This editorial will appear in tomorrow’s print edition.

Linda Smith, a former Washington lawmaker who has become a prominent opponent of sex-trafficking, recounted a shocking perversion of justice while testifying in Congress last October.

In 2006, a Nevada police officer reported catching a female in a truck “engaging in an act of prostitution” with the truck driver.

As Smith paraphrased the police report, “A 12-year-old girl was handcuffed, placed under arrest and transported to the juvenile detention facility in Las Vegas. The man, nearly 48 years old, was allowed to drive away.”

The sequel: “The child is now turning 15 years old and is again in juvenile detention under prostitution-related charges,” said Smith. “Her pimp reclaimed her after she was released the first time …”
Twelve-year-old handcuffed; 48-year-old john waved off. It turns the stomach.

Smith, who leads Shared Hope International, an anti-trafficking organization she founded in 1998, helped persuade the 2010 Legislature to pass a bill that should make such travesties less likely, at least in this state.
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