413047-Underground-Commercial-Sex-Economy

A number of sex workers were caught by undercover agents posing as johns. Many were caught in hotel
and motel rooms and in cars while on dates with individuals they believed to be clients. A woman from
Atlanta described one such instance: “I knocked on the door, went into the room. The guy introduced
himself to me, asked what my name was. I sat down, talked to him. He asked if he could do anal. I said
‘No, that’s not what I came up to do.’” After her arrest, she explained, “[Officers] took me to another room,
then they told me [they were] charging me for prostitution. It was more like entrapment. We didn’t
discuss an amount” (N6). A 20-year-old from Denver described a similar experience:
It was so dumb. I … got a call. I had to take it; it was $225. When I got there, I didn’t tell
him [the john] anything, I didn’t say I would do anything. He asked for a blowjob for $50.
I didn’t say anything. He put the money on the table, I got up to take my shoes off, and
then the police came in. I personally think it was entrapment.
She went on to describe the arrest:
They questioned my brother—they thought it was my pimp or whatever, but he was in the
car. I didn’t take [their] money, yet they took my phone, but gave it back, and tried to take
my car. The deal was either probation or jail for a year … obviously I took probation. (J1)
Other respondents were detected by law enforcement after posting ads online. An individual from Atlanta
explained one such experience:
I was on Backpage for a long time. Then one day this guy called. He was asking questions
about the price. He said he’s come when he got off of work. He knocked on the door, and
he came on the inside. I was on the phone with my friend … He went in the bathroom.
Someone knocked on the door; it was a bunch of cops. But I didn’t take any money from
him, we didn’t talk about money or anything when he was there—only on the phone. We
didn’t say anything but “hi” when he came in. (N3)
Law enforcement crackdowns had varying impacts on sex workers’ careers and the street-based sex
market. Some left the work entirely after they were arrested. This was the case of a 20-year-old individual
who had been trading sex in Denver for about two years before she was arrested. After her arrest, she
called her mother who was also trading sex. She explained: “When I called my mom, she and I decided to
stop altogether. We took our ads off Backpage, and that was it. I deleted the email addresses that we made
for our pages and our ads” (J1).
Others were not deterred by arrests and the threat of law enforcement detection. A 35-year-old sex worker
observed this in the neighborhood in which she lives in Denver. She explained, “There’s a lot of girls out
there now by my house, [and] they’re getting caught left and right, but then they go right back out there; I
see it every day” (J4).
Law enforcement efforts have forced sex workers to relocate their work to other streets and
neighborhoods. A 49-year-old participant from Washington, DC stated that the “areas of strolls have
changed over time because police have forced us to relocate. They’re not pushing us into any areas; we
just choose to put ourselves in an area where we want to hang out” (L2). Another sex worker explained
that “with law enforcement crackdowns, the strolls are moving to more dangerous places, and to more
residential areas, [which is causing] more complaints from neighbors” (L3). Other respondents felt that
sex work has been displaced to online venues; a 46-year-old individual from Washington, DC noted that
“people [are] turning to chat lines because [they provide] safer protection from law enforcement” (L1).
Heightened law enforcement operations and increased targeting of sex workers have had varying
ramifications on the lives of those trading sex and on street- and Internet-based sex markets more
broadly. Respondents resoundingly noted that law enforcement efforts to stop sex work grew over time.
As a result, they took certain precautions to evade law enforcement detection, such as using certain code
words in online ads and moving to different venues. Despite taking these cautionary steps, all of the study
participants had some type of involvement with the criminal justice system.
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