United States

Trafficking | Prostitution | Pornography | Organized and Institutionalized Exploitation

"It is a violation of human rights when women are trafficked, bought and sold as prostitutes." (Hillary Clinton, Lviv Opera House, Lviv, Ukraine, "First Lady To Fight Prostitution," AP Online, 18 November 1997)

92% of women engaged in prostitution said they wanted to leave prostitution, but couldn't because they lack basic human services such as a home, job training, health care, counseling and treatment for drug or alcohol addiction. 130 people in prostitution were surveyed in San Francisco, California, as part of a study funded in part by Kaiser Permanente and the Prostitution and Research Education project of San Francisco Women's Centers, Inc. Respondents ranged in age from 12 to 61, with an average age of 28. Nearly 40% were white European/American, one-third were African American, and almost 20% were Latina. ("People in prostitution suffer from wartime trauma symptoms caused by acts of violence against them," Business Wire, 18 August 1998)

Girls involved in prostitution are increasingly getting younger, dropping from 14, to 13 and 12 years of age. Child prostitution in the United States began to escalate in the late 1980’s after new laws made it more difficult for officials to detain runaway children. (Lois Lee, founder of Children of the Night, Brad Knickerbocker, "Prostitution’s Pernicious Reach Grows in the US," Christian Science Monitor, 23 October 1996)

In Ohio, over the past seven years, the average age when a girl enters prostitution has decreased from 16 to 14. The demand for prostituted children is increasing, as men feel safer from AIDS with younger girls. 75 to 95% of all prostitutes were sexually abused as children. Many prostitutes are high school dropouts, come from poor and abusive homes, move from place to place and are alcoholics or drug addicts. (Debra Boyer, U. Washington, Susan Breault of the Paul & Lisa Program, "Danger for prostitutes increasing, most starting younger," Beacon Journal, 21 September 1997)

2,632 youths were reported missing, more than 60% of them are listed as endangered runaways, who often end up as prostitutes in Ohio in 1996. Attacks against prostitutes were increasing as of September 1997. (State Attorney General, "Danger for prostitutes increasing, most starting younger," Beacon Journal, 21 September 1997)

16.9 is the average age of entry into prostitution for girls. (Delancey Street Foundation, San Francisco, "The lost boys," Sarah McNaught, The Boston Phoenix, 23-30 October 1997)

14 years is the average age of entry into prostitution for boys, 25 years of age is the average age that men leave prostitution. Male prostitutes usually do not have pimps. (Sean Haley, Director, Adolescent Services, JRI Health, Boston, "The lost boys," Sarah McNaught, The Boston Phoenix, 23-30 October 1997)

Fourteen prostituted women have been killed in five years in Newark, New Jersey. (Evelyn Nieves, "Selling Sex Where All Are Suspect", 19 April 1998)

The estimated average age of girls who enter street prostitution in San Francisco is fourteen. Ninety percent of street prostituted women were abused as children, and are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Fewer than half of the street prostituted women in San Francisco has finished high school. And 85% have never earned money in any other way. (Hope, Promise, Stephanie Salter "Creating hope from lives of desperation" San Francisco Examiner, 16 November 1997)

25 bodies of women and male transsexuals, most known to be in prostitution, have been found outside New Orleans from 1991-1998. Russell Ellwood, 47, a former cab driver was arrested on suspicion for involvement in 25 deaths, charged with two deaths, and pending others. (Janet McConaughey, "Cab Driver Arrested in La. Murders," Associated Press, 4 March 1998)

Seven prostituted women have been murdered in 6 months in Washington State. A task force is looking into possible links with 11 other unsolved killings of area women since 1984. (John K. Wiley, "Wash. Slayings Raise Serial Specter," Associated Press, 1 February 1998)

From 1982 - 1984, forty-nine women, most of them prostitutes, were murdered by someone who became known as the Green River killer. The killer was never found. (John K. Wiley, "Wash. Slayings Raise Serial Specter," Associated Press, 1 February 1998)

The perception that women make alot of money through prostitution is false. "Women who make a lot of money prostituting or being call girls for an ‘exclusive clientele’ are probably in the single figures in terms of percentages". (Elaine Deck, project director for the Women’s Treatment Network, "Former Prostitutes Help Pull Their Sisters Off the Streets," San Francisco Chronicle, 27 December 1997)

300,000 to 600,000 juveniles are involved in prostitution in the United States. (Gary Costello of the Exploited Child Unit of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, "Danger for prostitutes increasing, most starting younger," Beacon Journal, 21 September 1997)

