A new law in the United Kingdom intended to reduce forced prostitution by going after customers is so far producing little results.

The law prosecutes those who attempt to purchase sex from women who have been forced into prostitution, and was seen by government officials and women rights advocates as a step toward curbing demand for trafficked prostitutes.  But in its first first 15 months, only three men have been “cautioned” for arranging contact with trafficked prostitutes.

Why?

According to government and law enforcement officials quoted in an article in The Guardian newspaper, there are several reasons that have made the new law unsuccessful.  The maximum fine, only 1,000 British pounds, gives police little incentive to see out violators.  But a more fundamental flaw, sources say, is the fact that sex trafficking in the UK may not be as widespread as thought.

A recent survey by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) claimed that at least 2,600 prostitutes working in brothels in England and Wales had been trafficked from abroad. Many lived in debt bondage and were strictly controlled through threats of violence to family members.

The Acpo figures, relating only to off-street prostitution, are lower than previous estimates, the Guardian reports.  A Home Office report in 2003, based on an extrapolation of trafficking in London, estimated that there were 3,812 trafficked prostitutes in England and Wales.

Differences over statistics cause most people’s eyes to glaze over.  But crime data is critically important to human rights organizations and anti-trafficking organizations attempting to make the case that sex trafficking is a growing and widespread issue.  One could argue that few have been prosecuted for seeking sex with trafficked prostitutes because the offense is hardly more than a gentle wrist slap.  Or it could be that the number of prosecutions is so puny because there simply aren’t enough cases.

Either way, how many women are trafficked into prostitution is a question that awaits a definitive answer.