SJC weighs arguments over prostitution ads

“Yes, your honor,” Campbell responded.

The case stems from a Massachusetts State Police sting operation, in which officers placed online ads posing as sex workers and arrested would-be Johns when they showed up to meet for sex.

Those arrested were charged with sex trafficking, a felony that carries a minimum sentence of five years. They have been fighting the charges since 2021, arguing that there were no actual victims in the operation and that responding to an ad does not comply with the language of the state’s anti-trafficking law.

That statute prohibits attempts to “recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide, or obtain by any means another person to engage in commercial sexual activity.” Last year, state Court of Appeals Associate Judge John C. Englander sided with the defendants, writing in a decision that the trafficking law requires a defendant to force someone to do something that “ the person had no intention of doing otherwise.” Responding to an advertisement does not qualify, the court ruled.

Much of Monday’s arguments before the SJC centered on one word: “obtain.” Campbell argued that while the other elements of trafficking law may require a supply-side role in the sex trade, “procuring” is a category that includes anyone who pays another person for sex.

“While there was an advertisement inviting offers, it was these defendants who came forward with what they were looking for,” Campbell said.

About 100 sex trafficking charges are filed each year, according to data from the state court system, although it is not clear from the data how many are against alleged buyers, as opposed to those who allegedly offer women in exchange for sex. The state’s anti-sex trafficking laws were passed in 2011, when the Legislature also increased penalties for the lesser charge of paying for sex to a maximum of two and a half years in prison. In practice, however, people charged with the misdemeanor often reach deals to have the charges dismissed and rarely go to jail, attorneys say.

Attorney Patrick Noonan, speaking on behalf of the defendants, argued Monday that the prosecution’s interpretation of “obtained” was too broad and would make the misdemeanor crime of purchasing sex redundant.

“Are we going to arrest each and every John, charge them with sex trafficking and imprison them for five years? “I don’t think that was the intention,” he said.

The case comes as Massachusetts prosecutors try to crack down on sex trafficking by targeting buyers and those who traffic women, known as pimps, rather than sex workers. Massachusetts has passed laws in recent years to increase penalties for paying for sex and trafficking, while making more resources available to victims of the trade, although The logistics for that effort remain complicated. Prosecutors have argued that narrowing the scope of the trafficking law could make prosecutions more difficult and overburden victims called to testify in such cases.

There is no set date for making a decision, although SJC cases are generally decided within 130 days.

Globe reporter Sean Cotter contributed to this report.

You can contact Dan Glaun at [email protected]. follow him @dglaun.