In 1996, 1,508 women were arrested for prostitution or commercialized vice in the Phoenix-Metro area in Arizona. (Phoenix Police Department and the City of Phoenix Prosecutor’s Office "Developing Individual Growth & New Independence Through Yourself" DIGNITY HOUSE)

Over the last decade the street price for oral sex has dropped from $20-$30 to $2-$3. (Christopher S. Wren, "Addicted to Crack, Prostitutes Work Longer for Less," New York Times, 19 August 1997)

There are an estimated 500 male prostitutes in Philadelphia. (Police and anonymous prostitutes, Alfred Lubrano, "Eleven o’clock is feeding time in Center City," Philadelphia Inquirer, 26 May 1998)

The release of the anti-impotence pill, Viagra, increased the business at two brothels, Cherry Patch and Mabel's, in Carson City, Nevada, by 10 percent. (Brendan Riley, "Viagra Boosts Brothel Business," Associated Press Online, 11 June 1998)

In New York City, 26% of street prostituted women were homeless or on the verge of becoming so. 90% reported having children taken away because of their situation. (survey of 4,200 street prostitues by researchers at Frost’d, Christopher S. Wren, "Addicted to Crack, Prostitutes Work Longer for Less," New York Times, 19 August 1997)

In New York City, 40% of street prostituted women have injected heroin or cocaine. More than two-thirds of those said they have smoked crack. (results of a survey of 4,200 "street prostitutes" by researchers at Frost’d, Christopher S. Wren, "Addicted to Crack, Prostitutes Work Longer for Less," New York Times, 19 August 1997)

There are 177 strip clubs, X-rated video parlors and peep shows in New York City’s Times Square, one of America’s most infamous red-light districts. Across the New York City’s five boroughs, the number of adult businesses has increased by more than 30% since 1988. ("Zoning law threatens adult business Times Square could lost most of its red-light district if its enforced in city," Milwaukee Sentinel & Journal, 3 March 1998)

The 1998 Manhattan Yellow Pages has 52 pages of escort services - legal businesses that frequently front as prostitution networks. In 1997, there were 35 pages. (Police department statistics, Kit. R. Roane, "World’s Oldest Profession Moves Off the Streets," New York Times, 23 February 1998)

In 1994, New York City began a crackdown to get rid of street prostitution. When more than 9,500 prostitutes and male buyers were arrested men had their names published and vehicles taken away, the women who were arrested for prostitution were given jail sentences. The crackdown cut the number of street prostitutes in half in some parts of the City. Repeat offenders declined. The Number of convictions per prostitute declined with 50% of them now having no more than one prior conviction, while prior to this it was not unusual to see defendants who had 100 prior arrests. Prostitution has been driven off the street to inside locations. (Michele Svirdoff, research diretor Midtown Community Court’s Center for Court Innovation, Kit. R. Roane, "World’s Oldest Profession Moves Off the Streets," New York Times, 23 February 1998)

4,500-5,000 of the 50,000 prostitutes in New York are on the streets. (Christopher S. Wren, "Addicted to Crack, Prostitutes Work Longer for Less," New York Times, 19 August 1997)

"Fair Play," a "Victorian House of Fetishism and Role Play" in a residential area in New York City operated as a brothel with a 16-room dungeon where buyers pay $150 an hour for sadomasochistic sex with ropes, leather and handcuffs. In July 1997, police arrested Frederic Gorski, 50, and Joseph Villani, 27, and charged each with operating an illegal massage parlor. (Douglas Montero, Larry Celona, Allen Salkin, "New York: They City of Brothel-y Love," New York Post, 5 April 1998)

Seven murdered women, believed to be prostitutes, are suspected victims of a serial killer in Spokane, Washington. Their deaths are possibly linked to a dozen other murders in the area since 1984. ("Serial Killer Believed in Spokane," Associated Press, 2 April 1998)

Ten women’s bodies have been found in the Missouri River between Oct 1996 and April 1998. Many of the women were suspected of being prostitutes on Independence Avenue. (A Scharnhorst, "Team to investigate death of woman found in river," 9 April 1998)

Between 1982-1995 seven women, six suspected of being prostitutes, were murdered and thrown into the Missouri River. Gregory Breeden has been charged with one of the deaths. (A Scharnhorst, "Team to investigate death of woman found in river," 9 April 1998)

In New York City, magazines like "The American Sex Scene," "Screw" and "New York Sex Guide" and Internet sites like ny-exotics.com contain listings for dozens of places that offer "full-service" massages, a euphemism for prostitution. (Douglas Montero, Larry Celona, Allen Salkin, "New York: They City of Brothel-y Love," New York Post, 5 April 1998)

