Invisible Chains (27 page)

The entire operation takes place under the watchful eye of electronic surveillance equipment and fellow officers who will rush in if signalled by the U.C. To conceal her identity as a police officer, the U.C. is “arrested,” along with the male perpetrator.

The prospect of arrest deters some but not all. One man arrested in this evening's operation will return again tomorrow night, intent on satisfying some desperate urge that costs him his money, his reputation, and perhaps his self-respect.

Such are the challenges of controlling street-level prostitution in the suburbs of Canada's largest city. To increase the deterrent effect of these operations, the Vice Unit resorts to other tools, including seizure of the vehicles used by the men. One officer comments, “We were seizing their cars after a sweep … and we also brought a reporter along with us. It was all over the news: The police are stopping cars and seizing vehicles. How are they going to explain that to their wife?”

Another officer notes, “The registered owner has to go before a judge to get their car back. If a wife has to go to court to get her car back, she's gonna find out.”

Similar operations are carried out sporadically in cities across the country. In November 2009, the Winnipeg Police Service announced the seizure of vehicles from thirty men attempting to purchase sex on the street, in some cases with underage girls. The men were charged with a range of offences, but their names weren't made public.

Undercover operations that include vehicle seizures are often a response to complaints by local residents about “strolls” (circuits where prostituted women are on display to men in vehicles), and they result in short-term police activity. A major limitation of these programs is that they target only street-level prostitution, just one avenue of exploitation. They don't reach behind the closed doors of brothels, strip clubs, massage parlours, or private residences, all of which are increasingly common sites where human trafficking victims are exploited and remain hidden.

Taking false comfort in assumed anonymity

Purchasers of sex acts assume they're anonymous, especially when their activities take place indoors. They might be surprised to learn that a victim of human trafficking in a recent case in Canada kept a detailed logbook of her abuse: She recorded hundreds of telephone numbers, along with the dates and times of specific sex acts, as well as the amount paid. All the data went to the police when she was rescued. The underage victim kept this financial ledger to track how much money she'd given her trafficker, who claimed she owed him an exorbitant exit fee before she could leave. If the victim's clients were found, each would be liable under the
Criminal Code
for a minimum of six months in jail and up to five years imprisonment for paying for sex with a minor.

While it is illegal in Canada to communicate in a public place for the purposes of prostitution, the same is prohibited indoors only if the prostituted person is younger than eighteen. A public
place is defined as anywhere to which the public has access by right or invitation, and includes a motor vehicle in plain view. From the perspective of trafficking victims being sold for sex, it is of course entirely irrelevant whether their trafficker advertised them in a public place or behind closed doors. Instead of defining the illegality by location, a more effective legal response would be to criminalize the purchase of sex acts regardless of where they take place. As we'll see in the next chapter, this technique has been used with some success in Sweden and is becoming an attractive international model. But what happens when johns are caught and convicted? John School furnishes one answer to this question.

John Schools have no happy students but many informed graduates

As discussed earlier, John School attempts to discourage men from continually purchasing sex acts by confronting them with the consequences of their behaviour and the damage to the victims.

Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Hamilton, Toronto, and Ottawa have used John Schools, or “First Time Prostitution Offender Diversion Programs,” as part of their response to the demand for paid sex. The Toronto John School operates as a diversion program, which means that participation is open to “first-time, non-violent” offenders who've been charged with solicitation. In other words, the program is only available once to the accused, the first time he is apprehended for solicitation. If the accused completes the program, the prosecutor will withdraw the charges and the accused escapes with no criminal record.

According to Professor Alexis Kennedy at the University of Las Vegas, this program and others like it recognize that whereas the prosecution of offenders “may act as a deterrent, the social and community issues, along with the human consequences of prostitution, are largely ignored.” John Schools typically require offenders to pay about five hundred dollars for a program—usually six to eight hours over one day. As one John School advocate puts it, “If they
don't get the point in six hours, they won't get it in sixty.” Many John Schools direct the fees to programs for victims. For example, Streetlight Support Services in Toronto applies the revenue from its John School to pay wages for female counsellors who are survivors of the sex trade and to fund programs that help women break the cycle of exploitation.

While each John School is unique, most cover the following key elements:

•  laws and “street facts” on prostitution

•  health awareness regarding risk and prevention of HIV/AIDS and other STDs

•  effects on the community or neighbourhood and other victims

•  survivor testimony from former prostituted women, and education on effects of prostitution on the lives of the women

•  pimping / human trafficking

•  child exploitation

•  sex addiction

The Toronto John School uses real case studies to illustrate its points:

Here's a guy who picked up a prostitute, went into a hotel room, got his trousers off, the door swings open, a couple of hooligans bust in, and the next thing you know not only has he lost his wallet and all of his identification, he's lost his clothes and now he's stuck at the hotel room, and he doesn't even have his car keys, and you know, so who you gonna phone?

The scenarios are “to scare the bejesus out of them,” says John Fenn, who administers the Toronto John School. “We're starting to show them that they can be victims, too.”

Survivor testimony and information about the effects of prostitution, as well as the reality of the sex industry and pimping, aim to dispel myths and fantasies. Fenn describes a “typical” survivor's
testimony, delivered directly to the johns in the classroom: “She explains her story, how she got in, what it was like while she was there, the abuse on her, the johns, when business was bad what she needed to do to bring money in, the beatings, the whole scenario of what the world's really about. The branding, the cigarette burns, the sexual assaults by more than one man at a time, being in a room with a john and three of his buddies show up. It's hard to hear sometimes.”

