San Francisco weighs decriminalizing prostitution

[dysfunctional press]

Source: breitbart.com

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) - In this live-and-let-live town, where medical marijuana clubs do business next to grocery stores and an annual fair celebrates sadomasochism, prostitutes could soon walk the streets without fear of arrest. San Francisco would become the first major U.S. city to decriminalize prostitution if voters next month approve Proposition K—a measure that forbids local authorities from investigating, arresting or prosecuting anyone for selling sex. The ballot question technically would not legalize prostitution since state law still prohibits it, but the measure would eliminate the power of local law enforcement officials to go after prostitutes. Proponents say the measure will free up $11 million the police spend each year arresting prostitutes and allow them to form collectives....

In 2004, almost two-thirds of voters in nearby Berkeley rejected decriminalization. But proponents of Proposition K say their proposal has a better shot in San Francisco, which they believe is more sexually liberal than the city across the bay. After all, the world's oldest profession has long been established here. During the Gold Rush, the neighborhood closest to the piers was a seedy pleasure center of sex, gambling and drinking known as the Barbary Coast.

These days, on certain corners, prostitutes sell their bodies day and night, ducking into doorways and alleys when police pass by. One recent afternoon in the Mission District, six prostitutes were plying their trade on a single block. Police made 1,583 prostitution arrests in 2007 and expect to make a similar number this year. But the district attorney's office says most defendants are fined, placed in diversion programs or both. Fewer than 5 percent get prosecuted for solicitation, which is a misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail.

Proposition K has been endorsed by the local Democratic Party. But the mayor, district attorney, police department and much of the business community oppose the idea, contending it would increase street prostitution, allow pimps the run of neighborhoods and hamper the fight against sex trafficking, which would remain illegal because it involves forcing people into the sex trade. The San Francisco Chronicle editorialized against the measure, saying it could make the city a magnet for prostitution.



Read more: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D93V4U0O0&show_article=1

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personally, i think that both prostitution and pot should be legalized, regulated, and taxed.

and i will say this about the street-walkers in san francisco- the ones i've seen definitely had some of the best-looking and well-toned calves EVER! must be the hills.

[MrSlayer]

1. Hmm, that leaves pimping as a legitimate career choice.

I can pretty much go out there and force people into prostitution and no one can investigate it.

[dysfunctional press]

2. pimping and pandering are generally separate crimes...

just because prostitution may be de-criminalized, it doesn't mean that they will as well.

[MrSlayer]

3. Yeah but with a firm pimp hand the sex will always be "consensual".

Makes it way easier. They aren't looking to bust the hookers or johns at all.

[awoke_in_2003]

5. "Pimpin ain't easy"

Big Daddy Kane

[EFerrari]

8. No, that means that the people you force into prostitution can call the police on you. n/t

[FreakinDJ]

9. No - it just means prostitutes won't be addicted to drugs

BTW: that is how pimps force women into prostitution.

Its a fact in countries were prostitution is not a crime, the incidence of drug addiction in conjuntion with prostitution is a fraction of what it is in countries that criminalise the oldest profession.

(now I'll hide out as the flames start)

[dipsydoodle]

4. Misread that

thought it said decimalising. I thought where's the point ? :shrug:

[mainegreen]

13. ....

:rofl:

God I love du.

[Nambe]

6. I hope they tell us how much it weighs when they are done.

If it is in British pounds, it could be a billion a year.

We were living in Sydney when it was legalized and there were funny stories about pimps and cops living on the dole but nothing changed significantly.

[aquart]

7. Legalize. Regulate. Tax.

[AlphaCentauri]

17. Agree, de-criminalizing prostitution is not enough

health and exploitation issues should be address, no second class workers

[petronius]

19. Yes - decriminalising sounds like a dangerous half-step

Legalization with regulation, oversight, and worker protections is the best option.

[safeinOhio]

10. Nothing like a good massage

with a happy ending. Please, always practice safe sex.

[JDwho]

11. I've always believed that prostitution was a result of financial cohersion

Many,if not all, prostitutes haven't the education or job skills to do much else to support their children, themselves, and sometimes, their habit. Why not offer a better option to these women who, while under the thumb of their pimp, are practically selling their souls just to survive. While "surviving" they are also in danger while engaging in intimate acts with anyone and everyone. It's not as if a background check is run on the "Johns", to ensure the saftey of these women. If prostitution were regulated by safety measures, and options were offered to those who wished to get off the street, then perhaps legalizing, regulating and taxing would be realistisc.
Legalized marijuana would be great, taxed and regulated. No more wasting taxpayers money on ridiculous imprisonment, for a drug with less dangers than alchohol. That, I'd agree with.

[clixtox]

14. "cohersion"(sic). Maybe reality, or incentives, ... coercion? I suppose...

I agree with you also about the ridiculous waste of resources, and lives, resulting from the current paradigm regarding "victimless" crime.

[AngryAmish]

12. Legalize whorehouses, ban streetwalking

It is not fun to walk down a gangway and find a bunch of used rubbers. Or down an alley.

Women whom are not hookers get solicited in areas where streetwalkers hang out - that is not fun for those gals.

[TrogL]

25. Don't forget escort agencies

In Canada, they advertise in the back pages of the daily newspaper and in the yellow pages. You call them up, someone's dropped at your door, pay with Visa/Mastercard/Debit, arrange a pickup time and you're good to go.

[AngryAmish]

26. That is fine too

Craigslist is the preferred method in the states.

[dysfunctional press]

28. in many american cities, the escort listings are one of the thickest parts of the yellow pages.

especially in cities that get a lot of convention business.

