Sex Crimes

Student Post - Cook County Sherriff Tom Dart Accuses Craigslist of Promoting Prostitution

Craigslist is such a useful website. I have used it in the past to look for apartments, secure my first job before law school as a pre-school teacher, and find hard to get tickets to Cubs games. However, IL has now found another not so useful feature of craigslist. From CNN:

Cook County Sherriff Tom Dart wants the popular website to eliminate its “erotic services” section. Dart states that Craigslist serves as the “single largest source of prostitution in the nation”. Dart also stated “Missing children, runaways, abused women and women trafficked in from foreign countries are routinely forced to have sex with strangers because they're being pimped on craigslist." Craigslist e-mailed a response to CNN stating that “craigslist is an extremely unwise choice for those intent on committing crimes, since criminals inevitably leave an electronic trail to themselves that law enforcement officers will follow”. Craigslist entered into an agreement with 43 states to impose restrictions on its “erotic services” section. These restrictions include phone number verifications to make sure real phone numbers are being used in the ads, and also imposing a listing fee for posting in that section. Dart responded to the measures imposed by craigslist by saying it is “ dirty money” and that pimps use stolen credit cards or just post their ads in other free sections of craigslist.

On this issue I agree with Dart. Practically speaking, there is no good way to deter pimps, prostitutes, or individuals offering sexual services for that matter from posting ads on Craigslist. Although Craigslist makes a good argument that it is unwise for individuals seeking to promote prostitution to post on Craigslist because they are giving a trail to the authorities as to their whereabouts; this fear alone obviously does not deter them from posting as evidenced by the amount of posts still there. Imposing a requirement for individuals wishing to post in the “erotic services” section to pay a fee using a credit card does not seem to be a viable way to deter prostitution either. In defense of Craigslist I would also argue that it is not viable for them to try and regulate every single section of their website. Individuals who want to solicit sexual services will figure out how to post on different sections of their website.

Craigslist now has an “adult services” section in lieu of the “erotic services” section. The biggest difference being that all photos and text will be manually reviewed by craigslist before being posted.

Student Post - Athletes, Violence, and Sex

The stance among universities and professional sports has always been that the number of incidents of sexual crimes committed by athletes is in line with the percentages of the rest of the population. The only reason why it may seem like there are higher instances of athletes committing violent and sexual crimes is because when they do occur the media attacks it like a raccoon on a knocked over garbage can. Athletes are famous, many of them serve as role models, like it or not Charles Barkley, so when one of these incidents occur, it is big news throughout the country. Even when incidents occur at major universities, it is national news and the media may exploit it to some extent but that is only because the media knows that people care.

These incidents have been some of the biggest news stories over the past fifteen to twenty years. Think about it. There was O.J. (killing Nicole and Ron), Mark Chmura (allegedly raping a former baby-sitter at an after prom party), Rae Carruth (shooting and later killing his girlfriend who was pregnant at the time with his baby)  Kobe Bryant (allegedly sexually assaulting a 19 year old hotel employee), The Minnesota Viking “Love Boat Scandal” (17 players were charged with lewd and indecent conduct), and most recently the Duke Lacrosse scandal (several players were charged with raping a stripper they had hired for a party).

These are just the headliners - there are many more examples that were not so highly covered by the media because the athletes involved were not mainstream household names. The two most disturbing examples may be Richard Seigler, a former NFL linebacker, who has the distinction of being the first professional football player to be charged with pandering (pimping). Seigler had at least two girls working for him as prostitutes and he placed adds for them on craigslist advertising them as “all natural sexy girls.” The other not as well known incident took place on the Henderson State campus in Arkansas where four university football players and one student were charged with raping a 13-year-old girl.

These incidents happen in the general population as well. It makes sense that there would be examples of this in sports, after all they are just human beings. There have been two studies conducted to explore if there are higher incidents among athletes than non-athletes and the studies do not help thte case made by the athletes. Kathryn Hildebrand (Northern Arizona University) and Kimberly Bogle and Dewayne Johnson (Florida State University, Tallahassee, FL) conducted a study and wrote a research paper titled "Violence in Athletes Versus Non-Athletes by Gender.” The purpose of this study was to compare patterns of engagement in violence activities, and related risk behaviors, of athletes from various levels of participation (high school and college) and non-athletes.

