In December , Canada introduced new legislation with the main objective to reduce the demand for sexual services in order to protect women and girls, who are disproportionately negatively impacted by the sex trade Department of Justice Canada Other countries have taken a similar legislative approach that views the sex trade as negatively impacting women and girls, and the practice of capitalizing on the demand for sexual services posing too high a risk of exploitation.
The Nordic Model originated in Sweden in and more recently, in the past decade, versions of it have been incorporated into law in Norway, Iceland, Northern Ireland, France and Israel. Bedford Most pre-existing Criminal Code offences related to the sex trade were subsequently repealed and new related offences were created see Text box 1. New laws made it illegal to purchase sexual services from an adult, communicate in any place for that purpose, or to advertise sexual services.
An immunity provision was also introduced, which ensured that individuals selling their own sexual services cannot be held criminally liable for their role in purchasing and third party offences. For some offences, the maximum penalties for sex-trade-related crimes were increased. Purchasing and third party offences e. Previous research has found that, prior to the implementation of the PCEPA , police-reported rates of sex trade-related offences had been decreasing for many years, driven by a large decline in the offence of stopping or impeding traffic, or communicating for the purpose of purchasing or selling sexual services.
Note In the five years preceding the new law, while the Bedford case proceeded through the courts, police-reported incidents of sex-trade-related crimes declined considerably. Women and men were accused in sex-trade-related offences at nearly equal proportions during this period: under the previous legislation, the law did not differentiate between offences committed by persons accused of providing and persons accused of purchasing sexual services.
However, women, who are largely the providers of sexual services were more often the accused in sex-trade-related incidents during this period than in other types of crime, and they were more likely than men to have repeated contacts with police or be found guilty of sex-trade-related crimes Rotenberg Offences that target the purchasers of sexual services and third-party offences such as procuring or receiving material benefit are isolated throughout this article in order to align the findings with the distinct parties targeted in these laws.
