Strongly criminalizing johns is the most effective legal approach to date to the harms of violence and exploitation that prostitution inflicts on those used in it. Many countries, some states, and international law support this approach, which San Francisco could readily adopt, along with other legal and social initiatives building on existing law, policy, and service institutions.
Women, men, and the transgendered who are selling sex should be the only persons in the prostitution transaction who are decriminalized. Johns, pimps, and traffickers (buyers and sellers) should be criminalized.
FarleyProstPolicy9-30-08Download document (10 pages)