England and Wales
Section 14 of the recently enacted Policing and Crime Act 2009 creates an offence of paying for sexual services of a prostitute who has been exploited or subjected to force by someone else. It is a strict liability offence whereby it is irrelevant whether the person who pays for sex is, or ought to be aware that the prostitute has been exploited. The offence is punishable by a fine of up to £1000. The hope is that the creation of this offence will reduce the demand for sexual services and therefore help address the exploitation and trafficking of women and children etc.
Although this is clearly a step in the right direction, we want to go further than this in Scotland and offer legislation which will protect those involved in all kinds of prostitution.
