Christian campaign tries to change prostitution laws

The lobby group Christian Action Research and Education (CARE) say the law should change to criminalise the buyer, not the seller, of sex. 

Currently, it is only possible for a purchaser of sex to be committing a crime if the ‘seller’ is subjected to force, either by them, the owner of a brothel or someone who trafficked them into it. The buyer can be prosecuted regardless of whether they knew of the exploitation or not.

It is also illegal to sell someone else’s body for sexual services, to use exploitation or to gain from someone else’s sexual services. 

In Northern Ireland though, buying sex, whether the seller is willing or not, became illegal in June 2015. 

CARE argue that whether a prostitute has been ‘subjected to force’ is not always obvious and want to see similar laws to those in Northern Ireland in the rest of the UK. 

They say many women (and some men) have fallen into prostitution after being abused as children, difficult or traumatic childhoods or after suffering from other vulnerabilities such as substance abuse, debt or homelessness.

This is something the Crown Prosecution Service highlight in their approach to prostitution, saying: “The CPS focuses on the prosecution of those who force others into prostitution, exploit, abuse and harm them. Our joint approach with the police, with the support of other agencies, is to help those involved in…