There they were arrested, booked, and released on charges of commercial sexual solicitation, punishable by up to one year in jail. Each awaits a Benton County Circuit Court hearing on March 8 , which will decide their future freedoms.
Sting operations are rampant in the U. A lack of transparency โ as to the content of any replies to the advertisement, or shared conversations between police and the accused โ make it impossible for the public to know of any blatant misuse of power. But more complicated are the circumstances that may have led these men to agree to paid sex. Some argue that prostitution stings target individuals with certain socioeconomic backgrounds, with increased vulnerability factors.
We can loosely compare the sting scenario to speed traps used by law enforcement, which are met with general annoyance from the public, and call to question matters of trust and fear-provoking practices. We wonder, how are prostitution stings really solving the problem, outside of placing a handful of men on the red-dot radar, and compromising perhaps the best chance at early intervention?
Naturally, debate arises over systems of criminalization, decriminalization, and legalization โ tied to issues of consent, trafficking, black marketing, sexual health, risk populations, and allocations of power within the sex industry.
But those are hairy topics, beyond the scope of this editorial. Point being, we believe police and media need to employ more trauma-informed methods of intervention. What if conversation-style or therapeutic intervention methods were standardized, before the record was set, or the cuffs were slapped on. Sting operations targeting johns are backed by the hypothesis that there would be less supply without demand.
