five illicit massage parlors that offered commercial sex services and exploited workers.
  • cbarrick@lemmy.worldEnglish
    341·
    9 months ago

    The former detective and three parlor managers allegedly exploited their employees, […]

    This is the only sentence with any real meaning in the entire article.

    Sex work is work, and if there is no victim then there is no crime.

    But this single half-sentence claims that the employees were victims, without elaborating further.

    So props if the cops actually helped someone, but if they’re just arresting people for prostitution then there are better uses of tax dollars.

    • Seraph@kbin.social
      8·
      9 months ago

      To your point the line between sex trafficking and prostitution needs to be more clear, but I think that’s difficult when sex work is illegal.

      The only reason I can think that politicians wouldn’t want the taxes from sex workers is because they themselves would be the primary funders.

      • Zorque@kbin.social
        8·
        9 months ago

        They don’t want to make it legal because pearl-clutchers actually turn up to elections.

  • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
    15·
    9 months ago

    Legalize and regulate sex work the same as any other industry. Every state will have a designated area where it is found and people who don’t want to be around it will avoid it. Free STDs testing, heavily taxed brothels, license to operate, fair wages, age verification, mandatory insurance for workers comp, active registry list of known violent offenders, mandatory reporting by managers of workers being assaulted.

    I have never used the services of a sex worker and I have zero interest in ever doing so. That doesn’t change how I think the policy should be drafted.

    • sylver_dragon@lemmy.worldEnglish
      5·
      9 months ago

      Selling’s legal, fucking’s legal. Why isn’t selling fucking legal?
      Jokes aside, a legal and regulated sex trade just makes far more sense than ceding the entire industry to the black market. The idea that we could ever stamp it out is so blindingly stupid that anyone with that thought in their head should be tested for mental impairment. So, instead of actually reducing harm, we have driven the sex trade underground. We’ve made it insanely profitable for criminal organizations to engage in human trafficking and sex slavery. Assholes like the one mentioned in the article abuse positions of power to force vulnerable women into sex slavery and keep them there, as they are afraid to seek out help from the authorities. Vice officers, like the asshole in the article end up focused on arresting and jailing the sex workers, ensuring that those sex workers will be afraid and unwilling to cooperate with the police when they either witness or are victims of crime.

      It’s long past time that we realize that we accept that Prohibition, in all it’s forms, was a dumb idea. Legalize, regulate and focus on harm reduction, rather than letting a bunch of holier-than-thou assholes try to dictate how others live via the force of government.

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
        3·
        9 months ago

        My state setup an automatic license plate scanner in an area known for it. Started sending letters to people’s homes with photographs of their car and a notice that they were driving in the area. Fucking creepy as all hell. People being made to feel afraid for the act of driving on a public road. Who knows how many people were just getting gas or going to work at a nightshift getting harassed by Big Brother.