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The author(s) shown below used Federal funds provided by the U.S.
Department of Justice and prepared the following final report:
Document Title: A National Overview of Prostitution and Sex
Trafficking Demand Reduction Efforts, Final
Report
Author: Michael Shively, Ph.D., Kristina Kliorys, Kristin
Wheeler, Dana Hunt, Ph.D.
Document No.: 238796
Date Received: June 2012
Award Number: 2008-IJ-CX-
This report has not been published by the U.S. Department of Justice.
To provide better customer service, NCJRS has made this Federally-
funded grant final report available electronically in addition to
traditional paper copies.
Opinions or points of view expressed are those
of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect
the official position or policies of the U.S.
Department of Justice.
A National
Overview of
Prostitution and
Sex Trafficking
Demand Reduction
Efforts
Final Report
Grant # 2008-IJ-CX-
April 30, 2012
Prepared for: The National Institute of Justice Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice 810 Seventh Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20531
Submitted by: Michael Shively, Ph.D. Kristina Kliorys Kristin Wheeler Dana Hunt, Ph.D. Abt Associates Inc. 55 Wheeler St. Cambridge, MA 02138
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
Abt Associates Inc. Contents ▌pg. ii
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not
- Burden on Law Enforcement and Other Public Services
- Challenges in Constraining Supply & Distribution
- Tactics Used to Combat Demand in the United States
- A Typology of Demand Reduction Programs and Practices......................................................
- The Prevalence and First Known Use of Demand Reduction Tactics in the United States
- Public Education & Awareness Programs
- Reverse Stings
- Street-Level Reverse Stings.............................................................................................
- Web-Based Reverse Stings
- Shaming
- “Dear John” Letters....................................................................................................................
- Vehicle Seizure
- Driver’s License Suspension
- Geographic Restraining (“SOAP”) Orders
- Neighborhood Action.................................................................................................................
- Surveillance Cameras.................................................................................................................
- Community Service
- John Schools
- Generic John School Logic Model
- Targeting the Educational Intervention
- Prevalence of John School Programs
- Community Impact Panels...............................................................................................
- John School Curriculum Items
- Common Misconceptions about John Schools
- Additional Observations about John Schools
- Discussion..................................................................................................................................
- Description versus Evaluation
- Demand-Reduction is Primary Prevention.................................................................................
Abt Associates Inc. Contents ▌pg. iii
Combating Demand: Major Needs and Opportunities ............................................................... 80
Appendices .......................................................................................................................................... 84
Appendix A: Bibliography
Appendix B: Research Method
Appendix C: Data Collection Instruments
Appendix D: Prostitution, Sex Trafficking, and the Military
Appendix E: Summary of Demand Tactics Employed in Each City and County
Appendix F: Sample “Dear John Letters” from Raleigh
Appendix G: Portland Prostitution Exclusion Zone Ordinance
Appendix H: Documents from Indianapolis/Marion County “Red Zone” Program
Appendix I: Summary of John School Program Traits
Appendix J: Organizations Addressing Demand and Supporting Survivors
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
Abt Associates Inc. Final Report pg. ii
We begin the present descriptive report with a discussion of prostitution and sex trafficking, the problems they pose for individuals and communities, and why a growing number of communities have elected to address these problems by focusing on the buyers of illegal commercial sex. We provide an overview of commercial sex markets, and the role of demand in driving both prostitution and sex trafficking. We describe the steps taken to gather data about anti-demand initiatives, and then present a typology and an overview of prevalence, key features, and history. We then present descriptions of several communities and their efforts to launch and sustain initiatives designed to reduce or eliminate prostitution and sex trafficking by combating demand. A number of appendices provide supporting documentation and more detail about important points. The website will expand the presentation much further, and will include checklists and capsule descriptions of the over 825 cities and counties known to have used anti-demand tactics, along with documentation and third-party reports relevant to each community’s efforts.
