Communities and Street Prostitution in the UK - Essay Example

?Difficulties faced by residents of ‘red light’ districts in the UK Introduction: In reality prostitution in itself is not extralegal. The backgroundin which, it is conducted, and the surrounding environment, makes it a criminal offence. Soliciting, kerb crawling and the insertion of ad cards in telephone boxes make the act of prostitution an offence. Prostitution is identified as one of the oldest professions and it is the basis of life in most of the cities. Actually why do most women take up prostitution as a profession? Has any one tried to look into this aspect? No doubt it is poverty which drives a woman into this profession and sometimes reliance on drugs1 also adds to the woes of women in this job. Based on the statistics provided by the Metropolitan Police in London there are around nine boroughs in which prostitution on the streets occurs which actually causes problems to the local residents. In addition to this the Metropolitan Police Service did expose that there are almost certainly 800 saunas, massage parlors and escort representations in London in which almost 5,000+ women work and provide sex services.2 These women have actually been forced or victimized into prostitution.3 Actually street prostitution and connected drug activity can induce real agony for local residents. Of late politicians and police commandants are made more responsible to residents by the local CDRPs (Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships). Prostitution has now turned out to be a foremost trouble in the UK as individuals at a very young age involve themselves in the profession. This profession not only affects the individual involved but their family, children and the local residents are also affected. Legalizing this profession would not be advantageous since the individuals who are involved will find it very hard to come out of the profession. Apart from this legalizing would also make it a tolerable alternative of occupation. The result is that the dark side of this occupation that is – abuse, coercion, lack of choice – is cloaked under a layer of decency, a facade which those profiting from high benefits persistently uphold. Nearly 81% of women who work in brothels in the UK have come from overseas4; and most of them must have been trafficked. Present UK statute law has nothing to say about off-street prostitution. The present law submissively and unconcernedly approves this view of the trade. Provided that the law does not censure the misuse of prostitution there will always be a requirement for women to prostitute and when this demand is not met by the women who have previously been cajoled into prostituting themselves, coercion or forcing others into this trade by the powerful will not stop. UN Special Reporter for Human Trafficking Sigma Huda pointed out in a latest report: “It is not necessary for demand itself to lead to trafficking; rather, it is sufficient that the exploitation fostered by the demand leads to trafficking… The demand side of trafficking is not, therefore, properly understood as the demand for a trafficking victim’s prostitution, labour or services. Rather, demand must be understood expansively, as any act that fosters any form of exploitation that, in turn, leads to trafficking.”5 What is a brothel? Prostitution cannot be termed as illegal at a brothel provided the sex worker does not manage or even run the brothel. When a woman uses her house alone for prostitution, is not a brothel. This was established in (Gorman v Standen6, Palace Clarke v Standen7). On the other hand, where rooms or flats in a single building are leased independently to different individuals who provide sexual services; it may be dealt as a brothel but only if they are in actual fact working jointly. In Donovan v Gavin8 it was demonstrated that the leasing of single rooms in a house under freestanding occupancies and to different prostitutes does not inevitably rule out the house, or portions of it, from being a house of prostitution. Communities & Street Prostitution Street prostitution changes across the single prostitutes’ concerned and their obligation to prostitution, the dimension of the market, the forbearance level of the residential area, the level to which prostitutes are coordinated, and the kinship of prostitution to drug use and trading. Even though only around 10 – 20 % of all prostitution is accounted for Street prostitution, it still inflicts the most noticeable harmful affect on the local residents. Police have to be really concerned about street prostitution due to the following reasons:9 Street prostitution actually breaches the ethical principles of the local residents. It sometimes becomes a nuisance to passersby as well as residents. With regard to public health prostitutes may transmit STD10 like AIDS, herpes and syphilis. Apart from this the condoms used, syringes and any other things utilized by these sexual professionals are thrown on the ground making it potentially dangerous for children and other residents. Sometimes when these prostitutes do not have access to appropriate amenities such as bathroom etc., may urinate, stool, or wash in public. With relation to personal safety sometimes clients may trouble prostitutes or defraud, rob or assault them and pimps will surely take advantage of them both financially and physically. With regard to the economic concerns the presence of prostitutes in any area may result in negative effect like reduction of property values or even restrict the use of properties in such areas. Policing prostitution produces special chances for policemen to occupy in immoral behavior, such as accepting defrayments in substitution for non-enforcement, since women of the street, procurers, and customers are in infirm situations to protest about police misbehavior.11 KERB-CRAWLING