MendBritain

Why do people turn to prostitution?

There are, as we know (and widely researched) many different social, cultural and emotional reasons prostitution happens and sadly many of these reasons are negative; often, but not always prostitution directly involve drugs. Students trying to pay their way through university, parents wanting their children to have a secure future, paying for the "habit", or simply because that is the only job a person feels is available to them in a current climate where jobs are hard to find.

This of course can result in anti social behaviour no matter where the "crime" is taking place.

People standing on a street late at night and added traffic, noise and traffic from brothels and the safety aspects thrown in there - it's not just having "undesirables" present but anything related to drugs and infections. This safety problem affects both prostitutes and their communities alike.

No one wants to find used needles or used condoms laying around in the streets or parks, especially if there are children or animals around.

Did You Know?

Did you know that 95% of street prostitutes are addicted to class A drugs?

Did you know that in the last decade 60 prostitutes have been murdered?

Did you know there are an estimated 80,000 street prostitutes working in the UK?

Sexual Offences & The Law

So what is the law?

Under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, it is an offence to cause or incite prostitution or control it for personal gain.

The 1956 Sexual Offences Act bans running a brothel and it's against the law to loiter or solicit sex on the street.

A brothel is described as "where more than one person is available at a premises for paid sex", if a person works alone this is not described as a brothel.

Kerb-crawling is also banned, providing it can be shown the individual was causing a persistent annoyance.

Adverts placed in phone boxes have been banned since 2001.

Human trafficking, a component of modern prostitution, is also covered by the law.

There are also general laws on public nuisance and decency which can be used to target the sex trade.