The advertising Web site craigslist has been a boon to prostitution locally and nationally, allowing the world's oldest profession to flourish virtually unchecked, a new university study contends. Craigslist allows people to post classified ads for everything from cars for sale to help wanted to "adult services. The site has been under fire by law enforcement officials across the nation almost since its inception because of the ease by which it connects prostitutes to johns. The site's founders have bowed to some of the pressure.
But Kennedy's study provides a glimpse of just how rampant -- and brazen -- prostitution is on the site. She enlisted eight graduate students to target the Las Vegas "erotic services" section and randomly pulled ads over two months in They sampled and analyzed 12, ads, roughly 12 percent of the total "erotic services" ads posted in Las Vegas over the time.
The results revealed that prostitutes operate on the Web with little fear of law enforcement. For example:. Craigslist isn't alone in what has become the newest way to facilitate paying for sex. Many more sites exist, and some, like craigslist, also cater to individual cities. One such site that focuses on Las Vegas allows people to post graphic reviews of escorts, including how much the reviewer paid for the "session," whether it was in-call or out-call and whether the escort tried to sell additional services to the reviewer.
Some of the reviews are for local massage parlors, and the reviewers state the name of the "masseuse" and the name and address of the business. The media relations arm of craigslist did not respond to multiple requests seeking comment for this story. Local law enforcement officials acknowledged that resources to combat prostitution on the Web are limited. Unlike streetwalkers, who solicit in person and in public, escorts on the Web can talk to johns and arrange meetings in private, out of view of law enforcement.
Detectives are limited to setting up sting operations, which Hughes said her unit does frequently. But she said her unit cannot keep up with the sheer number of advertisements. Most resources available to combat sex crimes on the Web are devoted to child prostitution. Henderson police have one detective who patrols local sites looking for advertisements from children or teens or from those seeking them.
