Lesser Crimes & Offenses - Prostitution
Many communities have been making concerted efforts to suppress prostitution. In the early 1990s, law enforcement started to crack down on prostitution as a way to bring down the crime rates overall. What are some cities doing? One recent trend is that men soliciting prostitutes (often undercover policewomen) will have their vehicle seized. Such programs are in effect in Detroit, Portland, Oregon, Washington D.C., and New York City. Police in some areas of Washington D.C. have even taken to handing out tickets to drivers making right turns to suppress drive-by traffic. Police in San Francisco instituted their First Offender Prostitution Program — referred to as "John school" in some circles — where men receive lectures about the evils of streetwalking and venereal diseases by police, business owners, and residents of neighborhoods plagued by prostitutes. Those who attend the program will have their records wiped clean. The program lasts only a day (a very long, humiliating day, one should think) but it has proven to be initially effective. Of the 2,181 men who have passed through the program in four years, only 18 have been rearrested. Police have offered drug dealers and prostitutes in Las Vegas a deal: stay out of the designated high crime areas for six months to a year and get suspended sentences. If they refuse and are caught in these areas again, they will be arrested on the spot. According to police and residents, it has been cleaning up downtown Las Vegas, but one can't help but wonder under what rug the dirt has been swept.
Some residents of troubled neighborhoods, fed up with prostitutes and customers conducting business on street corners, have taken matters into their own hands. They have grabbed their video cameras and filmed men with prostitutes; it's not uncommon for the amateur filmmakers to approach a parked car and interrupt the couple midway through the sex act. Brian Bates of Oklahoma first started filming in 1996 as a way to combat prostitution in his hometown. Since 1996, the "Video Vigilante" (as he calls himself on his website) has reportedly caught more than 200 hookers in the act. Bates has also photographed license plates and sent his sex tapes to the wives and these Johns. He has even alerted employers when the men were being serviced in a company car. (There goes his Christmas bonus.)
Should prostitution be legal? Would that reduce the trafficking in women and children across the globe, and the violence that often accompanies this activity? Prostitution is legal (or permitted with some restrictions) in such countries as Canada, England, France, and Denmark. Should certain "red light districts" be set up where customers and prostitutes can meet, with the police ensuring the safety of all parties? Few areas would welcome such a district in their neighborhood. Should we have brothels as they do in some European countries, with guidelines imposed to make sure they are run fairly? To keep their licenses, the women would have to submit to scheduled medical examinations (as they do in Nevada, where prostitution is legal). Could it also save cities money? According to a 1987 study, the average cost to bust a hooker was almost $2,000.
Occasionally, a sex worker will step forward to say how pleased she is with her profession. "Eileen K" says she chose to work for an escort service. She feels that "we are being discriminated against, having our free choices taken away and our human rights also taken away." She also stated: "Beats flipping burgers." Again, Eileen does not work on the street. The women and men who do are more likely to face violence. They will be more likely to suffer from drug addiction. Surprisingly, according to the Department of Health, only 3 to 5% of sexually transmitted disease is thought to be related to prostitution.
The Catholic Family and Human Right Institute reports that "there is universal agreement that the trafficking of women and children for prostitution is a growing menace, for the people involved and for the governments. Though most prevalent in the developing world, even in the United States women are lured into positions of sexual slavery from which they can rarely escape."
Sources: Bovard, Jerry. "The Legalization of Prostitution." available from http://www.fff.org; "Prostitution in the United States." available from http://www.bayswan.org; "Decriminalize Prostitution Now Coalition." available from http://www.sexwork.com; "Why Street Prostitution is Such a Serious Problem." available from http://www.sexwork.com; Matt Bean. "Girls on Film." available from http://www.courttv.com; "US Pushing UN to 'Legalize' Prostitution." Catholic World News, January 17, 2000; Andrew Kiraly. "Bad People, Go Away." Las Vegas Mercury, January 26, 2001; Evelyn Nieves. "Cities Study New Answer to Prostitution." San Francisco Times, March 21, 1999.
1 For a summary see www.calib.com/nccanch/pubs/statinfo/nis3.cfm.
2 Milliken and Boesky both only served a fraction of their sentences. Boesky, in fact, took half of the $100 million in restitution he had to pay back and used it as a tax write off.
3 The organization defines stalking as "harassing or threatening behavior that an individual engages in repeatedly, such as following a person, appearing at a person's home or place of business, making harassing phone calls, leaving written messages or objects or vandalizing a person's property. These actions may or may not be accompanies by a credible threat of serious harm, and they may not be precursors to an assault or murder."
4 Massachusetts' figure is current as of 10/2001, Michigan's as of 05/2001, Arizona's as of 01/2001, and Florida's as of 08/2002.
5 High school sweethearts. Many states have revised their legislation to permit judges to exempt from registration people who had consensual sex with a 13-15 year old partner when they themselves were under 19 years of age but two or more years older than the partner. Connecticut, for example, made this revision to its registration policy in 1999, just one year after its sex offender legislation was first enacted. Consensual sex between two people, both between 13-15 years of age is not a crime and does not require registration.
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