The research described in the report was sponsored to contribute to an ongoing process of gathering information on practices targeting demand for commercial sex. The intent was to develop for the first time a national picture of current and historical practices that will lay a foundation for further inquiry, and to gather and disseminate actionable information for practitioners. While the reports are necessarily static and will become dated, the website is a “living document,” frequently refreshed as additional information is acquired. Input from the field of practitioners, advocates, policymakers, and researchers will be actively encouraged.
Given that the study’s scope is broad, the National Assessment project necessarily included examination of many topics, but could not report exhaustively on every topic studied in a single report. Not all of the issues worthy of attention could be covered sufficiently in this report if the length was to be reasonable, but we expect information to continually accrue and will make it available on the website. For this report we prioritized practices that are: (a) established as (or approaching the status of) evidence-based practice; (b) being implemented or actively considered by many communities; (c) controversial and the subject of debate among policymakers and practitioners; or (d) represent innovations or variations on basic models of demand reduction initiatives. Guided by these criteria, we have emphasized reverse sting operations, shaming, and john schools in our research and reporting, although we also describe in detail the full range of practices we encountered. For each type of tactic, we describe not only the basic models, but variations and innovations, and present available evidence of effectiveness.
Data Collection
To assemble the information necessary to pursue the project objectives, we utilized a number of data collection activities, beginning with compiling a preliminary typology of interventions and a list of cities and counties identified as having some form of sex trafficking or prostitution demand reduction activity. We then conducted a survey and phone interviews with program and agency staff and stakeholders, and site visits that included program observations and in-person interviews. The steps involved, and the data collected, included:
Reviews were conducted of research and evaluation literature (including books, journal articles, and technical reports); news reports; program descriptions and other materials.
o Web searches for reports about interventions used to combat demand were conducted daily for over three years.
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
Abt Associates Inc. Final Report pg. iii
o The reviews resulted in the collection of over 4,000 source documents.
o Program documents were collected about all known types of demand reduction interventions. Documents include: Tactical plans for reverse stings; city ordinances; memoranda of understanding; program agendas; john school curricula; speaking points for public education presentations; the text of decoy advertisements used in web-based reverse stings; program summaries and reports; agency press releases; and prostitution exclusion zone maps.
Questionnaires were sent to 500 sites. o Of these sites, 121 were targeted for more intensive follow-up. o The sites were flagged as being of particular interest for any one of several reasons, such as being a pioneer in the use of a tactic, or having innovative or high-profile programs that have served as models for other sites. We also targeted sites to ensure our sample contained communities of various sizes, and to ensure we interviewed people at sites with each of the types of tactics identified.
Completed questionnaires were received from 241 respondents at 199 sites. Two hundred twenty-two interviews were conducted with respondents at 75 sites.
Through questionnaires and/or interviews, information was gathered from 274 respondents having the following breakdown of affiliations:
194 police and sheriff’s departments 20 city and county prosecutor’s offices 17 NGOs focused on prostitution and human trafficking 13 NGOs providing broad-spectrum social services and support 6 private counseling practices 6 public health departments 5 city/county government (e.g. mayor’s offices, city services departments) 5 neighborhood organizations 11 “other” (community courts, probation departments, universities, Weed & Seed programs) Eleven site visits were conducted: o Atlanta, GA; Cook County, IL; Indianapolis, IN; Kansas City, MO; National City, CA; Norfolk, VA; Phoenix, AZ; Portland, OR; San Diego, CA; Tucson, AZ; Worcester, MA
John schools were observed at five sites: o Indianapolis, IN; Norfolk, VA; Phoenix, AZ; San Diego, CA; and Worcester, MA. o Observations of a sixth john school - First Offender Prostitution Program (FOPP) in San Francisco, CA - were conducted for a prior Abt Associates study, and this report contains some coverage of what was learned about that program.
At the time this report was drafted, a total of 826 U.S. cities and counties had been identified as having employed at least one kind of anti-demand tactic at some point in time. o New sites are identified periodically; for an updated list of sites, please visit the Demand Forum website. Information was gathered on over 3,200 reverse stings resulting in over 33,000 arrests.
