Colorado lawmakers are currently considering Senate Bill 26-097, a bill that would repeal several criminal offenses related to prostitution, including: soliciting prostitution, patronizing prostitution, keeping a place of prostitution, and prostitute making displays. Importantly, the bill does not eliminate criminal penalties for pimping, coercion, human trafficking, or child exploitation.
Those crimes would remain illegal and prosecutable under state law. In fact, this bill outlines a mandatory chain of events of communication that would need to take place if a minor is suspected to be involved in sex work, human trafficking, or sex trafficking between local authorities, the county and human services that currently does not exist.
When this bill began circulating among officials in Aurora, I heard a great deal of skepticism. Much of that concern centered on two common fears: that the bill would prevent cities from regulating sex work and that it would lead to an increase in human and or sex trafficking. But a careful reading of the legislation shows that many of these concerns stem from misunderstandings about what the bill does.
First, SB 26-097 distinguishes between consensual adult sex work and trafficking or exploitation. Current law often treats these issues as one and the same. In reality, they are very different problems that require very different policy responses. Human trafficking involves using force, fraud, or coercion to exploit someone for labor or services, while sex trafficking specifically refers to exploiting a person through commercial sexual activity under those same conditions or when a minor is involved. Sex work, by contrast, refers to consensual commercial sexual activity between adults and does not involve coercion, force, or exploitation.
What the bill changes is the criminalization of consenting adults engaging in sex work. Removing criminal penalties for these individuals is not about endorsing prostitution. It is about recognizing that criminalization often pushes the industry further underground, making it harder for law enforcement to identify trafficking victims and harder for victims to seek help.
Under the current system, individuals who are being trafficked may fear contacting law enforcement because they risk being arrested themselves. SB26-097 addresses this reality by providing protections for victims who come forward and by allowing records related to offenses committed under coercion to be sealed. This approach helps shift the focus of enforcement toward traffickers and those who profit from exploitation rather than toward the victims themselves.
A common rumor circulating locally is that the bill would prevent cities from regulating the industry. That is not the case. The legislation still allows municipalities to regulate businesses through local licensing and regulatory frameworks, just as cities regulate other industries. The bill outlines guidelines that cities can use when developing licensing structures and identifying individuals who would automatically be denied a license, such as those with convictions related to trafficking or unlawful sexual behavior.
It also includes operational expectations, such as written agreements outlining services, time, payment, and conditions of service. These types of standards mirror regulatory practices already used in industries such as escort services and massage businesses.
But there is a deeper question we should ask ourselves when debating this issue. In a society where sex has long been used to drive media, marketing, and profit, who actually benefits from the current legal framework?
Many people are familiar with the phrase “sex sells.” Advertising campaigns regularly use women’s bodies to market everything from cars to beer to clothing. Entire industries profit from sexual imagery and the commodification of women’s bodies. Yet when conversations turn to women having agency over their own bodies and economic choices, the legal and moral scrutiny suddenly intensifies.
Women’s bodies are regulated in ways that many other industries are not. So, the question becomes: who is profiting under the current system, and who is being punished by it?
As the Epstein files continue to surface in the media, many of us are reminded of the profound violations experienced by the children and youth who were targeted by powerful, wealthy men. These stories evoke both sympathy and recognition, because far too many people have experienced similar harms themselves or have watched loved ones endure them. High-profile cases like the Jeffrey Epstein scandal highlight another painful reality. Epstein used young victims to recruit other victims and then weaponized that involvement against them. In many trafficking cases, survivors are forced to participate in acts that later expose them to criminal charges themselves. Laws that criminalize individuals in prostitution can sometimes make it easier for traffickers to manipulate victims and harder for those victims to seek help.
Legislation like SB 26-097 attempts to correct that imbalance by ensuring that victims who come forward are not automatically treated as criminals. It allows records tied to coercion to be sealed while still preserving evidence that can be used to prosecute traffickers and those who profit from exploitation.
Our Criminal Justice System has great power and for decade after decade continues to produce same results when ‘fighting’ crime. We focus on punishment, incarceration, and reactivity, instead forgiveness, restorative justice, and dedicating dollars to social services that uplift poor, and other historically marginalized communities out of poverty to benefit all of society. Our current approach to Crime in Aurora has long been Tough on Crime but this approach continues to leave vulnerable communities powerless and victimized by the system put in place to protect. In many cases, criminalization has simply pushed activity further underground, where exploitation is harder to detect and victims have fewer avenues for protection.
Public safety is real, and every person deserves to feel safe in their community. But effective public safety policy must focus on reducing harm and targeting exploitation, not simply maintaining systems that have failed to solve the problem.
SB 26-097 represents a shift toward that approach. By separating consensual adult behavior from coercion and trafficking, the law would allow law enforcement to focus directly on the people who exploit others while creating pathways for victims to seek help without fear of prosecution.
Colorado has an opportunity to take a more thoughtful and transparent approach to this issue and I am proud to day I support this bill. Policies that reduce stigma, increase oversight, and prioritize the protection of victims can strengthen public safety rather than weaken it.
The question before us is not whether exploitation exists. It clearly does. The question is whether our laws are structured in a way that actually helps us address it.
Councilmember Alli Jackson represents Aurora at-large.