Ending exploitation takes more than handcuffs: Seattle attorney

VANCOUVER—Putting an end to sexual exploitation will take a lot more than a few arrests, according to King County prosecuting attorney Valiant Richey.

Richey has spent the last few years prosecuting men charged with buying or trying to buy sex from minors, as well as finding other ways to stop or prevent prostitution. He flew north of the border to tell Vancouver activists, former prostitutes, and police officers how his district is handling the issue.

“It’s not only a criminal justice problem. It’s a social problem,” he told 200 people at the Vancouver Public Library Oct. 16.

Prosecutors in Seattle and the King County region only recently discovered that prosecuting prostituted people is not the solution. “Our response for decades was arrest and prosecute (them). It’s laughable. I don’t know any jurisdiction in the world that has gotten over this problem by arresting and prosecuting people in prostitution.”

He said studies show 85 per cent of prostituted people were abused as children, and most entered the industry between 12 and 15 years old. He added 52 per cent of young victims processed in his office are African American, even though only about 10 per cent of the average population is.

Prostitution just hammers minority communities, poor communities. It’s not to say that that’s exclusive, but the people who pay the price, time and time again, are the most vulnerable.

“Prostitution just hammers minority communities, poor communities. It’s not to say that that’s exclusive, but the people who pay the price, time and time again, are the most vulnerable.”

So rather than go after already marginalized people, King County decided to decriminalize prostitution and go after traffickers and sex buyers. Canada did much the same thing with the Protection of Communities and Exploited Persons Act in 2014, making it illegal to buy sex. 

Washington became the first U.S. state with an anti-trafficking statute. The criminal justice system cracked down on traffickers, arresting hundreds in a single year and handing out prison sentences of up to 35 years.

Richey said that’s when they learned arresting traffickers would not stop violence done to the estimated 300-500 children in prostitution in King County. “It’s not helpful. Drug dealers are not deterred by other drug dealers going to prison. They’re enabled.”

So Richey and his team “wanted to take that focus on traffickers and supplement it by going after the one area that nobody had gone after for 2,000 years. Nobody had gone after the buyers.”

They launched various sting operations, which included posting false advertisements for sex with minors and arresting the men who showed up. They even handcuffed 204 men in 10 days after setting up a fake massage parlour.

“They come from every profession. We have prosecuted doctors, lawyers, police officers, pastors, business people, executives, counsellors, the whole gamut.”

There were other things they discovered about the men they arrested: most had higher than average education, and while all ethnicities were represented, 80 per cent of people paying to have sex with minors were white men.

“It’s a crime of power and privilege. It punishes the vulnerable and rewards the privileged.”

His team also learned there is also a “broad prevalence of mental health issues” in buyers of sex, including depression, anxiety, and prior trauma.

“These are guys that have a lot of challenges in their lives, and the way they have been socialized as men to respond to those is anger or sex,” said Richey.

“You start taking mental health challenge, misogyny, pornography use, objectification, and you roll that into a toxic cocktail; what do you get? You get no empathy and sexual violence.”

Some studies show that buyers have physically assaulted 73 per cent of prostituted people and threatened or assaulted 65 per cent with a weapon.

In Seattle, our mission is ending it. Not responding, not coping, but actually moving towards a strategy for ending it. This isn’t a system that I feel okay with perpetuating or allowing to continue.

“In Seattle, our mission is ending it. Not responding, not coping, but actually moving towards a strategy for ending it. This isn’t a system that I feel okay with perpetuating or allowing to continue.”

Richey’s team moved into the digital world, posting ads on Google and Facebook that would come up when users entered search terms related to prostitution. One ad read: “Want to buy sex? Cops are arresting buyers and if she is underage you will be a sex offender.”

“You can imagine the buzzkill as you’re trying to go out and get a transaction,” said Richey.

Anyone who clicked on the link would be connected to a page with statistics and resources. Richey said, surprisingly, 67 per cent of buyers he’s prosecuted have actually admitted they want to stop using prostitution; these links direct them to help.

Their Google and Facebook ads have made 2 million impressions since they started using them a couple of years ago. They also created videos, supported education for high school students about healthy relationships and empathy, and even created an employers’ alliance of 36 companies that have declared they denounce sexual exploitation.

“Employers can impact buyer behaviour maybe even more so than police can. They can adopt policies just like they do with sexual harassment, that say: ‘This is not okay. You’re not going to use our time, our resources, our properties,’” said Richey.

His visit was organized by The Trafficked Human, an organization that has heavily criticized Vancouver Police for doing nothing to enforce Canada’s 2014 law against buying sex.

Richey spoke to 65 people, including representatives of law enforcement, government, and street ministries the following day, Oct. 17.

Event organizer Evelyn Vollet is hopeful change is coming to the way Vancouver authorities work to end exploitation. “Those attending, including some from the VDP, listened, spoke with Val, and expressed interest in his ideas and recommendations.”

His presentations were recorded and will be made available on www.thetraffickedhuman.org.