Prostitution
Under current Rhode Island law, the act of prostitution is legal. In fact, most of the State’s statutes concerning prostitution appear to be more directed towards Johns than the actual prostitutes. For those sections that do target prostitutes, they criminalize soliciting Johns: (1) on/near a street or highway; (2) from your car; or (3) within 300’ of a school.
Yet the State’s prostitution law is likely to change this fall, closing the “loophole” lawmakers see in the statutes. Senate Bill 596, sponsored by Senators Jabour, O’Neill, Lynch, Cote and Picard, would charge fines for 1st and 2nd offenses of prostitution for prostitutes and their Johns, and criminalize a 3rd offense as a misdemeanor (punishable by up to 6 months imprisonment). Furthermore, the Bill would penalize landlords for allowing prostitution to go on within their premises. In fact, the penalty progresses from a misdemeanor to a felony after the landlord’s 1st offense. The Senate approved Bill 596 in late June, and has since referred it to the House Judiciary Committee.
Meanwhile, House Bill 5044, sponsored by Representatives pre=”Representatives “>Giannini, Coderre, Melo, Gemma and Fellela, contains harsher penalties for prostitutes and Johns, although it fails to penalize landlords. Specifically, the House Bill would punish a prostitute or John with up to six months imprisonment for his or her first offense, and up to a year imprisonment for all subsequent offenses. Yet interestingly, the Bill would allow a prostitute to assert an affirmative defense to the charge if he or she was threatened to perform the sexual act(s). The House Bill passed in mid-May, and was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee on May 28th of this year.
The House and Senate will attempt to reconcile the two bills this fall. Obviously, there are different objectives to criminalizing prostitution. Some are concerned with young girls being manipulated into a life of indentured servitude. Therefore, there is a rationale for targeting those who facilitate/harbor prostitution instead of those who perform it. Others believe that all those involved should be penalized the same, no matter their level of participation.
What are your thoughts on prostitution? Should it remain legal in Rhode Island? If not, who should endure the harsher penalties, and why?
Update (9/2/09): According to ProJo.com, on September 1, 2009, Providence Mayor David Cicilline submitted a proposed ordinance to the City Council. The ordinance would impose a $500 fine and up to 30 days imprisonment on all those found participating in “indoor prostitution,” all those profiting from indoor prostitution, and all landlords who lease to “suspected brothels.”
The ordinance would also require massage parlors and “health clubs” to be licensed by the City Bureau of Licenses.
Cicilline believes that this proposed ordinance (which will likely be introduced into committee as soon as 9/3/09) would “close…[the] legal loophole” currently existing in State law. Because it would prohibit conduct that is currently legal under the Rhode Island General Laws, Cicilline does not believe that the ordinance would be unconstitutionally preempting state law.
Do you think Cicilline is acting too soon? Stepping on the General Assembly’s toes? Reasonably responding to what he perceives as a significant problem for the City of Providence?
Update (10/26/09): With the General Assembly set to vote on the prostitution bill this week, the Providence Journal has interviewed several prostitutes about why they chose the profession.
One 53-year old single mother told the journalist that she uses the money to put her 20-year old daughter through URI.
Another said she started prostituting because she was “very hungry,” and it’s a better option than stealing or breaking the law.
According to one of the 30 “spa workers” who recently attended a meeting at a Providence Community Center, these women are prostituting of their own free will, without coercion or pressure from anyone, and will so testify if asked to.
With this ailing economy, and with Rhode Island being 3rd on the list of states with the highest unemployment rates, do you think it’s smart to eliminate an entire profession on moral grounds?
Update (11/6/09): As of Tuesday afternoon, the loophole is now officially closed.
For more information about legal representation of those charged with sex crimes, please visit: http://katherinegodinlaw.com/areas-of-law/sex-crimes/
Katherine E. Godin, Esq.
The Law Office of Katherine Godin, Inc.
615 Jefferson Blvd.
Warwick, RI 02886
Phone: (401) 274-2423
Fax: (401) 489-7580
Email: kg@katherinegodinlaw.com
Website: http://www.katherinegodinlaw.com