As well, community speakers try to connect with the johns who are also fathers, husbands, or neighbours to make them understand that this could happen in their communities, to their wives or daughters. “They tell the stories of ... the teenage daughter going to the corner and being harassed by a guy in a car thinking she may be a sex trade worker,” says Fenn.

Are John Schools an effective response or just window dressing?

Evaluations of the effectiveness of John Schools are based on participant surveys that measure changes in attitude toward prostitution and sexual exploitation throughout the program. Re-offence rates by participants have also been used to monitor the success of the programs.

The Vancouver Prostitution Offender Program recorded a significant increase in agreement with the following statements by participants who completed that city's John School classes:

•  Prostitution is a serious problem in our society.

•  Prostituted persons are victims of pimps.

•  Most prostituted persons live in poverty.

•  Prostitution exists because of the demands of the customers.

Evaluations of Toronto's John School are also encouraging. According to the program's directors, participants were more likely to accept responsibility for their actions, more likely to admit that they might have sex addictions, and less likely to report favourable attitudes toward prostitution.

The number of John School attendees who re-offend is also encouragingly low. Having completed the program at Toronto's John School, fewer than 2 percent of participants were subsequently arrested by police for solicitation.

Some critics question the validity of relying on this low rate of re-offence, however, suggesting it may be more attributable to the arrest itself than to the educational and awareness program exclusively. Being caught by police, appearing in court, and confronting the possibility that others could learn of their illegal conduct may suffice to discourage some johns from future offences. This explanation applies only to those John School programs that include arrests, charges, and court appearances, which not all do.

Alternatively, the low re-offence rates among John School participants could suggest that graduates understand more fully how police operate and are better able to avoid detection; or they may opt to purchase sex acts in non-public venues to conceal their ongoing activities.

On balance, the available evidence supports the effectiveness of John School as a preventative measure for first-time offenders. The program inspires other debates: Should attendance at John School be voluntary or should it be court-ordered? Should the police lay criminal charges against the men and only have those charges withdrawn upon completion of the John School program?

Proponents of John School as a pretrial diversion program believe it's more effective when the participants attend voluntarily because they have an incentive to complete the program. In some U.S. cities, the court also may order John School upon conviction, as a condition of the offender's sentence or probation. This also ensures that a criminal record is registered against the offender.

At the other extreme, Vancouver's Prostitution Offender Program offers John School to alleged offenders before charges are laid. Women's rights groups have expressed concern that this approach, which fails to expose and publicly condemn the behaviour, undermines the seriousness of the offence and doesn't serve as an effective deterrent.

Lee Lakeman of Vancouver Rape Relief believes that men caught for solicitation should not benefit from the privacy and secrecy of pre-court diversion. “Why are they getting diverted?” asks Lakeman. “If the police think that's such an effective sentence, charge the guy, convict him, and let's have the sentence be that. But why the secrecy? Why is he being protected? Why is his reputation being protected? Why are we all going along with that?”

Lakeman feels too that John School reduces the incentive for police to investigate further to determine whether or not more serious crimes also were committed. “So men in fact never ... get charged with any of the related crimes, including more serious charges,” says Lakeman.

The criticism that Lakeman and others level at John School is not without merit. At the same time sending non-habitual, first- time offenders to John School before trial can help to change their attitudes and behaviour. So when and how should John School be used?

The police and the criminal justice system must address the role of men in driving demand for sexual exploitation and human trafficking to a greater extent than they currently do. A better approach would insist that men caught soliciting for the purposes of prostitution be arrested and charged with the offence in order to drive home the seriousness of their actions. If a man used a vehicle to commit the offence, it should be seized and released to the registered owner on a court appearance based on the relevant legal provisions. Moreover, police investigations should be complete before a Crown prosecutor decides how to proceed with a case, and a case that includes any of the following should always proceed to trial:

1  The accused previously has been arrested, charged, or convicted of any prostitution-related offences or violent crimes.

2  The accused is alleged to have solicited a minor under eighteen years of age, or a probable victim of human trafficking of any age, regardless of whether the accused knew, or suspected it.

3  The police investigation includes allegations of a more serious nature beyond solicitation.

4  The accused is unwilling to accept responsibility for his conduct.

If none of these factors are present, the Crown prosecutor should carefully review the evidence against the accused to determine whether or not John School represents an appropriate option as a diversion program, assuming the accused accepts responsibility for his conduct in open court and agrees to complete the program. In addition to attendance at John School, measures such as community service and donations to charitable organizations that assist victims of sexual exploitation should be requested by Crown prosecutors. Once the accused has completed this program, including the payment of the registration fee and any other terms, the charges against him should be withdrawn. Trial judges also should consider separate John School classes for convicted offenders as part of their sentences.

John School can be valuable in preventing first-time offenders from becoming habitual users of prostitution. However, a more complete response to prostitution and human trafficking is needed, including stronger laws against the purchasers of sex acts, wherever they take place; increased law enforcement efforts to investigate and arrest purchasers, both in public and indoors; routine use of car confiscation where available; greater media coverage of policing activities that target purchasers and of the harm caused by the commercial sex industry; and stronger sentences for convicted purchasers of sex acts, particularly repeat offenders.