Pimps have strong ownership rights over the women and girls they control. Girls who belong to one pimp are not permitted to even look at another. (Laura Italiano, "I’m A Good Guy: Sex Dealer," New York Post, 23 February 1998)

The Internet is increasingly being used by men to locate prostitutes in New York City, making solicitation less visible. (Kit. R. Roane, "World’s Oldest Profession Moves Off the Streets," New York Times, 23 February 1998)

A radio station, KUFO, in Portland, Oregon sponsored a contest in which the winner got a weekend at the Bunny Ranch, a legal brothel in Nevada. (Personal communication, March 1998) The murders of three prostituted women in one year (1997) in South Florida indicate that a serial killer may be at large. ("South Florida may be home to serial killer," United Press International, 4 December 1997)

At least six prostituted women were murdered in San Francisco in 1996-1997. (Reverand Glenda Hope, founder of Promise, San Francisco, Stephanie Salter "Creating hope from lives of desperation" San Francisco Examiner, 16 November 1997)

Case

In Spokane, Washington, the body of a 47-year-old woman was found, and is believed by police to be the 9th victim of a serial killer. Most of the women have had connections to prostitution and drugs. Another woman is missing and feared to also be a victim. ("Body suspected to be killer’s ninth victim," United Press International, 9 July 1998)

Melody Ann Murfin, involved in prostitution and drugs, has been added to the list of eight other women presumed to be victims of a serial killer. The other victims were also involved in prostitution. Murfin disappeared May 13, 1998 near Spokane, Washington. The bodies of eight women suspected of being the victims of a serial killer have been found since November 1997, most recently in July 1998. The women had been shot and their bodies covered by vegetation in an isolated area. ("Wash. Woman added to killer’s list," Associated Press Online, 2 September 1998)

Marci Devernay is charged with operating a multi-million-dollar prostitution network escort service in Michigan. The buyer list seized by police contains 20,000 names. ("Police questioned in hooker-ring sting," United Press International, 26 May 1998)

An American soldier, Pvt. Eric Munnich, 22, was convicted of murdering a South Korean prostituted woman after she refused to have sex with him. ("Court Upholds Prison for US Soldier," Associated Press, 28 February 1998)

In June 1997 in New York City a French immigrant Nadia Frey or "Mistress Hilda Pierce," a dominatrix, was found shot to death possibly by a client or competitor. (Karen Matthews, Associated Press, June 1997)

Two girls, aged 13 and 14, were abducted from Vancouver and forced into prostitution by two men who took them to the United States. The 13-year-old said she was bought for $3000. Adam Jermaine Ingram, 20, and Kevin Roy Woods, 18, both of Bellingham, Washington., have been charged with interstate prostitution under the White Slave Traffic Act. ("Alleged Teen Prostitutes Go Home," Associated Press, 25 December 1997)

Jack Bokin, 54, who has been arrested 8 times since 1987, four of which involved violent sex crimes against women, was arrested and charged with the October 4th rape and brutal hammer attack on a prostituted woman from Capp Street. (Susan Sward, Bill Wallace, Harriet Chiang, "Man Arraigned in Beating of S.F. Prostituted," San Francisco Chronicle, 15 October 1997)

Elegant Days, a health club in New York was discovered to be a front for prostitution. The New York state attorney general filed suit in a Long Island state supreme court, charging the Huntington Station business with false advertising and operating a massage service without a licensed masseuse on staff. (United Press International, 20 November 1997)

A prostituted woman was murdered by the man who bought her because he "did not like her services." (Reverend Glenda Hope, founder of Promise, San Francisco, Stephanie Salter "Creating hope from lives of desperation" San Francisco Examiner, 16 November 1997)

A Lowell, Massachusetts man, Troy Footman, was charged with luring 10 to 15 girls, aged 13-17, into a prostitution ring, and prostituting them on the streets in cities in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Maryland and Delaware. (Stacy Sullivan, Boston Globe, 16 November 1997)

Arthur Van Moekerken, a Dutch national was arrested on charges of running the largest prostitution ring in Fort Lauderdale, Florida’s history. Documents show the operation had 20,000 male buyers from West Palm Beach to North Miami. Van Moekerken made $6 million a year, 18 times more than the average escort service in the area. Men paid $180 cash or $200 by credit card. One woman in the prostitution network had 317 men in six weeks. (Police, "Alleged prostitution ring busted," United Press International, 11 February 1998)

Daniel Gary Rounds, is under arrest in la Ceiba, Honduras for sexually abusing two 12 year old boys in his hotel room in that port city. (Casa Alinza/Covenant House Latin America, "Casa Alianza Warns That Central America is New Sex Tourism Destination," 17 November 1997)

