Prostitution control in America: Rethinking public policy

In the past two decades there has been little critical examination of the prevailing methods of controlling prostitution in the United States. This article examines selected problems in the control of prostitution in the United States and critically assesses three major alternatives to the prevailing policy of criminalization. Alternative approaches are evaluated using the criteria of public preferences, efficient use of criminal justice resources, and harm reduction. One policy, involving a dualistic approach, is found to be superior in satisfying these criteria. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The challenges of fighting sex trafficking in the legalized prostitution market of the Netherlands

In 2000, the Dutch authorities lifted the ban on brothels in the Netherlands. The essence of their approach was to regulate prostitution. People of legal age could now voluntarily sell and purchase sexual services. Brothels which complied with certain licensing conditions were legalized. This paper critically assesses the logic of a position that argues that human trafficking is reduced when actors in the legalized prostitution sector are made responsible for what happens on their premises (using licensing conditions). This idea is confronted with empirical evidence about the Netherlands in general and the city of Amsterdam in particular. Furthermore, the paper addresses two questions. What are consequences of the regularization of prostitution for the criminal investigation and prosecution of sex trafficking? How do criminal justice agencies collaborate with regulatory authorities in the regulated and non-regulated sectors of the prostitution market? The main conclusion is that the screening of brothel owners and the monitoring of the compliance of licensing conditions do not create levels of transparency that enable sex trafficking to be exposed. The prostitution business retains many characteristics of an illegitimate market and the legalization and regulation of the prostitution sector has not driven out organized crime. On the contrary, fighting sex trafficking using the criminal justice system may even be harder in the legalized prostitution sector.     

Converging on Empathy: Perspectives on Baltimore City's Specialized Prostitution Diversion Program

This article explores perceptions of 17 women currently or formerly engaged in prostitution regarding Baltimore City's Specialized Prostitution Diversion program. Findings indicate that most perceive the program positively because they are in desperate need of services and because they hope it augurs the readiness of the criminal justice system to understand what leads them to engage in prostitution. Their desire to be treated like “human beings” in need of assistance, which undergirds requests for concrete services, reveals gendered understandings of responsibility and dependence that are compatible with problem-solving models of justice. It is therefore likely to resonate with criminal justice stakeholders.     

Cultural Criminology and Sex Work: Resisting Regulation through Radical Democracy and Participatory Action Research (PAR)

Taking a feminist cultural criminological analysis to the regulation of sex work in the United Kingdom, this paper argues against the dominant deviancy and the increasingly abolitionist criminal justice model for regulating sex work. The paper begins by offering a critique of the dominant regulatory regimes which have operated since the Victorian era, amended in part in the 1950s with Wolfenden, and currently being reinscribed with the Home Office strategy on prostitution and various pieces of legislation. The focus is specifically upon research with female sex workers and the usefulness of using Participatory Action research methodologies (PAR) with sex workers, agencies, and policy makers in order to foreground the diverse voices and experiences of sex workers, challenge the current focus on abolitionist criminal justice regimes and outcomes, and offer an alternative framework for a cultural materialist analysis of sex work, drawing upon the work of Nancy Fraser.     

论宽严相济刑事政策的定位

宽严相济的刑事政策是惩办与宽大相结合刑事政策的继承和发展。刑事政策根据其指导功能的不同,可分为刑事立法政策、刑事司法政策、刑事执行政策。宽严相济对司法领域而言,可以说是刑事司法政策;但它也指导刑事立法、刑事执行,因而也是刑事立法政策、刑事执行政策。刑事政策根据其所处层次的不同,可分为基本刑事政策和具体刑事政策。宽严相济是基本刑事政策,"严打"、"少杀、慎杀"等是具体刑事政策,后者都是前者的组成部分。说宽严相济是刑事司法政策,并不否定宽严相济是基本刑事政策。     

Prostitution

Abstract

In the recent literature on prostitution, there has been a focus on HIV which has tended to exclude discussion of the physical and sexual violence which precedes and which is intrinsic to prostitution. The literature of two time periods (1980-84 and 1992-1996) is critically reviewed in order to describe this trend.

