Dallas prostitutes given alternative to jail--on public's dime
samsung1
Ohio
For the past two years Dallas has been offering prostitutes publicly funded rehabilitation programs as an alternative to jail--and despite limited success, other cities may soon follow suit in the costly venture.
The city's Prostitution Diversion Initiative entails a once-a-month camp-out of four command trucks, a mobile courtroom and health care clinic, multiple police officers and social workers and a judge, according to an Associated Press article. This coterie sets up shop in a vacant lot near truck stops that provide the bulk of the prostitutes' business and for eight hours every four weeks, officers question these people and confiscate their property. If the prostitutes have no felony warrants the judge gives them the option of doing a 45-day, in-patient rehabilitation program, followed by "help" with education, child care and housing.
A nice idea, and one that several hundred cities have reportedly expressed interest in replicating, but has it made a difference? In a word, no. According to the article, just half of the approximately 375 prostitutes taken in during these monthly stings have chosen the rehab program over jail, and only about 21 of them have left prostitution and changed their lives. That's a success rate of less than 6 percent, and at an approximate cost, if we consider national averages a fair frame of reference, at least $7,000 in taxpayer money per person per month. That's not counting the expense of the traveling anti-prostitution team.
We are not saying jail time is the most effective deterrent against prostitution; many prostitutes have been incarcerated for their profession on more than one occasion. What we are saying is rehab--especially given its high cost to the public--doesn't seem look like an effective deterrent, either.
Jan. 5, 2010
http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/water…
The city's Prostitution Diversion Initiative entails a once-a-month camp-out of four command trucks, a mobile courtroom and health care clinic, multiple police officers and social workers and a judge, according to an Associated Press article. This coterie sets up shop in a vacant lot near truck stops that provide the bulk of the prostitutes' business and for eight hours every four weeks, officers question these people and confiscate their property. If the prostitutes have no felony warrants the judge gives them the option of doing a 45-day, in-patient rehabilitation program, followed by "help" with education, child care and housing.
A nice idea, and one that several hundred cities have reportedly expressed interest in replicating, but has it made a difference? In a word, no. According to the article, just half of the approximately 375 prostitutes taken in during these monthly stings have chosen the rehab program over jail, and only about 21 of them have left prostitution and changed their lives. That's a success rate of less than 6 percent, and at an approximate cost, if we consider national averages a fair frame of reference, at least $7,000 in taxpayer money per person per month. That's not counting the expense of the traveling anti-prostitution team.
We are not saying jail time is the most effective deterrent against prostitution; many prostitutes have been incarcerated for their profession on more than one occasion. What we are saying is rehab--especially given its high cost to the public--doesn't seem look like an effective deterrent, either.
Jan. 5, 2010
http://washingtontimes.com/weblogs/water…
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7 comments
That's called making crime pay - for the government. (Which seems to be doing it's best to criminalize as much as it can tax.)
But what if I'm a girl who's got big boobs and an OK face, and I want to help you have a climax because it will make you feel better. If I get paid, and get caught getting paid, I get to go to rehab? For helping you feel better?
Girls helping guys feel better (GHGFB) and getting paid for it. It's allowed in a few places without sending either person to rehab. Why? Because there's nothing wrong with them - they don't need to go to rehab. They need to go celebrate feeling better!!
Maybe GHGFB will be like medical marijuana. The rulemakers will allow it just a little bit, but not too much. After it's shown that nobody got hurt trying it just a little bit, it is allowed a little more, and a little more, and soon it is accepted and you don't have to go to rehab anymore.
Then it's taxed and the rulemakers have a huge new source of revenue.
After all, somebody had to ask for it...