NCJ Number
138955
Journal
EuroCriminology Volume: 3 Dated: (1990) Pages: 213-220
Date Published
1990
Length
8 pages
Annotation
New circumstances create the need to reestimate Japan's legal control system and preventive policy against prostitution.
Abstract
Two alternatives emerge as likely: a demand for a stricter policy to further punishment in order to eliminate the prostitution itself, and a proposal for a liberal adaptation to the current situation and stricter control over the systematic exploitation of prostitutes. Japan's long history of licensed abortion lasted until the enactment in 1958 of an anti-abortion law that prohibited prostitution on the basis that it harms human dignity and is detrimental to public morals. Initially, the spirit of this law protected the prostitutes, but the actual protective measures introduced approved ineffective and their application has become more and more rare. Three questions are addressed in the effort to find an effective way to control prostitution: should prostitution be criminally punished; should the inducing act of prostitutes be punishable; and should acts that foster prostitution be punished and, if so, to what extent? 10 footnotes