High school athletes (male: 61.2%; female: 50.0%) and college athletes (male: 21.0%; female: 25.0%) were involved in a physical fight, more than non-athletes (male: 15.8%; female: 25.0%). Ten percent of male non-athletes carried a weapon two or three times while, 60% of male high school athletes and 26.7% of male college athletes carried a weapon two or three times; similarly, 22.2% of female non-athletes carried weapon one time compared to 66.7% and 11.1% of female high school and college athletes respectively (results for females were at a significant level). Athletes, both males (HS: 62.7%; college: 27.1%) and females (HS: 61.3%; college: 9.7%), had sex under the influence of drugs/alcohol significantly more than non-athletes (males: 15.7%; females: 28.0%). These results demonstrate the relationship between athletics and violence, which has been illustrated in the literature and society. Based on these results further research is needed to examine and understand the relationship between participation in violent acts and athletic status.

The other study, titled "The Benedict/Crosset Study," gives some interesting statistics as well. The three-year study shows that while male student-athletes comprise 3.3% of the population, they represent 19% of sexual assault perpetrators and 35% of domestic violence perpetrators. One in three college sexual assaults are committed by athletes. In the three years before 1998, an average of 1000 charges were brought against athletes each year. In 1995, while only 8.5% of the general population was charged with assault, 36.8% of athletes were charged with assault. The general population has a conviction rate of 80%. The conviction rate of an athlete is 38%. (Bendict/Crosset Study).

Why are there higher instances of violence and sexual abuse among athletes? Could it be that athletes are big men on campus and professional athletes are famous with lots of money which attract their fair share of admirers? Athletes may have more of an opportunity to have sexual encounters with a greater number of partners. Are these athletes not used to not getting what they want and hearing no? Maybe it is that there is a lack of fear from consequences and repercussions because so many athletes are used to special treatment and they don’t think they can get in trouble. There are many possible reasons and it’s doubtful that the ones named are even the reasons. More studies need to be done on this issue. We know very little about this issue and it needs to be addressed. Once we delve deeper into the reasons sex crimes and violence occur with such frequency among athletes maybe there will not be as many headlines.

For more information on this topic I found the National Coalition Against Violent Athletes to be helpful NCAVA.org

7th Circuit on Prostitution and Money Laundering

Michael O'Hear has a detailed and interesting discussion of two 7th Circuit opinions in prostitution cases in his weekly roundup:

The next two cases both deal with spas in Rockford, Illinois, that were run as fronts for prostitution.  (Yes, if you thought the “Paradise Health Spa” in Rockford sounded too good to be true, you were right.)  The various owners of the businesses collected money from the johns, put it into business accounts, and drew on the accounts to pay rent, utilities — customers at the “Royal Health Spa” were given a shower along with their “massage” — and advertising.  (With all of the “spas” in Rockford, the competition for customers must have been fierce!)  The owners were plainly guilty of many crimes, but how about money laundering? ...

But the two Rockford cases, United States v. Hodge (Nos. 06-3485 & 06-3502) and United States v. Lee (Nos. 06-3029 et al.), presented a difficulty: in the time since Scialabba had been decided, the Supreme Court issued its own pronouncement on the meaning of “proceeds” in United States v. Santos – a pronouncement whose implications for Hodge and Lee were not entirely clear....

In the view of the Hodge and Lee panels, Stevens’ position was consistent with Scialabba when it came to rent and utilities: these are normal business expenses for a brothel, and their payment should not give rise to money-laundering liability.  But advertising might be in different category: in Easterbrook’s words, “It is possible to carry on organized crime without advertising it.”  Thus, “Justice Stevens may well conclude that . . . advertising costs are not subtracted when defining ‘proceeds.’”  Ultimately, though, this tentative conclusion was as far as the court got in resolving the advertising issue.  In both Hodge and Lee, the jury instructions failed to make clear the important distinctions that had to be made with regard to the definition of “proceeds,” and it was possible that the defendants were convicted on the basis of paying their rent and utility bills (which would not be money laundering) instead of on the basis of their advertising expenditures (which might or might not count as money laundering).  Given the risk of conviction on an improper basis, the defendants’ convictions had to be reversed — leaving a definitive resolution of the advertising question for another day.

