Johns to face minimum 1 year in prison on first offense.
Hotels must keep all guest records for six months and train staff on how to spot prostitution.
This is a legislative bill in Connecticut but this is something our sexaphobic Arizona legislature would probably welcome.
In Arizona, we already have zillions of felony cases with potential long prison sentences being part of any "Criminal enterprise" which can be an escort and her boyfriend or husband as a driver, phone operator, massage parlor - any group of more than just an individual sexworker.
The Connecticut bill was introduced by newly sworn-in-Democratic State Repl Liz L making soliciting sex a Class C felony with a mandatory minimum prison sentence of 1-year with a maximum 10 years, plus a fine up to $10,000. It would also require anyone convicted more than once to register as a sex offender.
The bill wouldn't do anything to change the fact that sex workers are arrested for prostitution (also currently a class A misdemeanor in Connecticut), it would just drastically enhance penalties for their clients. And this can further punish sex workers and put them at risk, by limiting the pool of customers to only those willing to risk severe punishment or making clients less willing to submit to screening processes and other measures that protect sex-worker safety and health. If L. actually cares about helping those who sell sex out of economic desperation, she wouldn't seek to stymie their earning potential while driving their activities further underground.
Connecticut is currently in the midst of rolling out another prostitution-related measure, passed in 2016. Under the new law, all hotel and motel employees are required to undergo training on how to spot human trafficking and "activities related to human trafficking." But like so many "human trafficking awareness" shams, the hotel-employee training really only encourages people to report any and all suspected prostitution—a move that not only harms sex workers but also those in groups most likely to be stereotyped as sex workers. (Already, we've seen flight-attendant "trafficking" training result in the detention of random Asian women.)
The new law also requires all hotels, motels, and inns to keep records and receipts for all guests for at least six months.
Source: http://reason.com/blog/2017/01/23/soliciting-sex-may-become-a-felony?platform=hootsuite
More:
“It’s time to change the belief that prostitution is a victimless crime; many sex workers are, in fact, victims themselves,” L. said. “That we continue to punish sex workers – many of whom have been coerced into this work or do it out of economic desperation – without looking at the other side of the equation just doesn’t make sense. We need to shift the focus to the consumers, and by increasing penalties for soliciting sex we can decrease the demand.”
A recent study by the Connecticut Trafficking in Persons Council found that sex workers were seven times more likely to be convicted of a crime than ‘johns.’
“The Legislature’s Trafficking in Persons Council has embarked on a Connecticut Campaign Against Demand in order to focus attention on those buying sex,” L. said.
“When men buy sex they create demand which fuels sex trafficking in our state and the legislation she has introduced, recognizes the importance of targeting buyers in order to prevent the sex trafficking of our state’s women and children,” J. G., chair of the Connecticut Trafficking in Persons Council said.
http://patch.com/connecticut/cheshire/legislator-seeks-increased-penalties-soliciting-prostitute