During the 1980s, a change took place in the type of street prostitution and Kerb-crawling in Streatham in South London. Even though kerb-crawling was not new to this area, but till this time it was a nonessential and comparatively negligible problem. With the execution of traffic organization scheme12 Tooting, together with a cooperative attempt by the Tooting Vice-Squad pushed street prostitution and kerb-crawling out. This brought a great relief to the local residents. With the increase of street prostitution and kerb-crawling due to the growth of discourtesies, many other disturbances were faced by the residents like noise and increased traffic; and private spaces were repeatedly encroached and corrupted. These problems began to dominate the everyday life of the local residents especially women. Harassment of women on the street deepened and a twenty-year old female resident expressed thus: “You cannot go out any time of the day or night without being propositioned. They ask you how much you charge and invite you to get in the car. If you refuse they will give you abuse or try to pull you into the car physically.” Kerb crawling is a human action of accosting a person for the reason of prostitution from an automotive vehicle on a street or in a public place. It is an offence under section 113 of and Article 6014. According to Section 7115 kerb crawling is a chargeable offence when it causes troubles to women or local residents or even when it becomes a continuous conduct. According to Section 116, a maximum fine of ?1000 can be imposed on the individual. They can also be restricted from driving in those areas as a part of their sentence. Anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) and civil enjoinments can be used to protect residential areas from the torment, dismay and suffering caused by those kerb crawling. Effect on local residents in ‘redlight’ areas Residents of some communities feel that the consequences of street prostitution have attained unendurable stages and have demanded the police or local agencies17, to take steps. Straight actions have been taken by some residents18. According to Matthews19 increased street prostitution and kerb crawling in Streatham, London was: “Associated with a growth of incivilities, particularly in the form of noise and in the increasing volume of traffic; while various areas of private space were regularly infringed and defiled. These issues came increasingly to dominate everyday life in the neighborhood - particularly for women - more than anything else, most noticeably harassment on the street intensified.” The major complains from the public was with regard to noise and disturbance linked to street prostitution. Some areas were related with moral issues like women selling sexual services openly. The major problem felt was with regard to noise, debris and the actions of kerb crawlers predominantly in relation to the molestation of local female occupants.20 Affected by associated crimes Several residents complained of the different associated crimes like drugs, car robbery, car breaking and entering, theft. A report by the local police in the Caldmore region on Prostitution21 admits the troubles in appraising the actual magnitude of offenses linked to street prostitution. The Crime figures from one of the most involved regions between August 1998 and January 1999 are; 22 robberies which is supposed to have been committed by agencies that are responsible for pimping. Apart from this other crimes like raping and kidnapping was also reported. Melrose et al22 stated that “drug use was more likely to have preceded prostitution than vice versa. It follows that, once involved in drugs, the criminal society and impaired lucidity they bring, working an occasional “trick” to pay for the habit may appear to be an easy option.” Encroachment of individual and Private Space Some residents were very angry when prostitution took place very close to their homes or exactly in front of their homes. They felt that they were affected with this kind of sexual services. One resident reported that she had “witnessed sexual intercourse in her back yard and was extremely upset and concerned for her children.” These residents found that some women operating as prostitutes along with their clients and pimps ignored the residents’ civil liberties. In such conditions permissiveness was fretted.23 One common problem was experienced by all the residents with regard to their reputation and awareness of the area. They felt that it actually tainted the community, leading merely to a downbeat labelling of the region. They also concluded that such actions discouraged visitors and their friends from visiting them. Also this had an impact on the value of their homes as well as on small retail businesses because people did not like to go to such areas. This, they find is aggravated by spoilt promotion and careless press reporting.24 Policing Prostitution: A review of prostitution was conducted by the institution of a Home Office, Paying the Price; in July 200425 . They found that there was a need to deal with this crime at both the national and local level. It also covers and encourages the holistic advance to prostitution recommended in the Home Office publication26. This ACPO 27 in fact realises the unfavorable affect prostitution has on residents and communities. It makes out that prostitution over and over again has an essential position in motivating or preserving other, more measurable kinds of local crime, like burglary and drug dealing. It acknowledges the connection that prostitution can have with cross-border crime, particularly trading, security, bribery and felony. Most of the entire scheme discerns the physical and emotional price paid due to prostitution by susceptible individuals. No moral view on flesh trade is taken by this scheme. This policy nonetheless