Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
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Miami Herald - Sunday, July 20, 2003
This much is certain: Prostitution never will be eliminated. Money is exchanged for sex in luxury hotels, massage parlors and the back seats of cars. Earlier this month, Coral Gables police raided two beauty salons that allegedly were prostitution fronts.
Miami's initiative targets the most visible part of prostitution. It designates four zones as off-limits. Under the program -- called "prostitution mapping" -- streetwalkers arrested in those districts will be released by a judge if they agree not to return to the area where they ply their trade. If they agree and are re-arrested, they will be jailed. Prostitutes, even those with multiple arrests, usually are sentenced to time already served. Then they go right back to working the same streets, a nuisance to residents, traffic and businesses.
Mapping can slow down the revolving door. Prostitutes who accept the deal will be offered counseling and drug treatment. Since February 2002, seventy-eight women have enrolled in counseling. All of them had serious drug problems, 80 percent were HIV-positive and 90 percent had hepatitis.
Miami already has seen a glimpse of mapping's benefits. The city conducted a pilot program last year. Police say that, as a result, the Biscayne Boulevard corridor between Northeast 37th and 87th streets experienced a drop in prostitutes in just weeks -- and arrests plummeted. When the program ended, the number of arrests crept back up.
Mapping is just the city's latest attempt to put a damper on street prostitution. Over the years, the city has conducted police stings, cracked down on motels and impounded johns' cars.
Few of these efforts have had lasting results. A court ruled that impounding cars was unconstitutional. So that program has been suspended pending the city's appeal. The city should continue to find ways to crack down on johns, for they are part of the equation.
But city officials also should be realistic. This program only attacks the most visible part of a thriving, irrepressible industry.
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