So, the cases are much more about money laundering than sex crimes, but the law involved is incredibly interesting. Money laundering statutes are incredibly hard to draft and courts often struggle with deciding how to apply such laws in particular cases.

Scary Story about Prostitutes in New Mexico

Feminist Law Professors directs us to this interesting article concerning the mysterious disappearance of more than a dozen prostitutes. From the Associated Press:

In the desert outside Albuquerque, hikers have sometimes stumbled upon human remains partially buried under the hardy scrub and hard-baked dirt.

But few people could have imagined the crime scene now emerging: The bones of at least 13 people have been uncovered on the site of an abandoned housing development.

The grisly discovery last month caused authorities to reopen dozens of cold cases involving missing prostitutes, some of whom vanished as much as 20 years ago.

Since the bones came to light, forensic experts, detectives, anthropologists and medical investigators have raked tediously through mounds of dirt for the next sliver of bone or clump of human hair.

Police believe one person or group of people is responsible for the slayings, but they have been reluctant to make comparisons to any existing serial murder cases.

"We don't want to limit our investigation," Police Chief Ray Schultz said, calling the scene "one of the largest and most complex" ever investigated by his department.

So far, only two sets of remains have been identified. But detectives are reviewing cases involving dozens of women who vanished from the city over the last two decades. All of them were suspected of being drug addicts and prostitutes. Of particular interest are 16 women reported missing between 2001 and 2006.

The two bodies identified so far were Michelle Valdez and Victoria Chavez, both women who disappeared within months of each other in 2004.

Cook County Sheriff Sues Craig's List

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has announced that his office is suing Craigslist, calling it "the single largest source of prostitution in the nation." From the Chicago Tribune:

Dart also asked the judge to force the online classifieds company to reimburse the sheriff's department for the approximately $100,000 it has spent pursuing its Craigslist investigation over the past year.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart announcing a lawsuit against Craigslist. (Michael Tercha/Chicago Tribune)

He added later, "I could make arrests off Craigslist 24 hours a day, but to what end?" By filing the suit, he said, "I'm trying to go up the ladder."

Dart said he had been working with Craigslist representatives for months, sending letters requesting them to take down or provide greater self-policing of their "erotic services" section, but his pleas have been met with no response.
 
The sheriff said he believes the company has been unresponsive because the "erotic services" section generates a large portion of the company's $80 million annual revenue.

Orin Kerr at Volokh points to Eric Goldman's thoughts at Technology & Marketing Law Blog (with the complaint).

At a few points, the complaint implies that Craiglist harmed the sheriff's office because the office spent $105,000 busting 156 individuals for prostitution through Craigslist. WHAT?! Enforcing laws is what the sheriff's office is given taxpayer money to do! And, at less than $700/arrest, I wonder if this is CHEAPER than trying to bust prostitution criminals through other techniques. In other words, it's possible that Craigslist makes it cheaper for the sheriff's office to do its job, so to claim any harm by spending taxpayer money to do its job is ludicrous.

While this lawsuit is little more than a sad publicity stunt by the sheriff's office, I remain uncertain whether or not it's a good thing for Craigslist to have an "erotic services" category. I understand the argument that it centralizes these ads in one place rather than having these ads spammed through other Craiglist categories, but I'm confused what, if any, "erotic services" advertised in this category are ever legal. If everything directed to this category is always illegal, it seems like Craigslist could, and perhaps should, voluntarily choose to eliminate the category altogether. That may require Craigslist to invest some more resources policing its other categories to prevent their spamming/hijacking by the dispersed ads, but that may be the unavoidable cost of a free classified ads service.