[slackmaster]

15. Once again, San Francisco contemplates trying to usurp regulation by the state of California

Which is illegal. specificially prohibited by provisions of the California Government Code.

Prostitution is banned by authority of the state government. Municipalities cannot override that authority.

This is exactly the same kind of situation as when San Francisco has attempted to ban handguns and gotten its ass handed to it on a platter by the state Supreme Court, twice; and last year's fiasco with same-sex marriages.

San Francisco's City Attorney and council members are smart enough to know they can never get away with this. It's just another example of governing by Kabuki Theater.

[David__77]

16. That's very different.

One is a ban, the other is the opposite. SF cannot legalize prostitution, but they can order their agencies not to arrest and prosecute sex workers. The state can, in turn, if it wishes, move to force them to do so, but I doubt it would do so.

[slackmaster]

22. Unregulated prostitution is worse than the current situation IMO

Legal prostitution works in Mexico and some counties in Nevada because the workers are licensed, regularly tested for STDs, and protected by law from being exploited by pimps and customers.

You are probably correct that the state wouldn't do anything about it.

[WriteDown]

18. The real issue is....

whether prostitutes will be able to eat transfats though. :evilgrin:

[Peace Patriot]

20. The main reason prostitutes need pimps is the illegality.

It works exactly like Prohibition did. If you are engaging in actions that have been criminalized, you need PROTECTION. You need someone to bail you out; you need someone to watch your back; you need someone to bribe cops and judges; you need someone to deal with violence and other threats against you because you can't report it to the cops. Criminal protection networks and bosses thus arise. And then you need protection from other crime networks. And finally you are part of a crime network--involving drugs, theft, bribery, violence and murder.

De-criminalize prostitution and all of this goes away. You no longer need to fear the cops. You no longer need bail money. You no longer need to fear other crime bosses. If someone threatens you, you can report it, like any other citizen, and expect protection, and, if you don't get, you can lobby for it--like anybody else. De-criminalization gives prostitutes the basic civil rights and status as citizens that the rest of us have.

Prostitutes can then join together to pool their resources, help each other and protect themselves. They can form a union. They can rent a house, and take it off the streets. They can get insurance and medical care. They can pay into Social Security and other retirement funds. They can exercise self-government.

The pimps are now the "government." And the prostitutes have little or no say. With de-criminalization, the criminal "middle man" is removed, and the prostitutes become FREE AMERICANS like the rest of us. They are no longer subject to the special threats, coercion, enticements, and health hazards like drug addiction--nor to the degradation--of being run by bosses.

It has never made any sense to me that a sexual act between consenting adults--paid for or not--is a crime. Direct payment with cash is only one step away from the other forms of payment that occur between consenting adults, including the mutual benefits that accrue from licensed marriage, which is a legal and sexual agreement involving financial benefit and liability. Criminalizing direct payment is both a remnant of a fanatical Puritanical religious and social heritage that we should long ago have shed--along with laws criminalizing homosexuality, racially mixed marriages and forms of copulation--AND it is one more "police state" boondoggle that feeds the horrible "prison-industrial complex" that is destroying our democracy.

It is furthermore an insult to the police and to everyone who works in the criminal justice system to require them to monitor and punish behaviors that are moral matters not crimes. It corrodes their professionalism and messes with their minds, and sometimes attracts the wrong people to their professions--people who view ordinary citizens as scum, because they are prostitutes or drug addicts. The criminal justice system should be reserved for REAL crime--murder, rape and other thuggery, large scale theft, and including the organized crime committed by business corporations every day against the citizens of this country.

Criminalizing prostitution and drug use degrades EVERYONE, including the people that we pay to enforce those laws. It is a total waste of people and resources, and positively creates crime and criminal networks that would otherwise not exist.

[musiclawyer]

21. In Madrid, all the hookers must work on one street off Grand Villa

...basically downtown. It's all out in the open amidst tourists and families out walking with their kids. The forced concentration of activity makes it easy for law enforecement and health workers to PROTECT the hookers AND johns. Pimping is a crime. The system works pretty well. I'm surprised the Spanish don't regulate more than that. They'd be able to recoup taxpayer dollars.

[paparush]

23. Palin and McBone will Tie Obama to this within 48 hours...Lying Liars

[CreekDog]

24. My gosh, we have murders, homelessness, public drunkeness, litter and poverty here

That this is even making the list of priorities is troubling. And if you are going to legalize it you do it through the legislative process where expert opinion and public comment can be included in a slow, deliberative process.

If you look at the way Nevada has legalized prostitution there are two things in particular to note: 1) it's not legal in the urban counties that include Reno and Las Vegas and 2) it's very heavily regulated.

You don't just write an initiative and legalize things this way.

That said, I'm pretty sure this will fail.

[TrogL]

27. NIMBY strikes again

I live in a neighbourhood frequented by prostitutes. It's possibly the roughest part of town, but I can walk down the street with few problems.

In Canada prostitution is legal. Solicitation isn't. Neither is pimping.

I've sat and watched a girl working a corner visited in quick succession by:

• The Mission van handing out condoms and coffee.
  
• A john who eventually decided thanks but no thanks (I think he saw me getting his license number)
  
• The Salvation Army "warmup van". (It's cold up here. They also hand out condoms, coffee)
  
• A homeless guy trying to hit her up for a cigarette
  
• A police car making sure the homeless guy wasn't bothering her
  
• The city "help the prostitutes" van (coffee, condoms, access to city services)
  
• A john (brought her back safe half an hour later)
  
• Beat cop (they knew each other by name, traded jokes)
  

...and so on.

I like having them there. With that many eyes on the street nobody's causing any problems.