Prostitution Clampdown!

[Mike Covell]

The worlds oldest trade under threat?

Prostitute users face clampdown

Paying for sex with prostitutes who are controlled by pimps is set to become a criminal offence, Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is expected to announce.

She will also say that people who knowingly pay illegally trafficked women for sex could face rape charges.

Ms Smith is to promise that more kerb-crawlers will be prosecuted and police will get powers to close brothels.

Buying or selling sex is legal but many prostitution-related activities, such as soliciting and pimping, are not.

Hefty fine

The Home Office is planning to criminalise paying for sex with a woman "controlled for another person's gain".

Those convicted would get a fine and a criminal record.
Pleading ignorance of the circumstances under which a prostitute is working will not count as a defence.

A Home Office spokeswoman said: "We want to do everything we can to protect vulnerable women.

"That is why we are determined to shift the focus onto the sex buyer, the person responsible for creating the demand for prostitution markets which in turn creates demand for the vile trade of women to be trafficked for sexual exploitation."

She added: "We want to send a clear message to force men to think twice before sex and make it clear that if they pay for sex with someone who has been controlled or exploited, they will get a criminal record and a hefty fine."

Brothel powers

Under the plans, people who pay a prostitute for sex knowing they have been trafficked against their will could be charged with rape.

Ms Smith will promise that kerb-crawling will be punishable the first time a person is caught doing it, rather than just persistent offenders.

The Home Office said police would get powers to close brothels.

Currently they can only shut premises associated with prostitution if anti-social behaviour or when Class A drugs are involved.
Critics of the government's proposals say they will simply drive customers elsewhere, rather than tackling the problem.

Under the Home Office plans, lapdancing clubs would be subjected to the same licensing laws as sex shops, rather than pubs and bars, as at present.

This would allow people living nearby more chance to raise objections.

The Sexual Offences Act 2003 made it illegal to buy sex from anyone aged under 18 and introduced penalties for trafficking adults and children for the purposes of sexual exploitation.

It is not illegal for someone aged over 18 to work as a prostitute in off-street premises but where there is more than one prostitute, the owner of the premises can be prosecuted for keeping a brothel.

Many of the activities associated with street prostitution, such as soliciting and kerb-crawling, are also illegal and it is against the law to advertise sexual services on cards in telephone boxes.

In December last year, Women's Minister Harriet Harman said paying for sex should be outlawed.

Source:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7735908.stm

[claire]

Huh. Talk about getting it all a*se about face. Jacqui Smith--this is the same idiot bird who thinks it's fine to hold people for months on end just because their next door neighbour saw them carrying the Q'uran, is that right?

What a blinking cop out--in every sense of the phrase. How much easier to arrest a punter after he's forked out the cash than to provide proper detection of people trafficking in the first instance. Seems like it's the punters who've become the honey traps.

Grrrr.

[Robert]

Whenever a Government tries something like this, the inevitable happens - only a matter of time before the first Labour MP is caught kerb-crawling.

[Mike Covell]

Having never used the services of a prostitute, I wouldn't actually know what kind of conversations take place prior to "The Transaction", however, I really cannot see people asking "Have you been trafficked?," or "Have you been exploited?"

The whole thing, like Claire said, is quite silly!

It's like the local bill going after small time dealers rather than cutting off the big fish, here they target the punter, rather than stopping the source. Perhaps if the Government had control of the UK's boarders, this wouldn't happen!

[Bob Hinton]

Contradiction

So let me get this straight. In drug dealing the authorities are after the providers and generally leave the users alone. In prostitution they are now after the users and will leave the providers alone.

Prostitutes are not vulnerable women - they are women who have placed themselves in vulnerable situations.

[Stephen Thomas]

Prostitutes are not vulnerable women - they are women who have placed themselves in vulnerable situations.

Most maybe but not ALL of them, Bob.

[brummie]

Let me say from the start that I have never used the services of a prostitute, and never will, not because of any moral objection to buying and selling sex but because I have always believed that the majority of prostitutes are either pimp controlled or drug dependant. I see nothing morally wrong in buying sex from a willing seller but I will not line the pockets of men controlling them. Recently a 'massage parlour' in the midlands was raided and all the girls were found to have been trafficked from eastern europe. Pimps and people traffickers are the scum of the earth and no punishment is too bad for them, but if the government thinks this is the way to eliminate them they are clearly living in a fantasy world. Why not have legalised premises, fully licensed and controlled with regular medical checks, in non residential areas or is this to sensible, think of the tax revenues. The other interesting point which I hadnt realised is the part of the post which says that lap dancing clubs face even more restrictions. Lap dancing clubs have for some time been on the government hit list and now it seems that they are trying to sneak in new restrictions, surely control of prostitutes and clubs are two seperate issues. Incidentaly where will these new restrictions leave escort agencies? Still its good to know that in these days of economic chaos and spiralling unemployment plus overseas wars and soaring knife crime the government has got its priorities right.

[claire]

Well, and this is part of the point, isn't it...when a lot of violent and economic crime can be linked to people trafficking, having a go at the punters beggars belief. Now, I'm quite aware that some punters are dodgy characters, but for the most part, they're just men willing to pay for sex. Their personal reasons for that are their own...and there are certainly plenty of women who choose sex work. Like brummie says, legalise the places (in a way that doesn't compromise the privacy of the customers) and chase the traffickers to the ground.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that all this will achieve is driving more and more of the sex market underground, and provide happy little hunting grounds for traffickers and sickos. But hey, I'm not Home Secretary. Talk about kicking up the sand in the hope that no-one realises the real issues at hand.

[DarkPassenger]

I'd use the services of prostitutes if the North East had any. I say legalize them - the tax revenues would be great and the safety aspect managed.

Writings a bit off today, I sliced the end of my thumb off peeling a butternut squash!

[Sam Flynn]

I sliced the end of my thumb off peeling a butternut squash!

... I always had a suspicion that vegetables weren't as good for one's health as they're cracked up to be.

[brummie]

Just add to the air of farce in these measures and show them up as tackling the problem on the cheap, found this on the BBC news website from last week; http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7719662.stm

[Fisherman]

Just a few lines from more exotic shores: here in Sweden we have had a law incriminating punters for a number of years by now. It is said to be a great success, and I know that there are other countries studying the law, mostly because it has put an end to a lot of the trafficking business going on!
My guess is that the Swedish model lies behind the British suggestions along the same lines.

All the best!
Fisherman

[claire]

If there was a Swedish model lying around anywhere, I'd recommend the British authorities avail themselves of her services pronto and stop piddling around with this idea. If only they hadn't taken her number down from the phone box on Charing X Road.

The reality is, Fisherman, that Sweden still backs up its initiatives with active involvement in anti-trafficking activities, social interventions and the like, and doesn't rely on one single thing to solve everything. This, from Britain, is just another quick fix to divert attention from other things they've made a damned mess of.