Scaring Johns Straight

Police in Los Angeles are testing an interesting new program designed to reduce the solicitation of prostitutes. The program allows first-timers to avoid a conviction for soliciting prostitutes, if they take are willing to be yelled at and lectured for eight hours. Sentencing Law & Policy has more.

It's not jail, to be sure, but john school is no joke. For eight hours, the men are yelled at, pleaded with and lectured. One weary-looking john, who says he has come straight from a night shift at work, receives a firm shake from Margolis every time he nods off and eventually is told to stand up to stay awake. Each presentation is aimed at either scaring them straight with all the terrible things that can be inflicted upon a john or opening their eyes to the ugly realities of the sex-for-money industry. It's not meant as a feel-good therapy session or an opportunity to explain away bad decisions, so there is no give-and-take in the class. The johns are not allowed to ask questions or speak. They sit and listen.

Student Post - Operation Cross Country Hits Chicago

Operation Cross Country,an attempt by the federal government to remove child prostitutes from the streets, has met with what some would call moderate success. In the sweep reported on February 23, FBI had "rescued" 48 teenage prostitutes from the streets.

Operation Cross Country also has a Chicago connection. While the national sting was able to remove 48 teenage girls from the streets, the Chicago sting was less successful, arresting 44 adults. Of the 44 adults arrested, 5 were charged with running prostitution rings, 34 were charged with prostitution, and 5 were charged with being customers of child prostitutes.

FBI Director Robert Mueller stated: "We may not be able to return their innocence, but we can remove them from this cycle of abuse and violence." He went on to state that most of the teenage girls, ranging in age from 13 to 17, will be placed in child protection agencies.

In the AP article about the federal sting, FBI Deputy Assistant Daniel Roberts stated: "Unfortunately, the vast majority of these kids are what they term 'throwaway kids,' with no family support, no friends. They're kids that nobody wants, they're loners. Many are runaways," Roberts said.

The interesting question arises: Does Mueller honestly believe that removing these kids from the streets will permanently remove them from "the cycle of abuse and violence?" Does he honestly feel that placing them in child protection agencies will completely erase their past experiences? If so, he is sorely mistaken.

Particularly if these children are "throwaway" kids as Roberts states, it is more likely than not that once they are removed from the streets, and the pimps they "love" (more likely a mixture of adoration and fear), they will return to the streets as soon as possible. Many have nowhere else to go.

In her article, "Teaching Prostitution Seriously," 4 Buff. Crim. L. Rev. 709 (2000-2001) Beverly Balos discusses how the criminal justice system is slowly becoming more responsive to the issues of violence against women.

What is interesting to a female law student enrolled in a sex crimes seminar is the lack of discussion centered on child prostitution. Many discussions will be held on general prostitution (about adult women) or child molestation, but not many discuss the combination of the two, particularly implications on children, including the effects of their previous histories of domestic abuse, sexual molestation, etc. that may lead to their entance into child prostitution.

While the FBI sting is a step in the right direction, it is a small step that will have no significant impact unless the charges against the adults are pursued. Unless these offenders receive the harshest punishments available, specifically the racketeering and conspiracy charges that the AP article mentions, the cycle of abuse and violence will not end. Pimps will always be able to find young, impressionable, "throwaway"children with nowhere else to go.

The Thin Line Between Pornography and Prostitution

While filming pornography might seem different than prostitution, the difference between the two can be illusory when money changes hands. Eugene Volokh explains in analyzing a recent New Hampshire case:

People sometimes ask -- if it's a crime to pay someone to have sex with your friend, or even to pay two people to have sex so you can watch, why aren't pornographers equally guilty? Well, occasionally this gets litigated, and there's a new opinion out on this from the New Hampshire Supreme Court, State v. Theriault.

New Hampshire Revised Statutes 645:2 provides, in relevant part,

I. A person is guilty of a misdemeanor if the person:
(f) Pays, agrees to pay, or offers to pay another person to engage in ... sexual penetration as defined in RSA 632-A:1, V, with the payor or with another person.

Robert Theriault approached a woman and her boyfriend, offering them $50/hour to let him videotape them having sex (while they used "temperature blankets," which puzzles me). The government didn't allege "that the defendant solicited this activity for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification as opposed to making a video," because that wasn't required by the statute. Theriault was convicted.

