Punishing the victims?

[sandyRoe]

In recent months a number of stories have appeared in the local media about young women from Asia, Eastern Europe, and South America, who have been trafficked into N Ireland and forced into work as prostitutes.
Not one of the traffickers has ever been convicted. The local police may not be able to catch the 'Mr Bigs' but apparently they have no problems arresting some of the women involved.
If a few of their customers were to receive sentences similar to those handed down to these women would this trade become less lucrative for the gangsters involved?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/...hern-ireland-17713542

[anotheoldgit]

I have noticed that some prostitutes are nearly always classed as victims, rather than the criminals that they really are.

And before anyone gets on the 'band-wagon', I am not talking about those poor unfortunate women who are forced into prostitution by others, these are indeed victims.

[hc4361]

anotheroldgit, in the UK prostitution is not illegal, so prostitutes are not criminals per se.

[Mosaic]

Soliciting for prostitution, and controlling prostitutes, are illegal. Doing it for money is not illegal.
The police need reliable witnesses who can withstand cross-examination, and most traffickers ensure their victims are in no state to meet this description.

[anotheoldgit]

hc4361

/// anotheroldgit, in the UK prostitution is not illegal, so prostitutes are not criminals per se. ///

Exactly my point, one has to ask why?

A person who supplies drugs is a criminal, and so is a person who buys from them.

So why is a prostitute not deemed a criminal, just the same as a man is deemed a criminal for seeking them out?

[hc4361]

It is also legal for a man to pay for sex, AOG.
The walk ups in Soho are perfectly legal, for example.

[NOX]

You'll get some sensible, non biased, non media, non police information here:-
http://www.prostitutescollective.net/

[humbersloop]

Given trafficking is a vile crime and it ought to be a priority, any idea why the police can't catch the Mr Bigs Sandy? Is it a shortage of information or a lack of resources?

[anotheoldgit]

hc4361

What about driving slow in a known prostitute area, is that also legal?

[sandyRoe]

Humbersloop, during The Troubles the authorites knew that vice might provide a lucrative business for terrorists so the police did all they could to ensure that it didn't prosper.
Recently, despite what they sometimes say, they don't seem to take the same interest. So, the trafficking flourishes.

[sandyRoe]

AOG, wouldn't that depend on why you were there?

[cathfromsaron]

yes, these women are victims of a cruel trade! BUT does that mean we should pay to keep them here?

[humbersloop]

Pretty shameful then. Don't know if you've seen this Sandy

http://www.conflictre...rthern_Ireland_LR.pdf

[anotheoldgit]

sandyRoe

/// AOG, wouldn't that depend on why you were there? ///

I wouldn't know, not haven driven slowly in such areas.

All I know is that there have been numerous reports on such motorists getting pulled up by the police and charged for doing so.

[sandyRoe]

AOG, I didn't mean for one moment to impugn your character. I should have put: 'Wouldn't that depend on why ONE was there'.

[anotheoldgit]

sandyRoe

No offence taken Sandy.

[FredPuli43]

The trafficking is surely universal in Western Europe. For example ,the police in Nice discovered that nearly all the 'girls' they found were from Eastern Europe, commonly from Albania.Only the 'high class' workers were French, and even those were suffering competition from Russians.When we have had raids in Cambridge, the story has been similar; the girls were Eastern European, in the main.
Our law on prostitution is a mess. One girl working alone in premises commits no offence, so it would be odd to prosecute and punish her clients! If she solicits in the street, she commits an offence and so do the men who approach her for sex or who are cruising around for that purpose. We prosecute people for leaving prostitutes' cards in phone boxes but not newspapers who advertise 'personal services' of 'massage'. It's all a little odd.

[Sir Alec]

It's time they made prostitution legal and set up 'safe houses' for them. No pimps, therefore no beatings, no robbings. Unfortunately they would have to be on the outskirts of any town because the locals wouldn't like it. However, it would protect the identity of the 'workers' and the customers could be kept an eye on.
No matter how much people disagree with prostitution, you are never going to stop it and I think that it keeps rape off the streets, to a degree.

[anotheoldgit]

/// However, it would protect the identity of the 'workers' and the customers could be kept an eye on.///

A bit one sided in favour of the females it would seem, why?

[hc4361]

AOG, probably because prostitutes (male and female ones) get assaulted, beaten, raped, robbed, murdered far more often than their clients!

[Old_Geezer]

Does the same not apply to male prostitutes ?