Lynwood Stewart, 23, was convicted pimping, beating and raping girls ages 11, 13, 14 and 17 in Brooklyn, New York. He was sentenced to five to 10 years in jail. He said he ran a 25-girl prostitution ring. He claimed, "I thought she was 19," he said of the 11-year-old girl he peddled under the name "Sweets". ("Hall of Shame," New York Post, 23 February 1998)

Marisol Sanders, 25 a Bronx prostitute repeatedly sold her 11-year-old niece to a wealthy former Warner Brothers film executive. She sold her niece 13 times over nine months to the 69-year-old executive, a father of six who allegedly raped and sodomized the girl. ("Hall of Shame," New York Post, 23 February 1998)

A Lutheran Minister charged with soliciting visiting Panamanian students to engage in prostitution. Five students, whom the man was sponsoring in an educational exchange program, were told they would have their bills reduced, and one was threatened with deportation, if they engaged in sexual acts for the Minister to view. Richard Kittilstad has been charged with four counts of soliciting prostitution and one count of extortion; if convicted he would face a maximum of 25 years in prison. (Robert Imrie, "Appeals court upholds prostitution charges against," Associated Press, 30 September 1998)

Health and Well Being

78% of the women who sought help from the Council for Prostitution Alternatives in Portland, Oregon program had attempted suicide at some point. (Brad Knickerbocker, "Prostitution’s Pernicious Reach Grows in the US," Christian Science Monitor, 23 October 1996)

Females in prostitution have a mortality rate 40 times higher than the national average. (Chris Grussendorf, "No Humans Involved, Part One")

65 to 75 percent of street prostituted women are victims of long-term incest. (Promise, Stephanie Salter "Creating hope from lives of desperation" San Francisco Examiner, 16 November 1997)

75 to 90 percent of all women in prostitution were sexually abused as children. (Debra Boyer, University of Washington, "Danger for prostitutes increasing, most starting younger" Beacon Journal, 21 September 1997)

85 percent of the prostitutes in the United States are addicted to crack, heroin, prescription drugs, or alcohol. (Delancey Street Foundation, San Francisco, Sarah McNaught, "Working for the man," The Boston Phoenix, 23-30 October 1997)

Women who become street prostitutes do so because of a drug problem, or because the streets are a less violent home than where they come from. "They turn to drugs to make life tolerable." (Dr. Joyce Wallace of the NGO Frost’d, Christopher S. Wren, "Addicted to Crack, Prostitutes Work Longer for Less," New York Times, 19 August 1997)

The process of recovery for a woman leaving prostitution takes two years of very supportive intervention. Women who are trying to leave the sex industry have the same needs that traditionally battered women have. Many are fleeing with the clothes on their backs with no money and no place to go. This is compounded by the isolation known to all battered women and the stigma that is unique to prostitutes. ("Developing Individual Growth & New Independence Through Yourself" DIGNITY HOUSE)

Street prostituted women are often drug addicted. In jail they are generally 25-35 pounds underweight as a direct result of their drug addiction. Many have STDs and some are HIV positive. Most have open sores from abbesses; many have been raped or robbed. Most are deeply depressed and a small portion say they are mentally ill. Prostituted women getting out of jail have no resources, they feel their only choice is to return to a life they know or where they are accepted. ("Developing Individual Growth & New Independence Through Yourself" DIGNITY HOUSE)

Drug treatment programs ignore problems many women have associated with their drug dependency such as prostitution, trading sex for drugs, child abuse and neglect, and domestic violence. (Mary R. Haack, "Drug Dependent Mothers and Their Children: Issues in Public Policy and Public Health," the New England Journal of Medicine, Volume338 Number3, 15 January 1998)

Most prostituted women are homeless, seperated from their children, and drug addicted to emotionally cope. (Elaine Deck, "Former Prostitutes Help Pull Their Sisters Off the Streets," San Francisco Chronicle 27 December 1997)

Pimps have a strong emotional hold over young women they sexually exploit, which makes it difficult to build a legal case against them. A 17-year-old who was sold by a pimp on the street, refused to testify against him and visits him in prison. Even teenagers covered with bruises and cigarette burns remain loyal to pimps. A typical pimp has six girls and refers to them as "family." The girls are instructed to call the pimp "Daddy." Each girl earns approximately $500 per night for the pimp. Although selling a child for sex is a felony that carries a maximum jail term of 15 years, that sentence is never imposed. (Laura Italiano, "Teen girls give pimps easy payday: ‘Daddies profit from lax laws, hookers’ devotion," New York Post, 23 February 1998)