The New Hampshire Supreme Court held that applying the statute this way is unconstitutional, because "the production of sexually explicit but non-obscene videos is constitutionally protected," and upholding the law in a case such as this one would interfere with producers' right to create such videos. The court heavily relied on People v. Freeman, a 1988 California Supreme Court decision that reached the same result, and disagreed with People v. Kovner, a 1978 New York trial court decision that reached the opposite result.

It's not clear to me how right the court's logic is. Generally speaking, the right to create constitutionally protected speech doesn't include the right to violate non-speech-related laws in the process -- for instance, I don't have the right to use illegal drugs in the course of my speech-producing scientific research, or to trespass on closed government property to shoot a video. There might be some modest protection offered by United States v. O'Brien (1968), but that really does offer very slight protection when the law involved doesn't mention speech, and is applied to speech entirely without regard to what the speech conveys.

As I am often asked this question by students, I generally agree with Eugene. The free speech involved is in the filming and production of the video. The crime of prostitution stems from the exchange of money for the sexual services therein. Simply because pornography is normally produced for money does not mean that payment system is also protected under the First Amendment. The reverse case illustrates the difficulty with the court's position. If a man hires a female prostitute and films the encounter, is he free from prosecution? My position obviously creates difficulties for the pornography industry, but insofar as prostitution laws do not have statutory exceptions for the pornography industry, I believe the New Hampshire court's argument is not particularly persuasive. 

Tennessee Uses Sexual Servitude Statute for First Time

Two Tennessee men are being charged using a sexual servitude statute for the first time in the state's history.  As Ann Bartow appropriately noted, "I wonder how many times they didn’t think forced prostitution was 'serious enough' to do so." From WKRN:

Two Hispanic men are behind bars in Nashville after police said they held a young woman against her will and forced her into prostitution.

Arturo Perez and Jesus Garcia are charged with promoting prostitution and trafficking for sexual servitude after police said they would make the 22-year-old from Mexico City have sex with up to seven men a day.

To make her obey investigators said they would stab and cut the young woman with an ice pick and threaten to kill her family.

"It is serious enough that for the first time ever we're using the sexual servitude statute to charge these two individuals," Metro police spokesperson Don Aaron told News 2.  "It's quite despicable that a woman would be treated like this by an individual that has, obviously, no regard for her mental or physical well-being."

Perez and Garcia were arrested after police learned of the situation and sent a confidential informant to meet the men at a south Nashville motel.

"We learned this woman was not a willing participant, but being held against her will in a sexual servitude situation," Aaron said.

Metro police said Perez, Garcia and the young woman are in the country illegally.

They are scheduled to appear in court Tuesday.

Spitzer Escapes Federal Prosecution

The U.S. Attorney's office for the Southern District of New York has announced that Former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer will not be charged in connection with the prostitution scandal that resulted in his resignation. From CNN:

"After a thorough investigation, this office has uncovered no evidence of misuse of public or campaign funds," U.S. Attorney Michael Garcia said in a statement.

The attorney's office also said it found no illicit activity related to Spitzer's withdrawal of funds for, and his payments to, the Emperors Club VIP, which authorities have said was a prostitution ring.

"In light of the policy of the Department of Justice with respect to prostitution offenses and the longstanding practice of this office, as well as Mr. Spitzer's acceptance of responsibility for his conduct, we have concluded that the public interest would not be further advanced by filing criminal charges in this matter," Garcia said.

Spitzer resigned in March after it was revealed that he was among the Emperors Club's patrons -- "Client 9," according to court papers detailing the service's workings. Court documents detailed arrangements for a nearly two-and-a-half hour rendezvous between Client 9 and a high-class prostitute -- identified as "Kristen" -- at the Mayflower hotel in Washington in February.

Spitzer was linked to the Emperors Club when when IRS and FBI officials noticed suspicious transfers of larger sums of money between several of the governor's personal accounts, sources told CNN.

Those sources say red flags were raised when the money ended up in the bank accounts of shell companies linked to the Emperors Club.