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
Abt Associates Inc. Final Report pg. v
supply- or distribution-focused interventions produce more than temporary suppressions or displacement. Evidence that anti-demand tactics (or comprehensive approaches that include addressing demand) can effectively suppress commercial sex markets is slowly accumulating and is robust in relation to evidence of the effectiveness of other approaches. However, formal evaluations are still confined to evaluations of a few anti- demand approaches implemented in a few locations. While the logical case for the efficacy of addressing demand and the historical record of intervening in other illicit markets (e.g., illegal drugs) lends credence to the accumulating data and anecdotal accounts from the field, it is premature to make broad conclusions about the value of most tactics or program models.
Brief summaries of several studies and field reports addressing anti-demand initiatives – or those including a demand component - are provided below. The main types of evidence that have been produced are: (a) formal program evaluations with quasi- experimental designs, (b) assessments of key descriptive indicators using pre- and post- intervention designs, and (c) informal observations of effects of interventions. Of these three types, the first is generally the strongest, the last is usually the weakest and is best characterized as anecdotal, and the middle option usually falls in between quasi- experimental and anecdotal methods in terms of producing credible evidence. 1
There are several general limitations that are important to consider in reviewing the research and anecdotal evidence regarding the effectiveness of interventions aimed at reducing demand. One of the key limitations is that some of the interventions are multifaceted, making it difficult to isolate whether any observed effects were produced by the anti-demand components of the program, or by other program activities. Some of the interventions address supply as well as demand, so that when a positive finding is observed one cannot be certain which of the two components were responsible. Another limitation is that most of the studies and reports based on police tracking data summarized below address have not controlled for other influences on prostitution or trafficking markets, making it difficult to assess whether any observed effects were produced by the programs or by something else. It is possible that the positive results of most of the interventions listed below could have been artifacts resulting from other events unrelated to the interventions, the result of facets of the interventions other than those that addressed demand, or could be due to displacement. An exception is the evaluation of San Francisco’s FOPP, which examined the influence of a focused demand- reduction intervention and could account for exogenous influences and potential displacement effects (Shively et al., 2008). Another exception is the Weisburd et al (2006), which was a tightly-controlled field experiment that accounted for displacement effects and exogenous influences; however, that study addressed supply as well as demand. While there is strong evidence that the experimental program produced an effect, inferences about the tactics addressing demand are confounded by the simultaneous interventions addressing supply.
(^1) These are general statements about the strength of evidence produced by categories of study designs. There
can be great variation in the quality of information produced by studies within each type, and quality is dependent upon a number of factors. Stronger types of research designs can produce weak evidence if (a) they are executed poorly, (b) the design does not fit the data, program assessed, or the research questions, (c) the available data are of insufficient quality to support the research design, or (d) the data are not analyzed using the statistical methods appropriate for the data, design, and research questions. Assessing the credibility of study findings must be done on a case by case basis.
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
Abt Associates Inc. Final Report pg. vi
It is important to keep such limitations in mind when reviewing the evidence of effectiveness, and not to assume that any of the aforementioned positive results represents unassailable, definitive evidence of a positive impact. Bearing in mind those limitations, positive findings were found in several formal evaluations and in reports from police agencies relying on tracking data.
Results from Formal Evaluations:
o San Francisco john school reduced recidivism by over 40%. In an NIJ- sponsored evaluation of the FOPP, it was found that the annual one-year recidivism rate for arrested johns fell from 8.8 percent to 4.5 percent after the program began operating (Shively et al., 2008). The shift was immediate and was sustained for the subsequent decade. The impact could not be attributed to the effect of arrest, since all those in the “treatment” and statewide “comparison” groups were arrested. The impact could not be attributed to displacement to other cities, since the data allowed the research team to detect subsequent arrests anywhere in the state. The impact was also not attributable to a larger trend, since no substantial trend was observed in the statewide rearrest data. Finally, the impact is unlikely to be attributable to johns moving their activities online. While it is true that commercial sex solicitation has been shifting from the streets to online venues, the shift to online solicitation has been gradual rather than abruptly occurring in one year, and has been widespread rather than occurring only in San Francisco in 1995.