The normalization of prostitution in the medical and social sciences literature, the tendency to blame the victim of sexual exploitation, and the ways in which racism and poverty are an inextricable part of prostitution are discussed here. The social invisibility of prostitution, needs of women escaping prostitution, and an overview of recent criminal justice responses to prostitution are summarized.     

宽严相济刑事政策基本问题再认识

宽严相济刑事政策对惩办与宽大相结合政策的调整与发展,应是一项基本刑事政策。宽严相济刑事政策的内涵应解释为以宽济严,区别对待,宽严审时。其他刑事政策像＂严打＂政策,死刑政策,教育、感化、挽救政策是宽严相济刑事政策的题中应有之义。它不仅是刑事司法政策,而且还是刑事立法政策与刑事执行政策,贯彻实现于刑事立法、刑事司法与刑事执行全过程。     

Congress and criminal justice policy making: The impact of interest groups and symbolic politics

This article explores the congressional criminal justice policy-making process in the United States, using efforts toward federal criminal-code revision and capital punishment as case examples. It examines how interest groups and symbolic politics affect criminal justice policy and thereby attempts to enhance understanding of the political realities of criminal justice policy making. Based on the findings reported here, an approach to criminal justice policy making is recommended. This approach builds on the disjointed incremental model found in the political science literature and should facilitate criminal justice policy makers in becoming more effective participants in the legislative process.     

从英国经验看我国卖淫刑事政策的变革

上世纪末以来，英国在考察欧洲其他国家相关制度的基础上，对本国的卖淫法律制度进行全面审查，并开始变革卖淫刑事政策。在我国，卖淫的刑事政策在近十余年里遭到社会学者和犯罪学者的批评。从权利保护的价值观以及刑事政策的有效性等角度出发，可以借鉴英国变革的经验，对我国的卖淫刑事政策进行反省和变革。     

Prostitution policy and the women's movement

Feminists have consistently viewed prostitution as a social problem and opposed state regulated or legalized prostitution. However, feminists in different eras have taken conflicting policy stands on the problem. Progressive era feminists and their organizations supported severe state suppression of prostitution. In contrast, contemporary feminist groups join prostitutes in support of decriminalization. Through historical analysis that compares feminist thought and organization of the two eras, this paper offers an explanation of this contradiction in policy positions based on shifts in feminist thought about the role of the state, particularly criminal sanctions, in addressing prostitution, and changes in the organizing strategies of feminists. The paper also offers important insights to contemporary feminists contemplating policy stands which rely on legal sanctions as a strategy and facilitate alliances with moral crusaders to redress social problems.     

Criminal justice policy and the psychology of peacemaking

Psychology which once was a primary influence on the development of criminal justice policy has, in recent decades, lost much of its ability to inform how laws and policies are made that concern punishment and social control. The reason for psychology's loss of inluence can be traced to the war on crime political rhetoric adopted by politicians and criminal justice administrators. This paper argues that an emerging peacemaking perspective in the criminal justice system allows the discipline of psychology to once again inform the discourse on criminal justice policy. Issues such as drug abuse, gun control, and capital punishment are appropriate subjects for a psychological perspective in the national debate on criminal justice policy.     

Criminal Justice Statistics—An Evolution

The origins of the Bureau of Justice Statistics and criminal justice statistics in general go back 150 years, but the U.S. President's Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice in 1967, along with subsequent panels and commissions, added urgency and specificity to the work to be done to improve our understanding of the operation of the criminal justice system and of crime. Criminal justice statistics have the potential to be used to shape and evaluate specific policies and programs when the statistics are timely, accurate, and relevant to the decisions being made for policy formulation or evaluation. The full development of effective criminal justice statistics on crime and the administration of the justice system can provide for informed decision making and more insightful resource allocation. In this article, I summarize the historical progressions and evolution of criminal justice statistics in light of the changes affecting the justice environment and propose future work.     

Expanding the Boundaries of Criminal Justice: Emphasizing the “S” in the Criminal Justice Sciences through Interdisciplinary Efforts

At its very core, the phrase “criminal justice sciences” points to the interdisciplinary nature of our field. However, efforts to promote and support interdisciplinary teaching and research face significant barriers. In this paper, I address how interdisciplinarity is conceptualized, the history of criminal justice as an interdisciplinary field, why we should promote interdisicplinarity, barriers we confront in interdisciplinary efforts, the degree to which ACJS members engage in interdisciplinary practices, factors related to interdisciplinarity, and opportunities for increased interdisciplinary research in criminal justice. To grow as an academic field, I conclude that we must look to other disciplines such as biology, computer science, policy, and women’s studies as we expand our disciplinary boundaries.     