Women in prostitution in Arizona are routinely subjected to repeated beatings from their pimp, and have likely been coerced into pornography, topless dancing and/or prostitution in order to support him or his drug habit. ("Developing Individual Growth & New Independence Through Yourself" DIGNITY HOUSE)

Every woman who has been in the Dignity House jail program stated she has been raped, robbed, kicked and beaten with fists, knives, guns, coat hangers, baseball bats, and boards - either by a trick or her pimp. Each girl knew someone who had been murdered while working in prostitution. ("Developing Individual Growth & New Independence Through Yourself" DIGNITY HOUSE)

Almost all of 30 prostitutes (interviewed for a story) said that she has been physically and verbally abused by her pimp. More than half the women said that their pimps got them hooked on drugs. And all of them said that their pimps order them to commit other crimes. (Sarah McNaught, "Working for the man," The Boston Phoenix, 23-30 October 1997)

Official Response and Action Approximately $2.5 million is spent annually in California on prostitution-related costs, including judicial salaries, clerks, bailiffs, and courtroom overhead. (San Francisco Task Force on Prostitution, Sarah McNaught "An immodest proposal," The Boston Phoenix, 23-30 October 1997)

There were 88,819 prostitution arrests in the United States in 1995. (FBI, Sarah McNaught, "An Immodest Proposal," The Boston Phoenix, 23-30 October 1997)

In 1997, in a crackdown against prostitution, Operation Save Our Neighborhood, police seized 3,198 vehicles of buyers accused of soliciting women for sex. Of these, 2,091 offenders redeemed their cars for the standard first-offender settlement payment of $650 and 23 owner offenders redeemed their cars for the standard second-offender settlement payment of $1,300, generating settlement fees of $1,389,050. Meanwhile, 405 owners chose to abandon their vehicles to the seizing police agencies. Another 679 vehicles were returned to owners, whose vehicles were unknowingly used for criminal purposes, upon their payment of the costs of towing and storage. Thirty-six cases were contested, and the seizing police agencies prevailed in 31 of them. ("Wayne County Prosecutor’s Car Seizure Programs Net Over $2 million," PRNewswire, 5 May 1998)

There were 803 prostitution arrests in Boston in 1996. (Sarah McNaught, "An Immodest Proposal," the Boston Phoenix, 23-30October 1997)

Federal prosecutors found the Gambino mafia family, headed by John Gotti Jr., to be controlling the topless nightclub Scores, frequented by celebrities, sports figures and newsmakers. The family is suspected of racketeering between 1991 and 1996, because they were taking money from the women in prostitution in the establishment. (David W. Chen, "Topless Club is Province of Celebrities," NewYork Times, 22 January 1998)

Police are more likely to arrest women in street prostitution. In 1997, vice enforcement arrested 1,380 prostituted women and male buyers fewer than half were inside establishments. In 1996, they arrested fewer than 2,000 prostituted women fewer than a third of whom were inside buildings. However, in 1994, more than 9,500 prostituted women and male buyers were arrested as a result of the crackdown on street prostitution. (Police department statistics, Kit. R. Roane, "World’s Oldest Profession Moves Off the Streets," New York Times, 23 February 1998)

In Portland Oregon, prostitution-free zones have been established, where prostitutes and male buyers face additional charges of criminal trespass if caught again in those areas. This increased penality is in response to the expansion of prostitution and trafficking in the United States. (Brad Knickerbocker, "Prostitution’s Pernicious Reach Grows in the US," Christian Science Monitor, 23 October 1996)

Vice police arrested 58 males for prostitution in Center City of Philadelphia, between New Year's Day and the end of March and 75 in the same area for all of 1996. By comparison, from January 1997-May 1998, the vice unit arrested 816 female prostitutes in Kensington, where the largest number of women in prostitution have been found. (Alfred Lubrano, "Eleven o’clock is feeding time in Center City," Philadelphia Inquirer, 26 May 1998)

The US Violent Crime Control Act of 1994 established the crime of travel with intent to engage in sexual acts with a juvenile (under 18 years of age).There is a loophole in the law because the crime is not the ''victimisation," but the planning of it and the travelling to do it, and the burden on the prosecutor is not proving that the crime happened but proving that the crime was planned in the US. This law protects paedophiles." To date, no Cases has been filed. ("Child sexploitation within the law's reach," The Nation, 2 Jul 1997)

Two strip clubs and an pornography bookstore were permanently closed in Providence, RI in the last year due to actions by Mayor Cianci. The zoning ordinance prohibits "lewd behavior" in downtown locations, and confines it to maufacturing zones. The city revoked the club Cabana Girl’s license after finding evidence of nude dancing and prostitution. ("Cianci has new foe in strip club fight," Providence Journal, 28 January 1998)