o A comprehensive approach including reverse stings reduced prostitution by 75% in controlled experiment in Jersey City, New Jersey : In a rigorous field study, Weisburd and colleagues (2006) found a 75% reduction in observed and reported prostitution from a comprehensive approach that included combating demand through reverse stings. The evaluation design tested for displacement effects, and the researchers concluded that the reductions were not attributable to simply pushing the problem to other areas of the city. However, the comprehensive nature of the intervention prevents attributing the positive effects to the demand piece or any other single component of the program.
o Comprehensive effort including “kerb crawler” arrests and a john school reduced prostitution in Ipswich, England by 40% to 80%. A study by Poland and colleagues (2008) concluded that a large reduction in street prostitution in Ipswich, England resulted from an intensive and multifaceted intervention. The program featured enforcement and education aimed at demand (arresting “kerb crawlers” and having them attend the “Change Course,” or john school), and a social service/therapeutic (rather than punitive) approach for providers of commercial sex. The study found 40% to 80% reductions in calls for police service and the number of persons involved in prostitution (Kendall, 2008; Poland et al., 2008).
o Enactment of Swedish law that focused on demand has reportedly reduced street prostitution by 50% to 75%. In 1999 Sweden passed national legislation decriminalizing the sale of sex while simultaneously criminalizing the purchase of sex. The innovation of the “Swedish Model” law was in place in the entire legal burden for prostitution on the buyer rather than the provider. An evaluation of the impact of the law found a 50% to 70% reduction in street prostitution through focusing on demand (Swedish Government Report SOU 2010:49, 2010).
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
Abt Associates Inc. Final Report pg. viii
Pennsylvania. Through the mid-1980s, traditional interventions had been tried and found ineffective: arresting prostituted women accomplished little (trafficked women soon left for the next stop on the circuit, and local women simply returned to the streets), and prosecution of pimps had been attempted, but never successfully. In 1986, Wilkes-Barre police tried a new approach, conducting large-scale reverse stings coupled with publicizing the identities of arrestees. In each of the first several operations, they arrested from 50 to 100 men who were issued citations and ordered to pay fines. Arrestee identities were included in press releases which ran in the local Sunday newspaper. After two years of these efforts, police concluded that Wilkes-Barre had been taken off the “pimp circuit.” The number of women known to engage in street prostitution fell from 20 to five, with the rotating circuit survivors gone and the remaining five being local women suffering from severe substance addictions. The existence of the domestic trafficking circuit and the level of police reverse sting activity in the 1980s and 1990s were corroborated by news archives and interviews with police from other cities on the circuit. However, the stated impact on the number of street-level survivors could not be confirmed due to a lack of data from the time period (e.g., arrest data were not kept by the police department beyond seven years).
Findings from National Assessment Data Collection
There are more than a dozen distinct types of interventions that have been developed and implemented to combat demand, and variations within each type. The basic typology we have developed is outlined below, along with the number of cities and counties in the United States that are known to have ever employed each type, as well as some key details of each type of intervention and variations on the basic models.
Reverse stings, street-level (occurring in over 826 cities and counties)
o Police officers pose as women engaged in street-level prostitution. o Average support team is about seven officers for each decoy. o Smaller departments may borrow female officer from another department if they don't have enough officers to serve as effective decoys. o Variation : Some police departments conduct reverse stings at venues such as truck stops and events that draw large numbers of men. o Variation : Some police departments have used decoys who are not police officers.
Reverse stings, web-based (n=286)
o Police post decoy advertisements online, set up reverse sting at hotel or apartment. o Variation : Police respond to real online ads, replace prostituted persons with police decoys, and continue taking calls from johns on the survivor’s phone. o Variation : Women police decoys respond to online ads placed by johns seeking sex with prostituted persons.
