NCJ Number
97707
Date Published
1985
Length
18 pages
Annotation
To determine whether New York's change of its 'patronizing a prostitute' statute from a violation to a misdemeanor accomplished the goals of deterring prostitution and ending the disparity that existed between the prostitution and patronizing statutes, prostitution arrest information from Buffalo, N.Y. from 1977 through 1980 was analyzed.
Abstract
Results reveal that the Buffalo city police arrest practices did not change and that women continued to be singled out for prostitution arrests. Overall, from 1977 through 1980, female prostitute arrestees comprised 77.39 percent of the arrests for prostitution activity, while male patron arrestees comprised 13.13 percent of the arrests. Arrest figures also show that women were arrested for the combined offenses of prostitution and loitering 84.52 percent of the time in 1977, 86.58 percent of the time in 1978, 90.67 percent of the time in 1979, and 84.20 percent of the time in 1980. In addition, despite constitutional prohibition of gender-based discrimination, New York State courts have not been persuaded to find unconstitutional the differential enforcement practices of the prostitution statute. One Buffalo criminal court, for example, approved gender-based discrimination on the basis of insufficient police staffing. Thus, although there was a gender neutral prostitution statute in New York State, there was not a gender neutral enforcement of that statute. A continued assessment of prostitution arrest practices by the police in Buffalo and elsewhere is essential. Included are 2 tables and 49 references. (Author abstract modified)