Exploring the Financial Link of Sex Work and Human Trafficking
The war on human trafficking can very well be the war against American civil liberty violations.
Through ESPLERP’s work to fulfill its mission statement to empower the erotic community and advance sexual privacy rights, the personal accounts of the community underlined the frightening notion of mass violation of civil liberties. According to a study by ESPLERP, the funds meant to address human trafficking are often used to arrest and prosecute sex workers and do not necessarily help victims or bring their abusers to justice. It is seemingly farfetched to jump from one point to another, but the leap may not be as wide when defining the difference between sex trafficking and consenting adults.
The operative word here is consent.
How do law enforcement officers tell the difference between victims and willing participants? Furthermore, are trafficked victims being arrested and charged with prostitution based on the tactics of officers? Implementation of up-to-date strategies, including trauma-informed care and harm reduction, and partnering with community-based organizations serving vulnerable populations can very well be supported by transparency from public agencies like probation and district attorneys. The number of arrests and prosecutions, methods of profiling and discovery of evidence, and training material can clarify the murkiness of these questions.
“We know that local, state, and federal law enforcement agencies in California are increasingly turning to technology to target sex workers and our clients, from surveillance equipment to online undercover operations. What tools police use to surveil us on a day-to-day or case-by-case basis is a closely guarded secret. The victims of these overzealous prostitution investigations often never learn how digital tools were used against them.”
ESPLER Project Inc., attempted to gather the data necessary to answer these questions by making CPRA requests, and the responses, or lack thereof, highlighted a worrisome correlation between human trafficking initiatives and violation of privacy rights. In the comprehensive report, ESPLER spotlights grim tactics used by County sheriffs, District Attorneys, and Probation & Police departments to promote prostitution and loitering tickets and arrests, all in the guise of fighting human traffickers. In 1968, California Public Records Act was signed, stating “that governmental records shall be disclosed to the public, upon request, unless there is a specific c reason not to do so. Most reasons for withholding disclosure of a record are outlined in specific exemptions contained in the CPRA.”
Law enforcement may be well equipped to catch the human traffickers, but they do so with prejudice by arresting and convicting sex workers.
For those fighting for rights within the community, the parallel between the abuse of funding and the further criminalization of sex work is all but apparent. The ESPLER report, requested public records for 58 district attorneys, 37 probation departments, 58 sheriff’s departments, and 52 police departments in California from January 1, 2020 to February 28, 2022. Not one entity provided all the requested records.ESPLER’s report is based on the responses to public records requests sent to 58 district attorneys, 37 probation departments, 58 sheriff’s departments, and 52 police departments in California from January 1, 2020, to February 28, 2022.https://ca4privacy.org/
ESPLER’s report is based on the responses to public records requests from 55 district attorneys, 6 probation departments, 25 sheriff’s departments, and 41 police departments in California.