Police made 1,987 arrests on prostitution-related charges in New York City in 1997. A 1996 anti-brothel campaign by police and the Queens district attorney led to dozens of arrests along Roosevelt Boulevard in Jackson Heights. Authorities are increasingly using nuisance-abatement laws to deal with brothels. As the campaign continues, undercover cops are sent into brothels, where they make arrests after making a payment and agreeing to a sexual service. Sometimes uniformed officers are stationed outside known brothels to discourage customers and attack the businesses at the bottom line. (Douglas Montero, Larry Celona, Allen Salkin, "New York: They City of Brothel-y Love," New York Post, 5 April 1998)

St. Paul, Minnesota vice officers began a new anti-prostitution campaign. Police, with photos of convicted prostituted women, canvass areas known for prostitution. Pictures of convicted offenders, both prostituted persons and persons soliciting prostituted persons, have been posted on-line, along with information about these people. (Heron Marquez Estrada, "Prostitution shifting in St. Paul," Star Tribune, 30 August 1998)

Policy and Law

Aside from a few counties in Nevada, only 10 percent of people arrested for prostitution related crimes are the male buyers. (Brad Knickerbocker, "Prostitution’s Pernicious Reach Grows in the US," Christian Science Monitor, 23 October 1996)

In San Francisco, male buyers who are caught for the first time, are attending a "school for johns," taught by police and ex-prostituted women. This has kept virtually all of the men from becoming repeat offenders. (Brad Knickerbocker, "Prostitution’s Pernicious Reach Grows in the US," Christian Science Monitor, 23 October 1996)

Police would have an easier time arresting pimps who solicit for prostitution under new legislation. The California State Senate voted 33-0 August 17, 1998, to return the measure by Assemblyman Wally Knox, D- Los Angeles, to the Assembly for concurrence in Senate amendments. The bill would make it a misdemeanor to recruit, aid, supervise, receive earnings or take part in other activity typically associated with pimps. It gives police a legal basis for arresting pimps for loitering even without evidence that a specific crime of prostitution has occurred. The bill describes such activities as loitering, repeatedly approaching prospective customers and other observable efforts to promote and manage street prostitutes. Knox says a pimp who repeatedly approaches drivers and pedestrians to solicit for prostitution falls within recent court-approved guidelines for similar enforcement procedures against the prostitutes themselves. Present law allows arrests only if officers see the crime occur, or if suspects are implicated by a prostituted person. ("Anti-pimp bill passes Senate in California," United Press International, 17 August 1998)

The California State Assembly voted 51-0 August 20, 1998, agreeing with the Senate to changes specifying the kinds of observable behavior that can lead to a misdemeanor arrest for pimping. The bill wouldn't limit the activities of people who work with prostituted persons in an effort to help them find legal work or religious groups who do street work. ("Governor gets pimp control bill," United Press International, 20 August 1998)

A new ordinance, making prostitution tougher, was approved by the San Antonio (Texas) City Council in August 1998. Under the old ordinance, police could only cite prostituted persons after they allegedly offered to perform a sex act in exchange for money. Persons procuring sexual services from prostituted persons could only be cited after offering to pay an undercover officer money in exchange for sex. Under the new ordinance, only known prostituted persons with a conviction record can be cited. In addition, known prostituted persons with prior convictions seen stopping traffic can be cited for loitering "for the purpose of prostitution." Customers can be cited for loitering and can also be cited for transporting a prostituted person in a vehicle to commit a sex act. Police can go after people making their property available for prostituted persons to commit sex acts in. The ordinance takes effect September 19, 1998. Violators can be charged with a Class C misdemeanor that carries a $500 fine. The new ordinance is patterned after a 20-year- old Dallas law. (Tom Bower, "New statute gets tough on prostitution," San Antonio Express-News, 21 August 1998)

"Juice bars" featuring live nude performances will have a tougher time operating in California communities under legislation signed into law by Governor Pete Wilson. The bill by Assemblyman Scott Baugh, Republican-Huntington Beach, closes a loophole that allows sexually oriented businesses to operate as theaters and concert halls to circumvent local zoning laws. The new law makes juice bars and other adult entertainment establishments that don't serve alcohol subject to the same local regulations that control all other adult businesses. The bill redefines an adult or sexually oriented business as any establishment that regularly features live performances typical featuring exposure of the genitals, buttocks of performers, or female breasts. Existing state law allows cities and counties to regulate sexually oriented activity in establishments that serve alcohol, but a 1982 court ruling allowed those that don't serve it to claim exemptions as theaters. Consequently, the governor says many adult businesses expressly set up for live sex performances have attracted ''certain types of criminal activity, such as prostitution and illegal drug use.'' ("New law targets juice bars," United Press International, 18 August 1998)

