The Dispatch: Legislation would let prostitutes sue their pimps

[Tweed]

http://qconline.com/archives/qco/sections.cgi?prcss=display&id=233491

"SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Olivia Howard says her 19 years as a prostitute were a blur of violence. She had a gun pointed at her head, was thrown out of cars and endured beatings and rapes.

Now she and other advocates want a law that would let prostitutes sue the pimps and brothels that profit from their suffering. They say it would hold people accountable for coercing women -- and often girls --into prostitution.

An Illinois House committee approved the idea unanimously Wednesday, sending it to the House floor.

The legislation would give prostitutes up to 10 years to seek damages from those who profited from their prostitution or maintained them in the business. That means the women could be compensated for any physical or mental abuse they suffered."

This is quality legislation. The Illinios legislator is getting a lot done this year.

[Lori Price CLG]

1. Gannon/Guckert could sue Bush/Rove?

Sorry, I could not resist. :)

Lori Price
http://www.legitgov.org/

[aquart]

2. Oh, that's brilliant.

Do pimps have corporate headquarters now? Letterhead stationery? Do beaten-up prostitutes have money for searches to determine what property the pimp actually owns?

How do those brain-dead twitsin the legislature imagine this will actually work?

[lostnfound]

3. That is a GREAT idea, a way to try to empower people who..

have suffered way too much in their lives.

I used to think prostitution was just a victimless crime, but I learned that a very large majority of prostitutes (70% or maybe more) were sexually abused as children. Shortly thereafter I heard some male coworkers making rude jokes about prostitutes. No one I know thinks that sexual abuse of children is funny, and if people recognized that in many, many cases a prostitute is just an abused child after a few more years has passed, maybe we could see that -- just like most of us -- they need love, support, encouragement, acceptance, and healing. Of course, that's an ideal that our failed communities never comes near. But giving them the legal means to stand up for themselves is a nice place to start.