No thread on this yet?
BBC News article:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-49739997
Report:
https://www.justice-ni.gov.uk/sites/...ng-for-sex.pdf
"It may be disappointing for proponents of this legislation that the research did not uncover more evidence of a reduction in prostitution in Northern Ireland, particularly since this was hailed as such a success in Sweden, and one of the main reasons why the Nordic model (so termed) has been exported internationally. However, we would respond by suggesting that the evidence base from Sweden and the Nordic countries generally is simply not strong enough to support the proposition that sex purchase legislation has led to the massive decreases in prostitution and human trafficking that are alleged to have occurred in those jurisdictions. We noted in the Introduction that we are not aware of any prevalence studies from the Nordic regions relating to before and after the legislation was introduced, nor are we aware of any trend analyses of administrator data from ASWs that operate in these regions which would provide a clearer indication of prevalence rates. Certainly, the evidence from Northern Ireland based on a comparison of the before and after data suggests very strongly that Article 64A has had minimal to no effect on the demand for prostitution, the number of active sex workers in the jurisdiction and on levels of human trafficking for sexual exploitation."
What's funny is that the report hints at a possible Streisand effect of the new law; all of the attention the media gave to the new law would have brought sex work to the attention of people who would never have considered it before, and some of those people may have ended up actually visiting a sex worker.