MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG
Mo. Digital News
Missouri Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Mo. Digital News
MDN.ORG:
Missouri Digital News
JEFFERSON CITY - Some Missouri politicians want to impose new rules on the world's oldest profession.
Rep. Henry Rizzo, D-Kansas City, has proposed a bill that addresses both the criminal and health issues surrounding prostitution.
Under Rizzo's bill, persons convicted of prostitution would be subject to mandatory HIV testing. In addition, a person who knowingly engaged in prostitution while infected with the HIV virus would face felony charges. The bill is designed to target serious repeat offenders.
"Prostitution is no longer a victimless crime," Rizzo said. "I think this legislation would go a long way in cleaning up the streets and obviously the prostitution game in the state."
The most severe measure of the bill, which Rizzo calls "a great leap in criminal justice," would grant prosecutors the authority to pursue felony charges after two convictions.
Some Kansas City prostitutes have as many as 40 convictions to their record.
For first time offenders, the bill would allow treatment in a drug and alcohol program to give prostitutes an opportunity to change their lifestyle.
Jackson County Prosecutor, Claire McCaskill is a major supporter of the bill. She estimates that 80 percent of the prostitutes working the streets in Kansas City are crack addicts. Instead of working for money, many work to feed their addiction.
"The most important thing about this is that it will allow these ladies to get into a program," Rizzo said. "Currently in Kansas City and St. Louis, under a misdemeanor arrest, there are no programs. You can't ever help them. By the time you arrest them two or three times, they're deep into the addiction."
Prostitutes are not the only party targeted by the bill. The proposal will allow judges the right to require HIV testing of both prostitutes and their patrons as a condition of getting bail. The patrons also would risk getting their driver's licenses revoked.
"It basically targets both parties," Rizzo said. "It aims at getting the Johns who drive in from the suburbs."
However, Rizzo's bill would have little effect where prostitution is disguised behind the veil of massage parlors.
Although, law enforcement officers in Columbia know that prostitution does occur in massage parlors, nothing can be done until one of the participants comes forward and testifies. This hardly happens for fear of self-incrimination or family members finding out.
"It's kind of a catch-22," said Detective Mick Covington of the Columbia Police Department. "We're not able to make cases because nobody comes forward."
Last year the department came close to a bust when a "John" stepped forward to complain about being overcharged on his credit card after a visit to a parlor. The case was eventually dropped due to lack of cooperation. This was the only case dealing with prostitution in Columbia during 1996.
Rizzo said he was motivated to write the bill after witnessing a man in an expensive car with Overland Park plates pick-up a prostitute whom Rizzo said had been found HIV positive from a previous arrest.
"Now there's some Overland Park housewife walkin' around that's HIV positive," he said. "I felt that I had to do something."