Kristof writes about Sweden's method for cracking down on sex trafficking.
Sweden offers us not only the summer’s top beach paperbacks, but also a
useful strategy for dealing with trafficking. The Swedish model, adopted
in 1999, is to prosecute the men who purchase sex, while treating the
women who sell it as victims who merit social services.Prosecution of johns has reduced demand for prostitution in Sweden,
which in turn reduces market prices. That reduces the incentives for
trafficking into Sweden, and the number of prostitutes seems to have
declined there. A growing number of countries are concluding that the
Swedish model works better than any other, and it would be wise for
American states to experiment with it as well. It’s not a panacea, but
cracking down on demand seems a useful way to chip away at 21st-century
slavery.
French women age gracefully because they go to spas and use a lot of skin cream. They also avoid black capri pants.
"Teach for America has become an elite brand that will help build a
résumé, whether or not the person stays in teaching. And in a bad
economy, it’s a two-year job guarantee with a good paycheck; members
earn a beginning teacher’s salary in the districts where they’re placed"

Brad Plumer found an article on the Swedish model a while back, and while it does reduce prostitution and trafficking, it results in a much, much worse situation for the remaining women who do want to be prostitutes/can’t find other means of supporting themselves. The few johns who are willing to risk arrest tend to also be more interested in riskier behavior.
Personally I think a focus on the less savory forms of prostitution, and the industry’s side effects — street walking, violence against women, etc., might be a better idea.
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Thanks, Nicholas, for filling us in on the problems with the Swedish model. This is a topic that I want to track.
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