MA Supreme Court To Decide If All Prostitution Is Trafficking

The Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (SJC) is currently deliberating a critical case that raises the question of whether all prostitution should be treated as human trafficking. The case involves five men who responded to online advertisements, believing they were arranging to meet consensual adult sex workers; however, the individuals they communicated with turned out to be undercover state troopers. While the men were initially charged with the misdemeanor of attempting to pay for sex, prosecutors also sought to indict them under the state’s human trafficking statute, felony charges that carry a minimum five-year prison sentence. The five men have been fighting the charges since 2021, arguing responding to an ad to meet an adult for consensual paid sex does not meet the criteria of the state’s anti-trafficking law.

The key issue before the court is whether such charges are appropriate under the state’s human trafficking laws when there is no evidence of force, fraud, coercion, or exploitation. Prosecutors argue that the application of trafficking laws is necessary to combat the demand for prostitution, while the defendants argue that this ideological approach unjustly and falsely equates all prostitution with trafficking, regardless of the circumstances.

This case is emblematic of the broader issues surrounding the criminalization of consensual adult sex work. Laws against prostitution often create a false equivalence between voluntary sex work and trafficking, erasing the complexity of people’s lived experiences in the sex industry. Evidence from around the world demonstrates that criminalizing consensual adult sex work allows for trafficking to proliferate as it forces sex workers into the shadows, making it harder for them to seek help or report abuses.

This case also highlights the principle and human right of autonomy, emphasizing that individuals should have the freedom to make choices about their bodies, including the consensual decision to engage in sex work. Under current laws, even when individuals engage in sex work consensually, they are treated as victims or perpetrators in need of legal intervention. As the Massachusetts SJC considers this case, the broader implications of its decision could set a precedent for how sex work and trafficking are handled in the future, not just in Massachusetts but across the U.S.

If the SJC rules that human trafficking charges are inappropriate in these circumstances, it would mark an important step in the fight to decriminalize consensual adult sex work. Ultimately, this case challenges the assumption that all sex work is exploitative, and could be a defining moment in the fight for the rights, safety, and dignity of sex workers. The Boston Globe reports that SJC cases are typically decided within 130 days of arguments.