Sorry to disagree, but I have a friend that was just there ministering to young prostitutes, and that is what she told me. It is against the law, but the police and even the State Department are being bribed...The younger girls (under 15), are the biggest prizes of all.
Sorry to disagree, but I have been living in Thailand for the past 6 or so years. It is amazing the number of stories I have heard, none of them true, from both bar girls and from those who come to help 'save' them. Underage, less than 18, girls in bars are few and far between since it will result in the bar getting shut down and the owner arrested. Do you realize that the girls working in the bars are all there by choice and do it because it is easy money?
If you want to talk about prostitution in remote border areas, that is a different story. What goes on there is horrible but it is far from anywhere a western tourist will ever go.
Is it better to go save souls of Thai prostitutes than of Black murderers in inner city America.