26 January 2006
Under-aged prostitution - police inaction against sexual exploiters criticised
Promises by politicians, that the Prostitution Reform Act 2003 would result in hefty measures taken against sexual
exploiters of the under-aged, have since proved meaningless, says Stop Demand Foundation. Under the law, those who buy
sex from persons under the age of 18 years can face prison terms of up to seven years.
Stop Demand’s comments follow a reported police swoop on Christchurch streets where children as young as 12 years were
picked up.
Stop Demand’s spokesperson Denise Ritchie says, “In parts of South Auckland and Christchurch men are committing
commercial sexual offences against minors on a nightly basis with little risk of prosecution.”
“Recent police initiatives to target minors and remove them from the streets lack strategic merit”, says Ritchie. “A
more effective strategy must be to target the exploiters. Overseas studies show that prostitute-users’ fears of a spouse
or partner finding out or public exposure through a Court case are the two most effective measures to halt anyone buying
the services of a prostitute - fears that one would expect to be significantly increased when the person bought is
under-aged.”
Stop Demand, which is part of a multi-agency group in South Auckland on Under-aged Prostitution, says the response from
many in the group, especially the Police, has been very disappointing. “Police input has been far from satisfactory.
Police responses have ranged from an incredulous ‘but these youngsters are consenting’, to “it is very difficult to get
evidence’”, says Ritchie. “Frequent references to the buyers as ‘clients’ or ‘customers’ rather than ‘exploiters’ or
‘criminals’ also reflects a minimisation of offending.”
Stop Demand believes the Police overstate evidential difficulties. “How difficult is it, when generally the pick-ups
occur in a public street, the exploiters drive only a short distance to another public spot, and are likely to be found
in a state of semi-undress with a young person of different ethnicity? To suggest that this is a crime with huge
evidential obstacles is not accepted,” says Ritchie.
“Strategically, I am sure that the quickest way to see a sharp decrease in the buying of sex from the under-aged would
be for South Auckland and Christchurch police to put some resources into a couple of prosecutions, photographs of the
sexual exploiters splashed across newspapers and television screens, and prison sentences imposed on the exploiters. The
most effective way to stop under-aged prostitution is to tackle, penalise and ultimately stop demand,” says Ritchie.
ENDS