Thread: CA-Prostitution measure makes in onto S.F. ballot

Prostitution measure makes in onto S.F. ballot

Erin Allday, Chronicle Staff Writer

Saturday, July 19, 2008

A measure that would make it more difficult to investigate and punish prostitution crimes in San Francisco qualified for the November ballot on Friday, opening another passage in the city's long fight over decriminalizing the sex-trade industry.

Proponents of the measure were able to collect more than 12,000 signatures, including those from three members of the Board of Supervisors, to put it on the ballot, according to the Erotic Service Providers Union, the labor group backing the measure. The same group was unsuccessful in putting a similar measure on the ballot in 2006.

The measure would end San Francisco's First Offender Prostitution Program for men who have been arrested for soliciting a prostitute. Men who go to "john school," which was created in 1996, pay $1,000 and attend a class on prostitution in exchange for the district attorney's office dropping the misdemeanor charge against them.

Mayor Gavin Newsom this week said the measure would severely hamper the city's ability to investigate and prosecute sex-trafficking cases. According to the measure's wording, it would prohibit the city from spending money on sex-traffic investigations that involve racial profiling.

"It would make it very challenging to investigate and prosecute human trafficking," agreed San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris. "We need to use police resources to investigate where there is a suspicion that women and children, in particular immigrants, are being exploited.

"This measure is nothing more than a welcome mat for prostitutes and pimps to come and hang out in San Francisco," she said.

The main goal of decriminalization, proponents say, is the safety of prostitutes.

"Workers would like it if crimes like rape, robbery theft and coercion were vigorously investigated and prosecuted," Maxine Doogan, a founder of the Erotic Service Providers Union, wrote in an e-mail. "We want the right to make reports of crimes against us without being retaliated against by the Police Department."

The measure is hardly the first attempt to decriminalize prostitution in San Francisco. Terence Hallinan frequently supported decriminalization efforts during his tenure as district attorney and on the Board of Supervisors.

In April this year, Supervisor Jake McGoldrick, long in favor of decriminalization, requested an audit of the first offender program, questioning whether the program was worth supporting. A report by the U.S. Department of Justice this year found that men who participated in the program were 30 percent less likely to be rearrested for soliciting a prostitute than men who did not attend the class.

The program was born from San Francisco's Task Force on Prostitution, which was created in 1994 by the Board of Supervisors to consider revisions to prostitution laws and how the city enforces them. In 1996, the task force recommended that the city stop prosecuting prostitution crimes and instead focus on social services related to the sex trade.

E-mail Erin Allday at eallday@sfchronicle.com.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.c ... 11RI18.DTL

Well, if San Farncisco is turning into Sodom does that make LA Gomorrah? Just doesn't seem right having one without the other.

Dixie

"It would make it very challenging to investigate and prosecute human trafficking," agreed San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris. "We need to use police resources to investigate where there is a suspicion that women and children, in particular immigrants, are being exploited.

You are right Dixie. Egads. But the above states the obvious, which San Francisco has ALWAYS ignored. Another reason to leave the bay area. Let's hope there are enough law abiding people in SF that says NO way. Maybe the feds could take them to court for aiding and abetting human trafficking.