Samenvatting

The legal approach to prostitution in the Netherlands is relatively liberal, covering decriminalization of prostitution, pimping and maintaining a brothel or club. This goes along with a more repressive approach towards forced prostitution. Court decisions may provide insight into tactics used for bringing and keeping women in the sex industry, with the aim of earning more money. We investigated 50 Dutch court decisions, and identified seven categories of such tactics. In this article, we present and analyze these categories. Taking advantage of the women’s vulnerability features most prominent among these tactics, while actual violence is being used less often.