acknowledges the stand of the United Nations convention 194928. In the same way the scheme admits and integrates the UN Protocol29 to forbid, curb and penalize trading in persons, particularly women and children, appending the United Nations Convention against transnational organised crime. The main intentions of Article 2 of UN Protocol are as follows: “(a) to prevent and combat trafficking in persons, paying particular attention to women and children. (b) To protect and assist the victims of such trafficking with full respect for their human rights; and (c) To promote cooperation among States’ Parties in order to meet those objectives.”30 Even though the arguments were in favour of “zones of toleration”, eventually guiding principle and policy does not backup their institution. There are two reasons for this change not to be introduced as of now. They are 1. That these changes would have to be operated lawfully; and 2. Proof that such geographical zones work productively in other jurisdictions is ambiguous. According to Julie Bindel and Liz Kelly 31 “Not only do such zones permit the continued exploitation of people through prostitution, there is evidence that illegal prostitution has been encouraged alongside the managed examples.” Conclusion There is a lot of scope for humanizing relationships between local residents and sex workers predominantly via intermediation and knowledge-raising. Coexistence will not be a problem when responses to the problems faced by community are solved by developing some kind of partnerships between the sex workers and multi-agency working together. There should be greater than before enforcement, like court diversion schemes. Discussions with all concerned groups in regions where street sex work occurs, has to take place so that the different alternatives can be explored. The safety of both the residents and sex workers should be borne in mind while steps are taken. At the national level a change in focus with regard to the support and services instead of punishments for street prostitution is essential. Apart from this more well-defined direction with regard to enforcement steps like ASBOs32/CRASBOs33 should be taken. Actually these orders were meant to deal with definite consequences of anti-social behaviour, nevertheless they seem to be employed to deal with the existence of street sex workers in some regions, contributing to altered exposure for women who are by now barred from very important services and, more and more, from public places. National policy should also deal with each region with a variety of alternatives for handling the issue. This will ultimately lead to local cooperation and concern of collective benefits to power the way onward. Many steps can be taken to free the local residents from associated crimes so that every one can live peacefully doing their work without any problem. The state and the nation on the whole will have to work hand in hand to curb crimes resulting from prostitution on the whole or street prostitution alone. Bibliography 1. Benson, C. and Matthews, R., National Vice Squad Survey, Middlesex University, 1995, 18 2. Campbell, R. ‘It’s Just Business. It’s Just Sex’: Male Clients of Female Prostitutes in Liverpool’ (1997), Journal of Contemporary Health, Vol. No.5, 47-51 (Special edition on Health, Gender and Sexuality). 3. Goldstein ‘Research and the Development of Public Policy: The Case of Drugs and Violent Crime’ 1990 Journal of Applied Sociology, Vol 7, 1990, 77-92. 4. Goldstein, Herman. Policing a Free Society. Cambridge, Mass.: Ballinger. 1977,35 5. Newburn (1999, 7) for discussions of police corruption generally, and the special hazards of policing prostitution. 6. Hubbard, P., Sex and the City: Geographies of Prostitution in the Urban West, (1999, Ashgate, and London), 55-76 7. Julie Bindel and Liz Kelly, A Critical Examination of Responses to Prostitution in Four Countries: Victoria, Australia; Ireland; the Netherlands; and Sweden, Child and Women Abuse Studies Unit, (London Metropolitan University 2004) 62-65. 8. Mapping Commercial Sex Across London, The Poppy Project, 2004, 20 9. Maggie O’Neill and Rosie Campbell, Working Together To Create Change, Final Report, January, (2004), 62-65 10. Marianne Hester and Nicole Westmarland, Tackling Street Prostitution: Towards an holistic approach, Home Office Research Study, Communications and Development Unit, 2004, 138-143 11. Matthews R, Kerb Crawling, Prostitution and Multi-Agency Policing, Home Office, (1993, London), 20-22. 12. Melrose, and others, One Way Street: Retrospectives on Childhood Prostitution, (1999, p. 5, London: The Children’s Society). 13. Newburn, Tim. Understanding and Preventing Police Corruption: Lessons from the Literature. London: Home Office RDS. Police Research Series, Paper 110, 1999 ,7 14. Publications on the internet Public Administration Committee Publications - Minutes of Evidence, January 2005, 18 & 19 15. Walsall Police, Working Together To Create Change, Prostitution in the Caldmore Area, (1999, January) p.29. 16. Paying the Price: a consultation paper on prostitution July 2004, Home Office Communication Directorate, July 2004, 16 (accessed on 6th May 2011 http://www.legislationline.org/download/action /download/id/1384 /file /6d3cfb8367 cd3ba146d61e27aeb7.pdf ). 17. Zacchaeus 2000 Trust - Memorandum to the prime minister on reasons for increase in street prostitution, 2005 p.1 List of Statutes: 1. UN Protocol, 2000 2. Section 1 of the Powers of the Criminal Courts (sentencing) Act 2000 3. Section 1 of the Sexual Offences Act 1985 (England & Wales) 4. Article 60 of the Sexual Offences (Northern Ireland) Order 2008 5. Section 71 of the Criminal Justice and Police Act 2001 in England and Wales List of cases used: 1. Gorman v Standen [1964] 1 QB 294 2. Palace Clarke v Standen (1964) 48 Cr App R 30 3. Donovan v Gavin [1965] 2 QB 648 Read More