Bill would give first-time prostitution solicitors a second chance

In the near future, getting busted for the first time on prostitution-related charges in Denver might not mean jail time, a fine or even a record. Well, at least for the one making the purchase.
Under a proposed bill in the Senate, anyone arrested in Colorado for the first time on charges of soliciting a prostitute will have the opportunity to avoid jail time and a fine if they agree to attend and successfully complete a program designed to teach them about the impact and implication of soliciting prostitutes, with a special emphasis on human trafficking and the sex trade.
The bill (SB85) is sponsored by Senate President Brandon Shaffer (D-17th) and is modeled after similar programs in other parts of the country which Shaffer told the Longmont Times-Call have been successful in reducing the rate of repeat offenders.
Under the Colorado proposal, enrollment in the program would not be automatic but used at the discretion of the prosecutor. It will be offered to first-time offenders only – those with no prior arrests or convictions on solicitation charges. The offender would have to plead guilty to the misdemeanor charges and the court would withhold judgment and sentencing for up to two years.
Once the program is successfully completed, the charges would be dropped and the offender would avoid having the conviction on their record. Failure to complete the program would make the offender eligible for sentencing, jail time and/or a fine.
The isn't Colorado's first attempt at crafting legislation designed to ultimately bring awareness to the prostitution aspect of human trafficking. In 2010, the Anti-Human Trafficking Bill for Colorado was created with the goal of adding human trafficking to the Organized Crime Act.
The bill had a particular impact for Denver. In an article on CU (Colorado University) Independent.com article, Jenny Magnus, a member of CU Students Against Modern-Day Slavery, stated that Denver is major drop-off location for trafficked individuals.
“Denver is a high trafficking area because DIA is an international airport,” Magnus told CU Independent.com. “And because I-25 and I-70 interconnect, and a lot of girls are trafficked along trucker routes, or they're moved around the country in trucks.”
In addition, CU Boulder Professor of Women and Gender Studies Robert Buffington told CU Independent.com the area might be a hotspot for sex trafficking because of its location.
“I think because it's a migration corridor up from Mexico,” he said “I'm guessing there's probably more of it going through Colorado, especially the Denver area where there's an airport or intersections.”
For the first-time johns, the chance to escape from the arrest virtually unscathed is a far cry from the way Denver used to deal with the issue. From 2002 to 2008, “Johns TV” was a popular program on the city-owned Channel 8 that featured a slideshow of men arrested and convicted for soliciting prostitutes. The show was dropped from the city's television lineup reportedly due to budget cuts.
However, the official City of Denver website features a “Johns TV” page that shows men convicted of soliciting prostitutes but the page appears to have not been updated since December of 2010.


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