Advocates Launch Campaign To Reform Illinois Commercial Sex Laws

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs;  Litigation / Medical Malpractice
Article Date: 22 Sep 2009 - 3:00 PDT

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Advocates have launched a campaign to overhaul Illinois law to give police departments more resources for arresting leaders and customers of commercial sex rings, the Chicago Tribune reports. The campaign, called End Demand, is supported by the women's-rights group the NoVo Foundation, which invested $550,000 in the effort, as well as the Chicago Police Department and the Cook County, Ill., sheriff's office. NoVo is led by Peter and Jennifer Buffett, son and daughter-in-law of Warren Buffett. According to the Tribune, reform groups nationwide are tracking the campaign as a potential model for other parts of the country.

One goal of the campaign is to provide commercial sex workers with the same protections and benefits given to victims of sex trafficking. Advocates believe that many of the women involved with commercial sex work are victims of the same elements of recruitment, harboring and force that are used in sex trafficking.

The advocates also are pushing for a revamped law that includes higher penalties for people who promote commercial sex work and those who purchase sex. According to the campaign's supporters, commercial sex work will decline if more men who are driving demand for the trade are held accountable. Samir Goswami, policy director for the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation, said that sex customers account for about 25% of the 4,000 to 5,000 annual commercial sex-related arrests in Chicago, while people who promote commercial sex work represent less than 1% of such arrests. The campaign also advocates for a statewide database to track arrests of commercial sex-related offenders and encourage law enforcement agencies to work together in prosecuting offenses.

Studies estimate that between 16,000 and 25,000 women and girls are involved in the commercial sex trade in the Chicago area. Many commercial sex workers travel across city and county lines, and although some start out as runaways, many others are introduced or coerced into commercial sex work by family members or partners, the Tribune reports. Advocates say that it is difficult for women to leave the trade, and those who do often have trouble finding jobs because of felony prostitution convictions on their records.

"Many of these women see the (pimps) as their intimate partners. They're coerced, raped and they're sold," Leslie Landis, director of the Mayor's Office on Domestic Violence, said, adding, "Violence is sometimes used against them. Taken as a whole, it's just an advanced stage of domestic violence" (Slife, Chicago Tribune, 9/17).

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