Ikomos, in my province many decades ago, a woman was brutally assaulted by her pimp. The judge acquitted the pimp of assault claiming that she consented to the violence because she was a prostitute and that violence naturally comes with the career she chose. In another case, the same judge said to the jury that two teenage boys, who brutally raped a prostitute, and then left her face down in a mud puddle unconscious to die and even joked about it the next day at school claiming that she deserved to die because she was just an Indian, he said to the jury to remember that she was a prostitute and that these are good kids. I witnessed the effects of a judge in another province who acquitted three men of gang raping a 15 year old girl because she wore a halter top to a party and was therefore responsible for what happened to her. Yes, I believe that these statements and decisions by judges are very common indeed.
This isn't surprising. When I was young I hung out in the Ste-Catherine/St-Laurent street area. I remember in the middle of the day one time,a prostitute was being beaten by who was surely her pimp all in view of 2 cops sitting in their car. Another time,during the winter,the prostitutes were all out in fur coats with their pimps,wearing berets for some reason (it really made them stand out) and nothing.
AFAIK,the police would arrest the johns,arrest (and to be blunt,sexually exploit) the prostitutes. You'd never,NEVER hear of their pimps being arrested who,IMO,are the real criminals that make a living exploiting and beating girls,mostly runaways and drug addicts.
I don't know if attitudes have changed but back then I can tell you,the pimps were left alone.
It's pretty sickening.