Reverse stings, brothel-based (n=13)
o Police investigate brothels, make arrests, replace brothel staff with decoys, and continue fielding calls and walk-ins from johns in order to make arrests.
Shaming – publicizing identities (n=484) o Publicizing identities of arrested johns, via news outlets, police websites, billboards.
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
Abt Associates Inc. Final Report pg. ix
Shaming – “Dear John” letters (n=40)
o Letter sent to address of registered car owner, alerting owner that car was seen in area known for prostitution. o Variation : Letters sent to arrestee’s home address. o Variation : Content may also include warnings about health risks, detriments of commercial sex to communities and survivors.
Seizing autos used to solicit sex (n=120)
o Autos used in commission of crime are seized. o To retrieve autos, john must pay an impound fee, tow fee, and/or fines ranging collectively from about $500 to $2000. o Variation : Some communities allow for seized vehicles to be forfeited and sold at auction as part of the penalty for the offense, or as the result of failure to pay the fees and fines necessary to reclaim vehicles.
Suspending driver’s license (n=19)
o In some jurisdictions arrestees may have their driver’s license suspended if they used a vehicle in the commission of a crime; nineteen communities have been known to apply this to men arrested for soliciting women police decoys.
Geographic restraining orders or exclusion zones (n=83)
o Johns prohibited from visiting areas with known prostitution activity, and/or the vicinity of their arrest. o Also called “Stay Out of Areas with Prostitution” or “SOAP” orders.
Public education and awareness programs (n=67)
o Proactive efforts to educate men and boys about prostitution and sex trafficking, encouraging them not to contribute to sex trafficking and sexual exploitation by purchasing sex. o Can also include targeting audiences in addition to actual and potential buyers, attempting to indirectly affect demand by lower social tolerance or encouragement of buying sex and enlisting community member support in efforts to combat demand.
Neighborhood action (n=115)
o To be counted for this study, neighborhood action must be a community-led initiative that is organized and formalized as a program or process, rather than being an ad hoc occurrence. o Some programs involve forwarding tips to police; citizen patrols; citizen-led blogs; billboard campaigns; participating in community impact panels or making presentations in john schools.
“John school” education or treatment programs for arrestees (n=51) o Can be structured as a sentencing option, and coupled with other criminal sanctions, or a diversion program, resulting in dismissed charges. o Can be structured as one-day classes versus multiple-session counseling models.
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
Abt Associates Inc. Final Report pg. xi
customers in an effort to undermine the market by reducing demand, and shifted toward a primarily therapeutic/social service approach used for those engaged in selling sex.
o While the FOPP in San Francisco began in 1995 and is often cited as the first john school, we identified at least five education or treatment programs for arrested sex buyers that preceded it. The first known john school program was the “The John Group,” which began operating in Grand Rapids, Michigan in 1981. From 1988 to 1992, john schools were launched in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota (1988); Rochester, New York (1988); West Palm Beach, Florida (1991); and Kansas City, Kansas (1992).
o The following table presents the location and year of the first known use of each type of demand-focused intervention:
Demand Reduction Tactics
1 st^ Known Use Site Law Enforcement & Post-Arrest Interventions Reverse stings (street operations) 1964 Nashville, TN Reverse stings (web-based) 1995 Everett, WA Shaming: Names and/or photos publicized 1975 Eugene, OR Shaming: “Dear John” letters sent home 1982 Aberdeen, MD Auto seizure 1980 Roanoke, VA Driver’s license suspension 1985 Tampa, FL Geographic exclusion zones 1975 Beaver Falls, OR Community service 1975 Miami, FL Surveillance cameras targeting prostitution 1989 Horry County, SC John schools 1981 Grand Rapids, MI Public Awareness/Education Campaigns 1980 Roanoke, VA Neighborhood Action Targeting Johns 1975 Knoxville, TN
While we found more sites than expected to have used reverse stings or other anti-demand tactics (n=826), and efforts to combat demand have a longer history than expected, it remains true that the majority of efforts to address prostitution and sex trafficking are still aimed at supply and distribution, rather than demand.
