Not a Victimless Crime

Prostitution is not a victimless crime. Even where it is legal, there are victims.

Victimless Crime

Our laws are ostensibly written for people. However, in the last half century, an administrative state has been creeping into the realm of lawmaking, by making rules that equate to laws. The rules are not enacted by our elected lawmakers, but by designated, so-called experts. For more in this vein, please review Hillsdale College’s Congress: How it worked and Why it Doesn’t.

When a law establishes a crime, one expects a victim. It may be the government, a business, the environment, animals, or people, but we expect to see some entity that is hurt or damaged in some way. This idea is based in the Perfect Ten…

The Ten Commandments of the Scriptures are a baseline of moral conduct for humans. However, people have been adding to them since the very beginning. Many of the laws we see today are for the betterment of a few elite and not the generalized category of conduct that applies to everyone everywhere. I believe there may be victimless crimes, but those are still, by default creating, inequalities.

Prostitution is Not Victimless

Even where it is legal or decriminalized, there are victims. You might like to think of them as collateral damage. In Nevada, there are counties wherein prostitution is legal. However, under the guise of a reputable business, some women are abused, trafficked, and damaged.

Prostitution and sex trafficking are two sides of the same dark coin. Inherently exploitive and degrading, prostitution is a thinly veiled subjugation of those being purchased. The buyer is the bully, using the power of money and position to use the body of a prostituted person, with no regard for consent. That veil is easily pierced. One more rape, one more derogatory statement, another STD or addiction, or maybe it is coming into contact with someone who has peace and joy, but the veil cannot withstand real freedom. Most prostituted people would leave, if given the opportunity with resources.

The choice to prostitute for one person still doesn’t constitute a victimless crime. If most would get out, given the resources, then their choice is diminished. They are essentially trapped by circumstance. The majority of those exploited for sex were abused as children. Child sexual abuse mars our identity and impedes our ability to develop executive reasoning skills: understanding future implications, repercussions, and outcomes of actions. That’s not to say we cannot heal, but the damage does impact development.

Kraft’s Charge Is Not Victimless

The NH Union Leader might lead you to believe Mr Kraft’s indiscretion was just that, but the case involves human trafficking. The women were apparently living in the ‘spa’ and moved from place to place during the investigation. The Union Leader articles conveniently leave out the victims, extolling the wealth and prowess of this buyer. The charge is that he paid to use women’s bodies for his own gratification without regard to their status as human beings, utterly denying their innate dignity.

Trafficking is a Crime

Some reports suggest the women won’t talk. I wouldn’t. As a matter of fact, I didn’t for nearly 30 years.

Imagine with me, if you will. You are invited to move to another country. A mentor helps you get your passport and pays for transportation with the promise of a great job with benefits, like healthcare and housing. You are told you’ll learn a high paying trade that is in high demand. Maybe you think it is in internet technologies, like coding or culinary arts for the rich and famous. Maybe you are able to do some research and find out that there are such jobs in very high demand and the pay is good. You will be able to send money back home to care for loved ones. Perhaps, you’ll be able to bring them over in a year or three.

When you arrive, your passport is taken. You are immediately told there is no place for you to go and your “mentor” is threatening your family back home. You don’t speak the language, know nothing about the terrain, have no friends or family, except the one person who is now telling you that you will perform sex acts whenever they tell you to. The trade you learn is how to let men use your body for sex and hide your disgust behind a smile. You are in the sex trade. The shame of being deceived is completely overwhelming, especially because you are from a culture that values intelligence and honor.

A Culture of Victimless Crime

We have had a culture of victimless crime before. Looking back, we Americans would cringe to think of slavery as victimless. But in an age of servants and servitude, some people were willingly employed and others were slaves.

As noted, there are places that legalize or decriminalize prostitution. Even if the trafficking victims were few, which they aren’t, would you consider that victimless? In a culture that permits victims as collateral damage, the number of vulnerable human beings impacted will surely increase.

Dayton Moore, the GM of the Kansas City Royals, says, “What you permit, you promote.” He was specifically talking about porn. Pornography is recorded prostitution for public consumption. Pandora’s box has been open for some time. Thankfully, organizations are trying to fight it, but the fact is the USA has tolerated porn, prostitution, and modern day slavery for a very long time, pretending it is a victimless crime. It’s not.

Nothing New

There is nothing new about the claims of victimless crimes. The same tactic was used to repeal abortion laws. The baby was no longer to be seen as a victim. The nine white men in black robes decried that abortion was a victimless crime, in essence by stating that the personhood of the fetus could not be established. Therefore, no victim=no crime.

And now, since they are not people, some are cheering at a law that will continue the trend toward the death penalty for the sake of convenience after they are born too. The divide is getting clearer for and against abortion. Perhaps, Abby’s experience will help broaden the pro-life ethic.

How far can this go? NH is one of the worst on abortion. Will we become the worst for human dignity, as well?