Q. Who are you people, and why would
you want to save prostitution?
A. We are a diverse group of
Rhode Island residents who are concerned
about recent
proposed
changes to Rhode Island's Prostitution statutes.
Some of us are comfortable with prostitution in any form, some feel
that the proposed laws are not the right tool to end trafficking, some
feel that prohibition of vice is the wrong way to address it, and
others think that government should stay out of the citizenry's sex
lives. Our group consists of people from the far left to the far right,
and everywhere in between.
Also, we're not alone, though no official polls have been done, the
Providence Journal ran two surveys, and the local NBC affiliate did
one. All surveys showed similar results, between 60% and 70% of
Rhode Islanders do not support criminalization of prostitution.
Q. How does CAC feel about human
trafficking?
A. We feel strongly that there
should be powerful, effective laws
against all forms of forced labor, including sex slavery, human
trafficking, and debt-bondage. The difference between us and the
anti-prostitution lobby is that we believe that regulation combined
with decriminalization would be the most effective way to ensure that
trafficking is not happening, and in the absence of regulation,
decriminalization of prostitution is the next best thing. We feel that
using the police and prisons as a way to 'liberate' people is like
using a hammer to clean your dishes. Evidence of the failure of
criminalization are present in the anti-prostitution lobby's own
research; if 99.1% of the population of the United States lives under
prohibition, and trafficking is still a major problem, prohibition is
obviously not an effective countermeasure.
Q. But doesn't prostitution lead to
human trafficking?
A. It is our belief that
prohibition pushes the industry underground,
where it becomes more cost-effective to employ forced labor.
Criminalization of prostitution has largely failed in the rest of the
nation as a method to reduce human trafficking, as evidenced by the
scant number of federal sex trafficking cases compared to the number of
purported victims. We believe that the police are
the
wrong
tool
for
the
job when it comes to identifying trafficking.
Q. Don't police need prostitution to
be illegal in order to make sure
there isn't slavery going on?
A. The police have been
unconstitutionally 'busting' legal spas for
several years in Rhode Island, and have never found an instance of
human trafficking. The police are under pressure from politicians who
wish to appear 'tough on crime'. We feel that proper regulation that
provides for social workers to meet with sex workers would be much more
effective at finding victims of trafficking and abuse and less costly
to taxpayers than using the police. Research shows that up to
3% of
all
sex acts performed by sex workers in areas that criminalize are
provided 'free' to police to avoid arrest (most people
would call that rape). The fact of the matter is that while a
significant portion of people trafficked are trafficked for
prostitution, only a tiny portion of prostitutes are trafficking
victims. The average number of trafficking convictions in the United
States is under
40
per
year. With over 10,000 persons trafficked to the United States
per year, but only 40 convictions, the strategy of combating
trafficking via criminalization of prostitution clearly does not
produce
results.
Q. What about organized crime? I heard
that these places are run by the
mafia.
A. Surely one would come to
this conclusion if one visited other parts
of the country. Luckily, because sex work is not illegal in Rhode
Island, nobody needs to be 'paid off' in order to carry on business
below the radar of the authorities. Organized crime has no place and no
purpose when business is carried out legally, as it is in Rhode Island.
Investigations into Rhode Island's spas by law enforcement have showed
no evidence of corruption.
Q. Don't the pimps keep all the money
and abuse the women?
A. In Rhode Island, legal
indoor
sex workers are all independent
contractors. Typically, a large portion of the flat 'door fee' goes to
the establishment, and the rate for other services is negotiated
privately with
the sex worker. Pimping is clearly illegal in Rhode Island law. As
far as abuse, several of our members work in the community directly
with sex workers and none have reported that there is abusive activity
at any of the establishments they work with.
Q. Every other state has laws against
prostitution, why shouldn't Rhode
Island?
A. While Rhode Island certainly
has many things wrong with it, we feel
that our prostitution situation is actually better than our neighbors,
not worse. Surely, there are issues
that should be worked out to ensure tax revenues, worker and public
safety, and zoning to protect neighborhoods and children, but the
failure of prohibition in other states only makes it more important for
Rhode Island and Nevada to continue to experiment with different
models. Most well-traveled Rhode Islanders will tell you that they
observe less street and subsistence prostitution here than in other
places. Considering how terribly violent and dangerous street
prostitution is compared to indoor sex work, we're already reducing a
tremendous amount of human
suffering by only allowing sex work in the safety of secure spaces.
Q. I heard that Rhode Island allows 16
year-old prostitutes, is this
true?
A. Not at all! While Rhode
Island does not differentiate between exotic
dancing and any other job, there are strict and enforceable laws
against compelling anyone under the age of majority to exchange sex for
money. The legal age of consent in Rhode Island is sixteen, and the age
of majority is eighteen. Workers under the age of eighteen face
restrictions that include workable hours, and a certificate from the
Department of Labor. Rhode Island's only documented case of an exotic
dancer under the age of majority involved a girl who was using false
identification that indicated she was older than eighteen. While this
issue is out of the scope of our group's mission, the general sentiment
amongst our members is that Rhode Island should add exotic dancing to
the list of occupations that are not allowed to be performed by minors.
