Originally posted by: dizzyonlemonade
It is one thing, you are right for the select few, who choose to get in such a career, to have some legal framework to protect them. That is indeed necessary. But along with that, I would like particularly for the law enforcement to try to curb underage prostitution, which I think is abuse. I read about a recent law passed in the U.S. and will share key sections of the article with you. Also, I need to find some stuff Dworkin has said on the matter because I don't know if even people do this stuff by their own will, does it not have some profound impact on their relationships later on? Street-walking is indeed a different matter than the high society escorts though in a more safe and secure environment.
Now 15, Amanda is rebuilding her life. Caught when a cop stopped one of her customers for a broken tail light, she was sent to Children of the Night, a residential program in suburban Los Angeles that rehabilitates teen prostitutes.
"All my life my plate was like overfilled with problems," she said. "I always asked God to give me something good, and this is it."
The fact that Amanda was rescued instead of arrested reflects not only a stroke of luck but a decidedly different take on tackling the juvenile sex trade. Courts and law enforcement are increasingly treating young prostitutes as child abuse victims ' and their pimps as human traffickers.
This is an institutional shift," said Nancy O'Malley, an Alameda County prosecutor who wrote California's new sexually exploited minors law. "It's about getting people to shift their attention and judgment from the minor and seeing what's beyond this criminal behavior."New York also has a new law that calls for underage prostitutes to be sent to rehabilitation programs instead of juvenile detention, along with more training for law enforcement in handling the troubled teenagers and taking a harder line on their pimps.
In many other states, prosecutors are charging pimps with human trafficking, or the transportation of people for illicit commercial purposes. Convictions can land traffickers in prison for decades.
The approach comes as pimps are getting increasingly sophisticated and harder to bust. They run loose networks across states lines that distribute girls like drugs and set up Internet sex operations that are tough to infiltrate.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/WireStory?id=7370496&page=1
The article is actually 3 pages, but I chose select portions. So I would not be at all comfortable with legalization in India at least or anywhere unless there are strong measures to prevent children from being involved. That being said, it is one of the oldest businesses in the world so it is going to go on, but it would be better if it is regulated at least to safeguard those, who are working as prostitutes.
Ye Hai Mohabbatein
