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what is your opinion on California's child prostitution law?

What is your opinion on California's new child prostitution law?

  • good idea

    Votes: 5 55.6%

  • bad idea

    Votes: 3 33.3%

  • not sure

    Votes: 1 11.1%
  • Total voters
    9
M

Masterhawk

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This law which took into effect in the beginning of 2017 keeps underage prostitutes from having charges placed on them. However, law enforcement may take them into custody in the event of physical danger or if medical care is needed.

It does NOT legalize child prostitution. The age of consent in California is still 18 and prostitution (even between adults) is still illegal.
 
Masterhawk said:
This law which took into effect in the beginning of 2017 keeps underage prostitutes from having charges placed on them. However, law enforcement may take them into custody in the event of physical danger or if medical care is needed.

It does NOT legalize child prostitution. The age of consent in California is still 18 and prostitution (even between adults) is still illegal.
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Could you provide a link or source, so we can see more about this law? I live in California, and it's the first I've heard about it... at least, as presented in your OP.
 
Masterhawk said:
This law which took into effect in the beginning of 2017 keeps underage prostitutes from having charges placed on them. However, law enforcement may take them into custody in the event of physical danger or if medical care is needed.

It does NOT legalize child prostitution. The age of consent in California is still 18 and prostitution (even between adults) is still illegal.
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Good idea. The kids aren't criminals, they're victims. Let's treat them as such.
 
Gov. Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill 1322. It decriminalizes prostitution for minors by preventing law enforcement from arresting people under 18 for soliciting sex or loitering with intent to commit prostitution. Supporters of the law said it’s designed to treat children involved in prostitution as victims rather than as criminals.
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Probably these prostitutes under 18 are victims of human trafficking and they are forced to work against their will by gang members. But if they are over 18, they know what they are doing and should face criminal charges.
 
Masterhawk said:
This law which took into effect in the beginning of 2017 keeps underage prostitutes from having charges placed on them. However, law enforcement may take them into custody in the event of physical danger or if medical care is needed.

It does NOT legalize child prostitution. The age of consent in California is still 18 and prostitution (even between adults) is still illegal.
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While I agree with not charging a child, I'm afraid "pimps" would take advantage of this and aggressively go after the underaged.
 
ThirdTerm said:
Probably these prostitutes under 18 are victims of human trafficking and they are forced to work against their will by gang members. But if they are over 18, they know what they are doing and should face criminal charges.
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How does the clock passing midnight and triggering a birthday somehow magically inject knowledge into a person's head?
 
The Japanese law on child prostitution is quite similar and it's only the adult who lured underage girls to a hotel room would be charged with or without the consent of the minor. Underage prostitutes who loiter in any public place with the intent to commit prostitution are treated as victims of sexual exploitation in the UK and they are only taken into temporary custody by the police without being charged, which is the subject of my blog on Rotherham abuse victims. Minors should be given a break because having a criminal record would make them difficult to get on with their lives.

SB 1322, Mitchell. Commercial sex acts: minors.
Existing law makes it a crime to solicit or engage in any act of prostitution. Existing law makes it a crime to loiter in any public place with the intent to commit prostitution.
This bill would make the above provisions inapplicable to a child under 18 years of age who is alleged to have engaged in conduct that would, if committed by an adult, violate the above provisions. The bill would authorize the minor to be taken into temporary custody under limited circumstances.
This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 647 of the Penal Code, proposed by SB 420, SB 1129, and AB 1708, that would become operative only if this bill and one or more of those other bills are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2017, and this bill is chaptered last.
This bill would incorporate additional changes to Section 653.22 of the Penal Code, proposed by AB 1771, that would become operative only if this bill and AB 1771 are enacted and become effective on or before January 1, 2017, and this bill is chaptered last.
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/billNavClient.xhtml?bill_id=201520160SB1322
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Dittohead not! said:
Good idea. The kids aren't criminals, they're victims. Let's treat them as such.
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By limiting law enforcement's ability to take them into custody, they are enabling child prostitution by releasing some of them right back on the street so they can continue to do what they are doing. It would not surprise me if the end result is more children prostituting themselves in open public because there is no risk to them for arrest. At the very least, they should be detained on a delinquency charge to allow protective services to investigate further.
 
backpacker said:
By limiting law enforcement's ability to take them into custody, they are enabling child prostitution by releasing some of them right back on the street so they can continue to do what they are doing. It would not surprise me if the end result is more children prostituting themselves in open public because there is no risk to them for arrest. At the very least, they should be detained on a delinquency charge to allow protective services to investigate further.
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Why can't they be held without calling it a charge? They are minors...do you guys not have some kind of child services agency that can just hold them in protective custody, without making them feel like criminals? Is there some kind of age limitation that doesn't extend to 17 year olds? I'd think a child prostitute has already had some pretty tough circumstances...why add to that with a criminal charge? Why not just help them?
 
ThirdTerm said:
Probably these prostitutes under 18 are victims of human trafficking and they are forced to work against their will by gang members. But if they are over 18, they know what they are doing and should face criminal charges.
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Just throwing this out there, there are folks over the age of 18 who are victims of human trafficking and are forced to work against their will.
 
holbritter said:
While I agree with not charging a child, I'm afraid "pimps" would take advantage of this and aggressively go after the underaged.
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Yeah, the main problem with this law is that it restricts cops from placing underage prostitutes in police custody.
 
This is a stupid idea. Even though underage prostitutes might be victims, how the heck do you think we can take them out of that life if we don't arrest them? If we just let them go, they'll go right back to their pimps and get abused. What kind of stupidity is this?
 
OlNate said:
Why can't they be held without calling it a charge? They are minors...do you guys not have some kind of child services agency that can just hold them in protective custody, without making them feel like criminals? Is there some kind of age limitation that doesn't extend to 17 year olds? I'd think a child prostitute has already had some pretty tough circumstances...why add to that with a criminal charge? Why not just help them?
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The links provided indicate that they cannot be detained except in two narrow-defined circumstances. My State's laws are not the issue. That child would be detained period.
 
OlNate said:
Just throwing this out there, there are folks over the age of 18 who are victims of human trafficking and are forced to work against their will.
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Exactly right, and they, too, should be treated as victims.
 
Was this law driven by "North American Man/Boy Love Association" aKa NAMBLA?
 
Aren't most people that engage in prostitution driven by a drug problem and pimps taking advantage of that?
 
antiquity said:
Aren't most people that engage in prostitution driven by a drug problem and pimps taking advantage of that?
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Yes, but why in the world would anyone want to remove them from that and get them the help they need? Just pat them on the head and send them back to their abusive pimps. It's the liberal way.
 
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