Most communities that have targeted demand report doing so because they did not see positive results from their efforts to address prostitution or sex trafficking by focusing on supply (arresting providers) or distribution (arresting pimps).
The majority of reverse stings (at least 71%, and probably over 90%) are conducted in response to complaints that police departments receive from residents and businesses.
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
Abt Associates Inc. Final Report pg. xii
Key Innovations
When reviewing the numerous efforts to combat demand across more than 826 U.S. cities and counties, it is clear that there are several fundamental approaches used and that some of those basic models are relatively straightforward and well known to practitioners. For example, the planning and execution of basic reverse stings are simple and within the skills and staffing capacities of most law enforcement agencies. Many of the other post-arrest interventions are also well known to police and the courts, since they are basic criminal justice interventions applied to one particular type of offender
- men who buy sex. Community service, geographic exclusion zones, auto seizure, and driver’s license suspension are all basic sanctions applied to other kinds of offenders, and these sanctions are sometimes applied to buyers of sex.
However, most communities are unaware of the range of variation in how these interventions can be configured and execute. This is critical since the variations and innovations have evolved to solve problems and overcome challenges that prevent or limit the implementation of initiatives addressing demand. For example, many small communities rarely conduct reverse stings due to limited number of female officers to serve as decoys, and some do not implement john schools because they erroneously believe they are costly or must be structured as diversion programs.
We have gathered information attesting to the range of extant interventions and alternative models that provide innovative solutions to real and perceived challenges to basic approaches, as well as evidence contrary to erroneous assumptions. For example, many john schools are structured as mandatory conditions of a sentence, most recover all of their costs through fees or collected, and many small communities exchange or borrow female decoys or entire reverse sting teams to solve their local capacity problems.
A number of variations on basic models have been developed to meet particular challenges or to take advantage of opportunities. Some of these were listed above in the summary of the typology, and several examples are described in more detail below.
Reverse Stings: Replacing prostituted women with police decoys****.
o In web–based reverse stings, the basic model involves police posting a bogus advertisement on websites used to transact prostitution, and to place a female police decoy and support team in a hotel room or apartment for appointments with johns. This requires substantial planning, obtaining a phone for police to use that is not detectable as a police phone, constructing a realistic ad, and can pose challenges in getting hotel or apartment space. A variation used that is designed to solve some of these challenges is to have police search real web ads for prostitution; they respond to the ad, remove the survivor, and install a police decoy who continues making appointments with johns on the survivor’s hotel or cell phone. A similar concept is used in storefront brothels, where the staff and survivors are removed and replaced with police officers who continue to make appointments and arrest johns.
Reverse Stings: Borrowing decoys from other police departments.
o Many police departments, particularly smaller ones, have had trouble staffing reverse stings due to a shortage of women police officers who can serve as decoys, or because the decoys become too well-known to potential buyers to be effective. A solution to this problem used by some police agencies is to borrow staff from other departments. For example, the small cities of Bluefield and Princeton, West Virginia have borrowed or shared decoys and sometimes other members of reverse sting teams. Similarly, Wilkes-Barre Pennsylvania and communities such as Reading and
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
Abt Associates Inc. Final Report pg. xiv
the reach of the vast majority of men buying sex in the cite. Patrol officers and those working other details would consistently see men “cruising” and picking up women known to be involved in prostitution, but such observations are rarely sufficient to make an arrest (the evidence necessary to make solid cases for prosecution is developed almost exclusively through reverse stings). In an attempt to convey information to the majority of johns they observed but could not arrest, the department developed the Safety Through Deterrence (STD) program, known informally as the “roadside john school.” Police officers would detain men suspected of attempting to buy sex, deliver a 10 minute lecture on the negative consequences of prostitution, and provide a four-page handout containing similar information.
