ON COMPREHENSIVE PROSTITUTION REFORM: CRIMINALIZING THE TRAFFICKER AND THE TRICK, BUT NOT THE VICTIM—SWEDEN’S SEXKÖPSLAGEN IN AMERICA

In the last decade, the police, the courts, academics, non-governmental organizations, and the general public have increasingly realized that people in industrialized nations around the globe continue to sexually enslave others. This Note posits that the feminist abolitionist goal of eradicating prostitution aligns with an effective fight against sexual exploitation, including sex trafficking. This Note’s purposes follow: 1) examine the Nordic movement to combat sex trafficking through a criminal justice approach of partial decriminalization; 2) advocate that pimping, tricking, and trafficking remain criminalized, and that the United States continue to use public shaming and “john schools” to deter men from buying sex; and 3) advocate that the United States decriminalize the sale of sex, reform the social service system to increase help offered to prostituted individuals, and conduct outreach to facilitate intervention points for prostituted individuals and those at risk for prostitution