NCJ Number
177530
Date Published
1998
Length
288 pages
Annotation
The use of the law to protect children in Taiwan from sexual exploitation in the form of juvenile prostitution is examined, with emphasis on how structural problems such as police corruption, male sexual perversion, socioeconomic inequality, and the maladjustment of aboriginal people in modern Taiwanese society affects the use of the law.
Abstract
The discussion notes that child prostitution is part of the Chinese Han cultural history. Chinese laws have long prohibited selling children into prostitution, but the practice was tolerated for the survival of poor families. Prostitution was also seen as a device to maintain the stability of well-off Chinese families. Modern legal reforms after the establishment of the Republic of China aimed to eliminate traditions such as the practice of child prostitution. These laws were brought to Taiwan. Modernization and industrialization also led to social and political changes; Taiwanese society concluded that child prostitution was intolerable and recognized it as a major social problem. The first social campaigns against the problem was initiated in 1987; a second campaign led to the promulgation of the Law to Suppress Sexual Transactions Involving Children and Juveniles by the Republic of China President on August 11, 1995. This law marked the success of the nongovernmental organizations in demanding a specific law on prevention and treatment of the problem. This new law has been in effect for nearly 22 months. Nevertheless, to deal with the problem appropriately, current approaches need to be both modified and strengthened. Prostitution needs to be defined as a problem of child abuse, and the social, economic, and cultural conditions associated with this maltreatment need to be addressed. Index and approximately 1,000 references