从罪过情感看理论与实践的脱节

尽管传统罪过理论阙如情感因素,但它并没有严重影响到刑事立法的合理诉求和刑事司法的现实运行,却表明了刑法的罪过理论已经落后于刑事实践.一方面,罪过情感在刑事立法和刑事司法中有所体现或得到了适当的考虑;另一方面,情感因素在罪过理论之中却没有任何名分,或者没有取得应有的地位.只有充分认识这一问题,才能在刑事实践中走向自觉,也才能够明确完善罪过理论的方向.     

刑事政策视野中的司法理念

刑事政策具有追求效率的本性,刑事政策视野中的司法理念应当是有效率的正义。以社会为本位的刑事司法理念重视解决犯罪问题的社会效果,体现了刑事政策的价值目标。刑事司法要关注刑事政策的需要,刑事政策才能借助法律手段来完成自己的使命。     

宽严相济视野下的犯罪化与非犯罪化——从最高人民检察院《不起诉标准》谈起

犯罪化与非犯罪化是社会发展过程中的必然现象。我国的犯罪化与非犯罪化都主要出于现实主义的考虑。为适应宽严相济政策与构建和谐社会的要求,合理划定犯罪圈,应当树立犯罪化与非犯罪化并轨运行的理念,一方面要严密法网,另一方面,对微罪行为予以宽容。转型期社会现实决定了我国的犯罪化进程仍将继续。司法上的非犯罪化将是我国目前及今后非犯罪化的主要途径,《不起诉标准》就属于这方面的实践。     

宽严相济刑事政策在检察工作中的运用

宽严相济刑事政策的精髓肇始于古代刑法思想,新时代赋予了这一刑事政策跨时代的含义.检察机关要从构建和谐社会的内在要求出发,深刻领会宽严相济刑事政策的精神实质,并充分运用这一刑事政策指导检察工作.从现实和构想的角度出发,重点对检察机关在逮捕、审查起诉、起诉以及刑罚执行等阶段应如何运用宽严相济刑事政策作了探讨.检察机关务必运用好这一政策,该宽则宽,当严则严,运用有限的司法资源维护无限的公平正义.     

Liberal coercion? Prostitution,human trafficking and policy

Liberal prostitution policy aims at improving labor conditions for prostitutes and protecting victims of forced prostitution. Given its policy mandates, legalized prostitution should be linked to better protection policies for trafficking victims and stronger anti-trafficking measures. In this paper, I investigate empirically whether or not legalized prostitution improves protection policies for victims, as it is presumed. The results of my analysis—using data from 149 countries for the period of 2001–2011—suggest that a liberal prostitution policy does not lead to better protection and, in some cases, legalized prostitution can be detrimental to protecting victims of human trafficking.     

Prostitution as Vagrancy: Sweden 1923–1964

This article argues for the need of a historical perspective when discussing the construction of social and criminal state policy and legislation. The article discusses prostitution and women in prostitution as these were perceived in different commissions in Sweden during 1923–1964. During the period women in prostitution went from being characterized as ‘normal’ but a menace to society, to having hereditary deficiencies, to psychopathological and later to be seen as sociopaths. They should be corrected for the sake of the nation and society but also for their own sake. This article also shows that the conceptualization of prostitution as a question of male demand rather than female supply could be seen as early as in the 1950s. This demand of a change of policy, unheard for decades but then picked up again, has to be seen as a liberal feminist legacy rather than as a social democratic welfare development.     

Assessing Criminal Justice Practice Using Social Justice Theory

In this article, I introduce two of the leading theories of social justice put forth by John Rawls and David Miller. Then, I assess criminal justice practice, from law-making to corrections, in terms of ways in which it is consistent and inconsistent with these theories of social justice. Throughout the article, I also identify ways in which criminal justice practice is inconsistent with social justice. Finally, I make recommendations for reforming criminal justice to make it more consistent with social justice.