Flawed research on the impact of law reform: The case of legal prostitution and sex trafficking, a research note

Abstract

This research note examines a finding that contradicts previously well-established knowledge in the field of organized crime, as well as studies of the effects of legalizing vice. Unlike research on the aftermath of Prohibition in the United States post-1933, decriminalization of casino gambling in Nevada post-1931, and legalization of cannabis, little is known about the effects of legalizing prostitution. Here, I offer a critique of some influential research that purports to find a relationship between legalization of prostitution and an increased magnitude of sex trafficking. After identifying serious flaws in these studies’ conception and execution, I briefly show that their problematic findings have become the conventional wisdom regarding the relationship between trafficking and legalized prostitution—as reflected in news reports, legislative debates, Google’s topline assessment, and the outcome of a constitutional challenge to Canada’s current prostitution law.