User:Leucosticte/Human trafficking

I went to a human trafficking panel discussion yesterday, in which some FBI agents, NGO leaders, etc. were talking about how terrible pornography and prostitution are. There was even a pledge they wanted men to sign, promising not to buy any kind of pornography! http://sharedhope.org/join-the-cause/become-a-defender/

One of the speakers was saying she gets irate when people talk about legalizing prostitution, because the pimps would get even more out-of-control with their violence and intimidation than they are now. Too bad I didn't have a copy of Walter Block's Defending the Undefendable to give her; it has a chapter about the pimp. http://mises.org/document/3490

Anyway, they mentioned that sometimes people will go to the police saying "Help, I just escaped from being kidnapped and tortured in this guy's basement" and the police will say, "Hey, you have an outstanding warrant for drug crimes; you're under arrest!" So, in those situations, it's in the person's interest to not report the crime.

Also, it's ironic that the government tries to protect prostitutes from exploitation by locking them up and making them work for pennies an hour at prison jobs, and giving them a criminal record so that they have trouble getting jobs outside of prostitution.