The United States Violent Crime Control Act of 1994 established the crime of travelling with the intent to engage in sexual acts with a juvenile (under18 years of age). This law has been criticized for a major loophole: the crime is not the victimization, but the planning of it and the travelling to do it, and the burden on the prosecutor is not proving that the crime happened but proving that the crime was planned in the US. This law protects pedophiles. To date, no cases have been filed. ("Child sexploitation within the law’s reach," The Nation, 2 July 1997)

Women in the sex industry are often treated with prejudice by the judicial system. In Erie, Pennsylvania a judge sentenced a woman to 1 to 2 years in prison, even though he acknowledged that she was defending herself from an attack. A man sexually assaulted a topless dancer in a club, then followed her outside and down the street, where he attacked her again. She kicked him in the head, breaking his jaw.. The perpetrator portrayed himself as the victim of a crime. A jury found the woman guilty of assault and said she must pay the attacker’s $13,000 medical bill. (Rachel Graves, "Judge imprisons woman but says she is innocent," Philidelphia Inquirer, 30 August 1997)

In Phoenix, Arizona women are mandated to do 15 days in prison for their first prostitution offense, and can be sentenced up to six months for 3 or more offenses. ("Developing Individual Growth & New Independence Through Yourself" DIGNITY HOUSE)

The Senate Committee on Family Services in Arizona voted on a new definition of nudity for women. Formerly nudity was defined as showing the nipple. The new definition will be any exposure of any part of the breast below the top of the nipple. ("Panel cleaves to new clothing rules for women in adult businesses," Arizona Daily Star," 9 February 1998)

The US Supreme Court allowed New York City officials to enforce zoning rules prohibiting adult entertainment businesses near homes, churches, schools and each other. 144 clubs and shops, all but 20, will either close or "change the way they do business" to comply with the rules. (Official estimates, "Sex Crackdown Can Proceed", Newsday, 29 July 1998)

A new zoning law in New York City will force 150 of the city’s 177 strip clubs, X-rated video parlors and peep shows out of the Times Square commercial district. The new law makes it illegal for adult businesses to be within 500 feet of a church, school, residential neighborhood or each other. It also prescribes 500 parcels of land, many of them in remote industrial parts of the city's outer boroughs, where adult business will have to relocate. ("Zoning law threatens adult business Times Square could lost most of its red-light district if its enforced in city," Milwaukee Sentinel & Journal, 3 March 1998)

In July 1998, New York city lawyers asked a judge to close Show World, an adult establishment, along with two adult video stores, NRS and Les Hommes, arguing they violated the new laws banning such places from operating within 500 feet (150 meters) of schools, churches, residences and each other. The judge has ruled that Show World can remain open, citing that it has done an adequate job to conform to new adult use zoning laws. (Jeanne King, "New York mayor loses a battle in war on sex shops," Reuters, 28 August 1998)

A new city ordinance to put new restrictions on adult entertainment establishments is being debated by Phoenix, Arizona City Council members. The ordinance would: Prohibit performances in private areas of adult cabarets, and prohibit physical contact between dancers and cabaret customers. Require cabaret dancers to register with the city and go through background checks; they would have to be cleared by police to show they had not been convicted of prostitution in the past five years. Require dancers in topless clubs to be at least 21. (Chris Fiscus, "Phoenix targets sex business," Arizona Republic, 1 September 1998)

The New Jersey State Senate will vote on a bill to make prostitution a more serious crime. The second time a prostituted woman or customer is caught, they lose their driver's licenses and face up to 18 months in jail. Prior to this bill, prostitution was considered a public order offense and carried a maximum $10,000 fine. ("New Jersey News in Brief," United Press Internationa,l 25 September 1998)

Official Corruption and Collaboration

In New York City, 19 police officers have been accused of having sex with prostitutes in return for allowing a brothel to stay open in their precinct, a practice authorities say may date back 15 years. The department's Internal Affairs Bureau and the Manhattan District Attorney's office began investigating 400 officers assigned to the precinct based on tips from prostitutes (Associated Press, July 18)

The police in Phoenix, Arizona are not trained to work with women used in prostitution. Just as with abused women, police assume women "must like it" to stay. Some police officers are abusers themselves, or at least side with the abusers. When a prostituted woman is treated like a criminal, she become further isolated. ("Developing Individual Growth & New Independence Through Yourself" DIGNITY HOUSE)

