Lawsuit Taking on the State of Nevada for Enabling Slavery Through Brothels

Bekah Charleston was sex trafficked in Nevada’s system of legal brothels and is now seeking to hold the state of Nevada responsible for protecting the sex tradeand enabling slavery. When you legalize prostitution, it creates a market for the sale of humans. That market then quickly expands as driven up by demand — a.k.a commercial sex buying — in locations where prostituting people has been legalized. These enlarged markets for exploitation are also inherently linked to higher rates of  domestic violence and rape of women (Nevada ranks in the top five states for domestic violence rates).

The State of Nevada, by legalizing and protecting the commercial sex industry, is responsible for enabling these harms to and crimes against women and the 9thCircuit Court of Appeals has now given the green light to listen to this argument. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation Law Center is co-counsel in this groundbreaking litigation. (continue reading…