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Prostitution: a crime of purchasing | Beatrix Campbell

Source: guardian.co.uk Society

Nov 07, 2009

Summary

By punishing men buying sex instead of women coerced into selling it, the policing and crime bill will create a new consensus

There's been a quiet revolution in the House of Lords. Peers have been debating the policing and crime bill. Their deliberations mean that the government will take a historic step: instead of controlling prostitution by punishing women, it will penalise the purchasers – the men.

Law and public policy will be unambiguous: buying sex (usually from vulnerable or coerced women) will be treated as a wrong. Legislation will support women to stop selling sex, and encourage men to stop buying it by penalising them: the purchasers risk being fined by the magistrates courts.

The key term will be purchasing sex from a person who is coerced. And the key message will be: if in doubt, don't. Purchasers' liability means giving them the burden of knowledge – not knowing whether a woman is being coerced will be no excuse.

Wide consultation and intense lobbying preceded the thoroughly intelligent debate. The Guardian's own Nick Davies was "mentioned in disp

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