Q. Are there other places that have
laws similar to those in Rhode
Island?
A. Absolutely! The laws in
Canada,
Great
Britain, parts of
Australia,
New
Zealand, and
many
other countries are similar to Rhode Island's
laws, though there are some differences from place-to-place.
Q. Doesn't the proposed law have an
'affirmative defense' that lets women who are trafficking victims avoid
prison time?
A. One of the proposed laws
does, but we are of the mind that it doesn't make sense to persecute
sex workers 'because they are exploited' and then only punish those who
are
not exploited. Another
problem with this type of affirmative defense is that in practice, they
often lead to 'finger pointing' and false accusations to avoid
prison terms.
Q. My church considers prostitution a
sin, so how could I possibly
support legislation to keep prostitution legal?
A. One of our members searched
exhaustively through various religious and historical texts, and
spoke with several priests to find a religious basis to
criminalization of prostitution. What he found was that the forefathers
of Catholicism considered that prostitution was a minor sin, on-par
with fornication (which is legal, with a few
notable
exceptions). Also, an interesting quote: “Amen, I say to you, tax
collectors and prostitutes
are
entering the kingdom of God before you.” (Matthew 21:31) shows
that Christ had a 'hate the sin, love the sinner' approach to
prostitution. Saint Augustine went as far as to say, "If you expel
prostitution from society, you will unsettle everything on account of
lusts." And Saint Thomas Aquinas' writings seem to support the concept
that the 'law of man' must allow one to exercise virtue, but that the
domain of saving souls was that of God's law; by binding someone's
hands, you prevent them from exercising the free will to be virtuous.
Q. What if I don't want to live
somewhere with brothels and
sex-for-sale?
A. Since it's been established
that prostitution
isn't
going
to
go
away,
no
matter
what
laws
we
pass (apparently flogging and execution aren't
adequate deterrents, either), we should come up with ways to
reduce it's harm on communities and the workers themselves. When sex
work is legal indoors it can be managed using zoning and licensure. We
believe that it is safer, and more effective to petition a local zoning
board than it is to confront a pimp. Fox Point residents were recently
able to prevent an Asian Massage Parlor from opening in their
neighborhood using current law.
Q. Won't allowing prostitution scare
off legitimate businesses?
A. We feel that the business of
prostitution itself more than makes up
for the tiny proportion of 'scared off' businesses. Legal sex work puts
much-needed positive pressure on the hospitality industry (by creating
demand for hotel rooms), the commercial real estate market, and
tourism. Sex work is one of the only services in which Rhode Island has
a
competitive edge over its neighbors in. Also, Rhode Island can market
its 'European' law to attract businesses. While no studies have been
done, very rough estimates indicate that the size of the sex industry
in Rhode Island
is probably about the same as fishing, agriculture, and forestry
combined, with similar impact on employment. Liberal social climates
encourage business and attract highly skilled, educated workers.
Criminalizing will raise the crime rate (by classifying a new crime),
which will scare off far more business and impact land value more
adversely than keeping the law as-is.
Q. What are the laws in Rhode Island
regarding prostitution, where is
this 'loophole' I keep hearing about?
A. Like most other states,
Rhode Island general laws prohibit
pimping,
human
trafficking,
prostitution
involving
anyone
under
the
age of 18, and
all
sex
with
anyone
under
the age of
sixteen, and
solicitation
from
cars or
in
public. What is not
prohibited in Rhode Island is the private exchange of money for sex
when it is between individuals, and no other entity is allowed to
collect a portion of the privately-negotiated exchange.
Q. How do the brothels, spas, and
strip clubs operate if there are laws
against 'compelling prostitution' and pimping?
A. Typically, all employees at
the massage parlors and strip clubs are
considered 'independent contractors', they actually pay the house a
flat fee to operate (in the case of strip clubs), or the customer pays
a 'door fee' (at the massage parlors) regardless of the customers'
intent. The actual negotiation for services beyond what you pay for at
the door happens between the sex worker and the customer, and the sex
worker
keeps -all- of the money. Since the women are independent contractors,
they are legally required to pay taxes on their earnings, though there
is speculation that this has not been strictly enforced in Rhode Island
to-date.
Q. I'm still not with you and I want
to arrest the prostitutes. How
much would criminalization cost the taxpayers?
A. Quite a bit. Rhode Island
already
pays about $500,000 annually to
incarcerate illegal outdoor prostitutes. The cost per-inmate in Rhode
Island's female prison system is over $55,000 annually. We expect that
passage of a law that criminalizes indoor sex work will lead to a
greatly increased number of prostitution convictions, and subsequent
imprisonments. The Rhode Island women's prison system is also
nearly
at-capacity, and we expect that criminalization might create enough
additional structural load on the system to require expensive expansion
of the prison facilities themselves. Another concern is that
the increased crime rate will have an adverse effect on Rhode Island's
land values, commercial real estate market, and attractiveness for
business.