Pencil and paper is too generic, that’s like “CRIMINALS USED COMPUTERS!” This is a more specific accusation. Not just any pens, criminals used UNI-BALL PENS.
Tools aside, I have mixed feelings on the Backpage shutdown. What I've heard through friends of friends is that for non-trafficked sex workers this was a service that helped them earn a living much more safely than being out on the street looking for clients. Losing it has not been good for them.
One of the side effects of outlawing sex work is that everyone has to operate under the radar - both the people working a job for themselves and the human trafficking rings. If it were a legal profession operating in the open, would we be in a better position to find and help the people who are being forced in to it?
Similar problems to what we've seen with drug prohibition and the cartels.