Costs of Interventions
Most anti-demand interventions cost little: Most of the tactics used to combat demand are not costly, many are essentially cost-neutral, and some generate net revenue through fees and fines that can be used to support survivor programs or law enforcement efforts. For example,
o Shaming. There are several ways to publicize the identities of johns, including billboards and placing ads in news outlets, which can incur costs. However, the methods of shaming used most often cost little. The most common method is for police departments to issue a press release, which is then carried or summarized in local news outlets and/or posted on a police department or city government website. The means of dissemination is cost-free, although staff time is necessary to write a release - perhaps an hour or two for civilian staff to gather the information from the officers and compose the release.
o Auto Seizure. Most state criminal statutes allow for the seizure of automobiles used in the commission of a crime, and many cities have municipal ordinances similarly supporting auto seizures. The costs of towing and of processing the paperwork associated with seizures are usually covered by impound and towing fees and fines which average over $1,000 collectively.
o “Dear John” Letters. Cities that send letters to the homes of arrestees have typically produced form letters, with contact information and perhaps the date, time, and location of their observed activity or arrest, to be filled in. As criminal justice interventions go, Dear John letters are inexpensive, requiring just the initial drafting of the letters, and then perhaps 15 minutes per letter to complete and less than $.50 per letter to mail.
o John Schools. John schools required a resource commitment to deliver properly, but they also generate the income necessary to be self-sustaining. The curriculum, eligibility criteria, agendas, MOUs and other material must be developed. Producing those materials is a one-time investment with some updating and maintenance. The classes themselves require staffing: (a) usually an hour or two of staff time to register and check in participants; (b) instructors (usually two to six, depending upon the curriculum and the capabilities of available instructors); (c) translators may be necessary, although the majority of john schools function without them. While the cost of holding a john school class can be from no direct costs (if instructor time and meeting space are donated) up to $3,500 for a full-day class staffed by several compensated
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
Abt Associates Inc. Final Report pg. xv
presenters and translators, most fines and program fees are calibrated so that they cover all of those costs. Many john schools not only cover the cost of the class, but produce excess revenue used to fund survivor programs (e.g., Nashville and San Francisco john schools) and to reimburse police for reverse stings and the courts for their time in processing offenders (Portland, San Francisco, Tacoma). For example:
The total fee revenue generated during the life of the FOPP in San Francisco is well over $3 million. The revenue from the FOPP has been approximately evenly split among the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office (SFDA), San Francisco Police Department (SFPD), and a nonprofit organization, Standing Against Global Exploitation (SAGE), with each of the three partners receiving over $1 million since 1995. The fees have: Covered all of the direct costs of the john school classes.
Covered all FOPP administrative costs incurred by SFDA, SFPD, and SAGE.
Covered most (88%) of the SFDA’s costs for processing arrestees referred to the program.
Covered about one-third of the costs of the SFPD’s reverse sting operations.
Generated over $1 million in fee revenue has been generated to support programs for women and girls involved in prostitution. Almost all (94%) of SAGE’s share of the FOPP fee revenue is used to support survivor programs.
In 2010 alone, the Nashville, TN john school program generated over $100,000 for the Magdalene program for survivors of commercial sex.
o Community service. Some communities require johns to perform community service, and this usually requires supervision. However, consistent with community service programs covering other types of offenders, programs for johns (e.g., Norfolk, Virginia) require participants to pay a supervision fee, often of approximately $40 per day, which covers the supervision costs.
Need for Improved Access to Information
The research conducted during this project has confirmed the basic assumption driving the study: that there is a large pool of experience in designing and implementing interventions targeting demand for commercial sex, and this experience could benefit communities implementing or planning initiatives with a similar focus. Our research has confirmed that little of the information about these interventions is circulated broadly, and thus remains a resource untapped by others. Practitioners are often unaware of anti-demand interventions developed and implemented in other communities. The reason for this is simple: there is no central source or effective means by which practitioners can access the information.
This document is a research report submitted to the U.S. Department of Justice. This report has not been published by the Department. Opinions or points of view expressed are those of the author(s)
