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Prostitutes face jail under tougher law

by generaldecay | August 19, 2007 at 09:06 am | 421 views | 1 comment

The demonisation of sex workers saddens me. I agree that instituting laws to punish (rather than protect) sex workers does nothing to address the problems this country is facing in it growing sex trade. It also does nothing to help the thousands of women who are forced to sell their bodies.

But punitiveness is the order of the day now, and it has been for a long time. What was that about the prison population hitting new highs?

The government was last night accused of turning the clock back 25 years by introducing a law that will allow courts to imprison prostitutes who are arrested for soliciting. The move has provoked the fury of women's support groups, who say the move will do nothing to address the root causes of the illicit trade in sex.

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Under the law, prostitutes caught soliciting can be ordered to attend three meetings with a court-appointed expert to discuss 'ending their involvement' with prostitution. Magistrates will be able to summon those who fail to attend the sessions before a court. Those who do not obey the summons can be arrested and imprisoned for up to 72 hours.

The new law is ostensibly designed to help prostitutes break out of a cycle of vice. Drawn up partly in response to the murders of five prostitutes in Suffolk last year, it is supposed to help rehabilitation by putting women in touch with health officials and probation officers. But given the chaotic nature of most prostitutes' lives, experts said it was likely that many will not attend meetings and end up in prison as a result.

'This is yet another example of the state's wish to exert moral disapproval of prostitution while recognising that it will not go away,' said Harry Fletcher, assistant general-secretary of the probation officers' union, Napo. 'The threat of custody is extremely punitive.'