Agreed. My wife prosecutes misdemeanor cases regarding prostitution. Yesterday, she ran across a cop who makes 90% of his busts at Asian massage parlors. He is an interesting character -- he hates the parlors yet he loves his work. He sometimes is forced to go 1 or 2 times prior to the final arrest, just so he can let them think he is a regular customer.

At these parlors, $150 average gets you a full body "massage," including below-the-belt action. If you ask for more, another $100 buys oral sex, and a big tip on top of that and she'll climb on top of you. Now, mind you, when he goes to these parlors, he is spending $150 tax dollars minimum and getting a free hand job. He does this a couple of times, then he asks for more, they offer oral sex, and he arrests them. Well, as I said, he is certainly one of those conflicted persons who hates the parlors yet loves his work. :rolleyes: Can you believe my taxes fund this?

My wife asked him about the "Johns" (guys buying sex), who are the REAL problem (if there IS a problem -- LOL), because the women are really in a powerless position, and are only doing what the must to survive in many instances. Well, his answer is that the women are easier to catch. Well, if that answer isn't unsatisfactory enough, there is also the implication he simply LIKES catching them more. :D

Here's the real kicker. The punishment the women gets: she pleads guilty, takes 6 months "supervision" and no conviction is recorded. Second and later offenses, depending on how much time has passed, will result in a similar sentence or, at most, a conviction with the punishment being "time considered served" (TCS -- only the night(s) spent in jail awaiting the initial bail hearing).

So, we are funding one horny police officer, arresting a poor woman, paying an attorney to prosecute, paying a judge to sit there -- all for what we all know will result in a mere slap on the wrist every single time. ECONOMIC WASTE. Why we aren't revolting in the streets I don't know. Wait -- I do know -- we're too busy having our brains numbed by TV and Starbucks to care or bother to investigate the reality of today's "government."

How's that for some insightful inciteful thought?

[ 08-14-2003, 11:54 AM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]

Even worse is that in many of these 'massage parlors' the girls are litterly slaves. In a recent report I read they estimate there are 200-300 thousand such 'sex slaves' in the US alone. One of the main reasons this kind of thing can continue is due to the fact that prostitution is illegal. Sad :(

[ 08-14-2003, 12:05 PM: Message edited by: Rokenn ]

<font face="Verdana" size="3" color="#00FF00">Wouldn't it be better to have a system that leave the prostitutes alone, arrest John's, and pimps. For a first offence have them take a program to show how their actions affect the lives of others, including there loved ones. For many of these people it is a problem much like smoking, or gambling, or excessive computer gaming. Then for second offences it is jail time as they are probably not going to change. The program for john's seems to work as most after taking the program rarely do it again.

The main idea is to do away with the customer base, and has been more effective than the other way around.
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[ 08-14-2003, 12:08 PM: Message edited by: pritchke ]

In Oakland, Ca they had a policy for a while of seizing the cars of johns on the spot when arrested. Try explaining that to the wifey when you take a cab home ;)

Wouldn't legalized prostitution be better? I mean, you can sell sex if you're making a porno -- you get paid to perform sex, period. You can sell your sex for millions if you're Halle Berry making Monster's Ball, or for tens of thousands if you're Tera Patrick. In the case of Tera Patrick, she can, and has sold her sex in a gang-bang scenario. (Or, look at the ring Kobe bought his wife. :D [img]graemlins/kidding.gif[/img] ) But, if you're just some poor Jane on the street trying to get $300 to give your treasures to some nasty wanker, you go to jail. STUPID.

NOTE: TL has moved from "what the law IS" to "what the law SHOULD BE" and is now wearing a different hat than before. Inconsistencies may be glaring. ;) (But they aren't yet. No matter how a community regulates obscene material, a contract between two people to go somewhere and perform a sex act privately is a 4th Amendment/privacy/liberty issue, not a 1st Amendment/speech issue).

[ 08-14-2003, 12:19 PM: Message edited by: Timber Loftis ]

<font face="Verdana" size="3" color="#00FF00">Prostitution is legal up north, it is just illegal to pay for it.
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Zounds. Sounds hard to enforce.

Zounds. Sounds hard to enforce. </font>[/QUOTE]But then if someone is giving it away for free is it really prostitution? [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img]

<font color=cadetblue>Why would people buy this stuff??? </font>

joining in late again (must be the time difference)
and trying to have an opinion on all the topics

Most important things first.

I think prostitution should be legal (here in Austria it is) because thus it can be better controlled. Some comedian once said that prostitution was "a victimless crime". Well not really but it can be if it is legalized.
1. The John risks getting STDs (don't say he knows the risks drug addictsdo too)
2. The John risks being blackmailed
3. The prostitute also risks her health (but may have no other job oppurtunity so it is either die on HIV or die on TBC)
4. The prostitute may be in a slave-position to her pimp being denied basic human rights

IF prostitution was legalized the health risk could be reduced by regular screenings (as it is done here and probably on other countries with legal prostitution) and the blackmail risk while still being applicable on a personal ("I tell you wife") or public ("the mayor went to a brothel") base would no longer bear the criminal aspect (i.e. you can't be jailed for it).
The slave-position of the prostitute can be bettered but not solved because you're basically in a slave-position in every minimum-wage job.
With existing legal prostitution illegal prostitution (no health screenings, no green card, no taxes) won't stop but it gets unpopular with the legal side of the business and thus is seriously reduced.

Now while most logical aspect speak FOR a legalization the question wheter or not it should be done is a moral one which I do not dare to answer.