In July, law enforcement in New Hampshire raided massage parlors in Concord and Exeter. Two women were arrested and charged with prostitution-related offenses. A man, identified as a client, reportedly blew a kiss at the women and walked away without being charged.
It is a vivid and disturbing image that reflects the realities of our criminalization laws. While we are told that the intent is to protect the women involved in sex work, in reality, they end up harming sex workers and survivors of trafficking the most. If, as news reports suggest, this was in fact part of a trafficking ring, then those women were not criminals at all. They were victims — people who should have been offered safety, protection, and resources, not handcuffs. Treating trafficked individuals as criminals only deepens their trauma and makes it harder for them to escape a life of exploitation.
This points to a deeper problem: our laws still fail to clearly distinguish between consensual adult sex work and human trafficking. These are not the same. Conflating the two only leads to more harm. Trafficking victims deserve protection, services, and a pathway out of exploitation. Consenting adults engaged in sex work are not the same as human trafficking. Real traffickers — the people coercing and profiting from exploitation — deserve to face the full force of the law.
Instead, New Hampshire lawmakers have responded by expanding criminalization instead of prioritizing safety. Senate Bill 267, passed earlier this year, imposes a mandatory $500 fine on anyone convicted of being a client of prostitution. It also increases the amount of jail time a client can face. However, laws like SB 267 do not end exploitation. Instead, they make sex work more dangerous.
Criminalizing clients will never eliminate the sex trade, despite what well-meaning legislators may say. It simply pushes it further underground and into dangerous places. Clients who fear enhanced legal consequences are more likely to avoid screening, rush negotiations, or insist on meeting in secluded or unsafe locations. Those conditions strip workers of the ability to protect themselves. Without time or space to vet clients, set boundaries, or negotiate safely, workers are left more vulnerable to violence and exploitation — the exact opposite of the expressed intention of this type of legislation.
Enhanced criminalization also jeopardizes workers’ livelihoods. Many are already navigating poverty, discrimination, and other hurdles. Reducing the number of clients does not eliminate the need to pay rent or support a family. It simply makes it harder to survive and increases vulnerability to coercion and harm. And in cases of trafficking, harsher penalties drive the industry further into the shadows, making it harder to identify and prosecute actual traffickers while punishing those being trafficked.
At the same time, laws like SB 267 do nothing to protect the constitutional rights of those most affected by policing. In the recent raids, there was no evidence that services were offered, no confirmed trafficking victims were identified, and no outreach was provided. There were only arrests.
Sex workers have long advocated for an end to exploitation and abuse. Decades of research and lived experience show that smarter laws that strengthen anti-trafficking enforcement lead to safer outcomes. New Hampshire has made great strides to provide equal access to health care and the ability to report crimes without fear of arrest. Safer working conditions help reduce both exploitation and trafficking. In contrast, enhanced criminalization hides these harms and makes them harder to address.
Enhanced criminalization reinforces the harmful belief that consensual adult sex work should be heavily policed, and that belief continues to place people in danger. It isolates workers from services and support, increases stigma, and fails to address the real causes of exploitation, such as poverty, marginalization, and lack of opportunity.
If New Hampshire truly wants to support survivors, it must begin by listening to those most affected by these laws. And sex workers have been clear: Stop criminalizing them. Stop criminalizing their clients. Stop treating trafficked victims as criminals. Start focusing on the real traffickers — the people who exploit, coerce, and profit from others’ misery.
Instead, the state should invest in community-based support programs and offer real pathways to safety and stability.
Arrests and fines are not protection. They are punishment, and they are not the answer.