Nine current and former members of the West New York, New Jersey Police Department, including the former chief of police, Alexander Oriente, are indicted in the biggst police corruption cases in New Jersey history. They are accused of accepting $600,000 in bribes to overlook prostitution and other illegal activities. (UPI, 13 January 1998)

Police paid two decoys to film having sex with two women in order to arrest them for prostitution. (Jennifer Bjorhus, "New attorneys hired in prostitution cases," The Oregonian, 15 January 1998)

A former director of operations for the Kentucky House of Representatives who admitted promoting prostitution and gambling -- sometimes from his Capitol office -- was sentenced Wednesday to three years probation. Kent Downey, 47, pleaded guilty in December to two conspiracy charges related to his business, Entertainment Outings Ltd., which organized golf outings with "hostesses" in various stages of undress. Downey's partner in the company, Witt Wisman, pleaded guilty to a related perjury charge in November. Wisman's attorney acknowledged at the time that there was improper behavior at the golf outings, including men paying women to engage in sex. Wisman was sentenced Wednesday to two years probation. (Charles Wolfe, "Ky. Employee Promoted Prostitution," Associated Press, 21 August 1998)

Sex Tourism

American men are the most numerous sex tourists in the Philippines. (Cecilia Hofmann, Coalition Against Trafficking in Women - Asia Pacific, "Aussie sex tours still flourishing," Associated Press, 1 October 1997)

Central America, specifically Costa Rica and Honduras, have increasingly been the target of American sex tourists. ("Arrest of Another American Sex Tourist in Costa Rica," Casa Alianza, 4 May 1998)

In two of the primary destinations for U.S. sex tourists, the Philippines and Thailand, prostitution is illegal. (Captive Daughters, "Sex Tourism: ‘Real sex with real girls, all for real cheap’")

Sex tourist, Craig Eugene Koningsmart, a retired United States military engineer from the Gulf War, was arrested by police in Costa Rican, on charges of sexually abusing a minor. ("Arrest of Another American Sex Tourist in Costa Rica," Casa Alianza, 4 May 1998)

American Nelson Jay Buhler plead guilty to sexually abusing a minor in Honduras, along with his friend Marvin Hersh who was charged with trafficking a minor from Honduras into the United States. ("Arrest of Another American Sex Tourist in Costa Rica," Casa Alianza, 4 May 1998)

An American sex tourist was sentenced to ten years in jail in Honduras for raping two Honduran boys. Daniel Gary Rounds was arrested in La Ceiba, a port town known as a center for sexual exploitation of children by foreigners, in August 1996. ("American Sex Tourist in Honduras Jailed for Raping Two Little Boys," Casa Alianza, 22 September 1998)

Five Honduran boys to testify against an American sex tourist. The boys will travel to Florida to testify to the sexual abuse they received from Marvin Hersh, a Florida University professor jailed for sexual abuse of children in Honduras, and for the trafficking of one Honduran teenage boy to Florida. One boy was approached by Hersh’s representatives and reportedly offered money if he would refuse to testify. ("Five Honduran Boys to Testify in Florida Case Against American Pedophile," Casa Alianza, 22 September 1998)

Two men, a Dane and an American, running a prostitution and pornography ring involving minors, have been arrested in the Dominican Republic. The American, Hubert Barkhasse, also ran sex tourism tours to bring American and Thai men to the Dominican Republic for the purposes of having sex with minors. (Associated Press Online, 19 September 1998)

There are more than 25 organized sex tour companies based in Miami, New York and San Diego. (Business Week magazine, Associated Press)

The Philippine Adventure Tours, of Ventura, California, website is deceptive to the casual Web site visitor. On the website in April 1999, there were encrypted words, such as girl, breast, nudity, sex, arrange and the telltale word, bar fine, which indicates to sex tourists that women are for sale for sex. (Sandra Hunnicutt, Executive Director of Captive Daughters, "Letters to the Editor About Series in Ventura Sunday Star: Lives of Last Resort by N.E. Sprengelmeyer," Ventura Sunday Star, 12 July 1998)

U.S. men going on sex tours are typically aged 35-55; and come from different backgrounds including judges, attorneys, school board, members, a father treating his son on his 18th birthday, and clergymen. (Business Week magazine, Associated Press)

"American men, more than any other nationality, frequent the Philippines on sex tours." Men involved in sex tours inevitably buy underage, prostituted girls. (New South Wales legislator Meredith Burgmann, Cecilia Hofman, "Aussie sex tours still flourishing," Associated Press, 1 October 1997)

Trafficking | Prostitution | Pornography | Organized and Institutionalized Exploitation