Via a pointed letter, seventeen attorneys general have pressed Craigslist to do more to prohibit ads for “the world’s oldest profession.”

The campaign by state officials was instigated partly because of the suicide of the “Craigslist Killer,” Philip Markoff, on August 15th.   Markoff’s death came before he had to stand trial for the murder of Julissa Brisman of Massachusetts.

From the outside, Philip Markoff did not seem a likely candidate for murder.  In 2009, the 24 year old medical student from Boston University answered Brisman’s ad for a “masseuse,” which appeared under the Craigslist category “adult services.”

Markoff, according to Investigation Discovery, had racked up a substantial gambling debt which he was unable to pay; in order to get out of his financial maelstrom, he decided to rob vulnerable young women.

Investigators on the case believe that Markoff intended only to steal Brisman’s money; however, the encounter had all of the hallmarks of a “robbery gone wrong.”   Specifically, Brisman fought back, and Markoff killed her.
 
Four days prior, he had robbed another young woman he met through an adult services ad; she likely survived because she cooperated fully with Markoff, giving him the $500.00 in cash she had in her possession.

This tragic set of events helped spur Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley to send Craigslist a separate letter in which she wrote of the “incongruity” between Craigslist’s professed public mission and the promotion of adult ads.  In so doing, Coakley reversed her prior stance, which was to not interfere with web services.   After referring to the site’s inconsistency  as “startling”, she went on to say, “Craigslist should end the hypocrisy between words and practice.”

According to the Boston Herald, Craigslist CEO Jim Buckmaster did not respond to an email request for an interview.

Prior Trouble

This is not the first time Craigslist has taken heat for such advertisements.  In 2008, 40 attorneys general pressed for the site to mandate that posters provide a valid phone number and to pay a fee to place ads in the adult section.  In 2009, they changed the name of the adult section from “erotic services” to “adult services.”

However, the 17 attorneys general targeting Craigslist believe that more could and should be done to prevent the exploitation of women and children, which virtually goes hand in hand with escort services, et al.
 
Attorneys general from the following states signed the letter:  Arkansas, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas and Virginia.