Other counties should follow the lead of King County’s initiative to curb demand for paid sex with children by arresting and prosecuting buyers.

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FOR all the legislative, law-enforcement and community efforts to end sex trafficking, children are still being exploited throughout the region.

Tens of thousands of people in King County view sex ads every day on around 130 different websites. Pimps are still in business. The local online market is flush with ads enticing buyers with search terms such as “young” and “daddy’s girl.”

King County’s latest effort to address the root cause of youth sex trafficking — by cracking down on buyers who drive the demand for commercial sex — signals a major shift that can make a difference to victims.

Last fall, the county prosecutor’s office partnered with several local law-enforcement agencies and the Organization for Prostitution Survivors to launch the “Buyer Beware” program. As reported in Seattle Times stories, the initiative aims to reduce the local demand for prostitution by targeting sex buyers. Tactics include stricter enforcement of current laws, deterrence for those scanning sex ads and a new 10-week-intervention program for convicted buyers.

Early signs of success include fewer arrests of women on prostitution charges and more arrests of men caught patronizing them. While women were once arrested countywide at up to 25 times the rate of male buyers, men are now arrested three times more often than women in Seattle, Kent, Renton, Des Moines, Federal Way and Auburn. That clearly embraces the reality that most women and girls working in prostitution are victims, not criminals.

That trend should spread throughout the county and state.

Catching, charging and convicting perpetrators sends a strong message to buyers that their actions are harmful to others. The City of Seattle recently received about $70,000 in sex-buyers’ fines to be applied toward services and enforcement.

According to The Times’ report, 52 men in King County were charged last year with attempting to buy sex with children. Other jurisdictions in King County and around the state should follow the lead to hold these men accountable.

The fines imposed on abusers help curb demand and pay for victims’ access to lifesaving services, from medical evaluations and housing, to job training and chemical-dependency programs.