One aspect that nearly all agree on, however, is human trafficking for the purpose of prostitution. Trafficked women are exploited women, and it is the demand for paid sexual services that fuels the underground sex trade.

When it comes to prostitution, it takes two to tango, and it is generally illegal to both buy and sell. Regardless of the fact that both man and woman engaged in a sexual transaction are breaking the law, a recent study in Denver, CO, has found that it is the women who pay disproportionately. The study, Funded by the Women’s Foundation of Colorado, looked at 2,072 arrests in Denver from 2006 to 2011, and at 735 cases filed in Denver City Court, and 121 cases filed in Denver County Court in 2009 and 2010.

In Colorado, prostitutes and johns are charged with essentially the same crime, e.g. “soliciting for prostitution.” But men made up only 39 percent of arrests, while women made up 61 percent. (The study excluded juveniles, so these figures apply to adults only.)

But it gets worse: the women not only are arrested more often for the same crime, they are also far more likely to get jail time— 70 percent of women, as opposed to just 36 percent of men went to jail. Men were found to be more likely to be fined, 74 percent of the men were fined, but only 19 percent of the women. Men were sentenced to community service 10 percent of the time, whereas only 1.4 percent of women got off so light.

Clearly, something is rotten in the state of . . . Colorado. It is unlikely that Colorado stands alone in this blatant sex discrimination where the act of prostitution is involved.

A case in point is the high profile false accusation levied against Dominique Strauss-Kahn, which essentially destroyed his political career. He has filed a civil suit against the woman who falsely accused him, but he can’t just resume his life where he left off, and it is unlikely that the accuser has any assets to compensate him monetarily for what he has lost.

Another incident in the news recently is the arrest of New York City resident Karl Vanderwoude for groping several women on the subway, based on a tip that he looked like the man in a published police surveillance photo. Vanderwoude was arrested, jailed, and photographed by the media. The New York Daily News featured the story with a headline reading “Cops Nab the Grope Sicko,” and other media vilified him in print and online.

Ultimately, Vanderwoude was able to prove that he was nowhere near where the gropings had taken place, but not before his reputation was smeared.

Mothers disgruntled with divorce settlements and custody arrangements have been known to accuse ex-husbands of sex crimes against their children. There are numerous variations, but regardless of whether or not a conviction results, the falsely accused ends up with a cloud on his reputation that is likely to follow him for the rest of his life.

A person accused of any crime is supposed to be assumed innocent until proven guilty, but this is made difficult when the media jump to a conclusion long before the accused has had the opportunity to defend himself against a false accusation. Freedom of information is a privilege we enjoy in a democracy, but it should be accompanied by responsibility on the part of the media, and they should be held accountable for the damage that they do.

According to his aides, Mr. Hynes told Rabbi Chaim Dovid Zwiebel, who represents the group, that he “wouldn’t interfere with someone’s decision to consult with his or her rabbi about allegations of sexual abuse, but would expect that these allegations of criminal conduct be reported to the appropriate law enforcement authorities,” the New York Times reported.

Cases of sexual abuse have been left to be resolved through rabbinical panels, without publicizing the accusations, whereas the names of others accused of sex crimes are routinely publicized.

Hynes has come under criticism from victims’ families, victim advocacy groups, and even Mayor Bloomberg.
In the United States, the law is meant to apply to everyone equally without favoring or exempting any religious, ethnic, or other group. Hynes appears to have ventured onto a slippery slope indeed.

Ironically, the Miami Police Department’ press release about the arrest refers to Lorenzo Green, as a “role model to kids for over a decade.”

His girlfriend,Katerina Williamson is the medical director at the Humane Society. The two apparently live together.

Antunes had photos of himself performing a sex act with the dog, which is a pit bull mix.

According to a former employee of the Humane Society, Antunes worked in the medical kennels where he took care of dogs that had been abused.

A Society official stated that Antunes worked at the shelter on a contract basis and only had access to the dogs during daytime hour when other people were around.

It is unknown whether Williamson was aware of what was going on between her boyfriend and her dog before police showed her the photos. On the instructions of Antunes’s attorney, Deborah Moss, Williamson declined to comment on her relationship with Antunes.

Only since last October has it been illegal in Florida to have sex with animals. Antunes is one of the first to be charged under the recently passed bestiality law.

According to allegations, the Secret Service and military personnel may have taken as many as 21 women to their hotel in Cartagena on April 11, before President Obama arrived there to attend the Summit of the Americas.
This all came to light, it seems, as a result of an agent trying to stiff an expensive “escort” of her $800 fee.

The wire service article quoted U.S. Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta as saying, “We expect our people, wherever they are, whether they are in Colombia or any other country … to behave at the highest standards of conduct.”
One is left to wonder if he was referring to the agents’ sexual conduct or the breach of an oral contract in a country where prostitution is a legal occupation.

In Texas, the Houston Press reports that a police officer who had repeated sexual encounters with a 15-year-old girl in the back seat of her car was sentenced on Friday to eight years in prison in a plea bargain agreement. Steven Wayne Morris, 28, was an officer for the town of Bullard in eastern Texas when he began texting the Bullard High School student in 2009. They eventually began having sex in the back of her car, according to the news report.

Several Illinois media outlets reported that Senior Patrol Officer Michael Collins resigned from the Edwardsville, IL police as of Tuesday, April 10, several days after being charged with photographing women at a tanning salon without their knowledge. Collins was on the police force for fifteen years, and was the fifth grade D.A.R.E. officer in the Edwardsville school district for several years.

According to the 2011 3rd Quarter Report of The National Police Misconduct Statistics and Reporting Project, police officers were accused of sexual assault at a rate of 79 per 100,000 law enforcement personal. That is more than double the rate for the general public (28.7 per 100,000).

What is it about police officers and sex crimes? Is there something about the kind of people attracted to a law enforcement career that makes them more likely to commit these crimes, or is it something that happens to a person on this particular job? It would be interesting to hear what psychologistshave to say about the phenomenon.