I thought prostitution was illegal in the uk...?

Question

So how come police talking to prostitutes on the streets of ipswich haven't arrested them for being prostitutes? I just don't understand!!!

Answer 1

Prostitution is NOT illegal.Prostitution - exchanging participation in sexual activities for money or other goods - has always been legal in the UK. It's actually arguably more acceptable to charge for your sexual skills than your cooking or brewing skills - you need a certificate or licence for the latter two!
However, many of the activities that prostitution often involve are illegal.
The legal situation in England and Wales has changed over time, and keeps changing. A government consultation on sex work laws, Paying the Price, was held in 2004 and the results were published in January 2006.
(Scotland and Northern Ireland are very similar overall but slightly different in the details.
Age
It is now illegal to pay for otherwise legal sex with someone who is 16 or 17. Controlling someone under 18's prostitution is a more serious offence - no element of gain is necessary and the penalties are up to fourteen years in prison.
Streetwork
The laws on working on the street have become 'gender neutral'. Anyone, male or female, on the street (or on a balcony or in a window) can be found guilty of soliciting for the purpose of prostitution.
Streetwork is one of the few areas where clients of adult workers can get into trouble too - anyone kerb-crawling (approaching other people from or near a vehicle they've just got out of for the purpose of prostitution) is particularly at risk, not least as their vehicle can now be seized.
In fact it is illegal in general to persistently solicit anyone on the street for the purposes of prostitution, but this is much less fequently prosecuted, not least because if they are in fact prostitutes, they don't count for this law!
Working alone indoors, or for an agency or in a brothel
All remain legal. Provided the worker is at least 18, buying sex from them is also legal.
'Pimping', running an agency or brothel
All remain illegal.
But controlling another adult's prostitution is now only illegal if you gain from it (or know that someone else does). Looked at another way, gaining from someone else's prostitution is now legal: it's the control for gain that's illegal.
So sex workers' families should now be free of the risk of being charged with "living on the earnings of prostitution", however owners of escort agencies and brothels as well as 'pimps' will still be at risk.
In addition, it is specifically illegal to own or run a 'disorderly house' or brothel - anywhere more than one woman or man resorts to for non-marital sex. As this doesn't necessarily have to be at the same time, or involve sexual int*rcouse or, indeed, any payment, a very wide range of places are therefore 'brothels', including many hotels. (Remember that it's legal to be a sex worker at a brothel provided you don't assist in its management.)
The penalties for owning or running a brothel involving prostitution have been increased.

Answer 2

The act of prostitution is not in itself illegal - but a string of laws criminalises activities around it. Under the Sexual Offences Act 2003, it is an offence to cause or incite prostitution or control it for personal gain. The 1956 Sexual Offences Act bans running a brothel and it's against the law to loiter or solicit sex on the street. Kerb-crawling is also banned, providing it can be shown the individual was causing a persistent annoyance. Adverts placed in phone boxes have been banned since 2001. Human trafficking, a component of modern prostitution, is also covered by the law. There are also general laws on public nuisance and decency which can be used to target the sex trade.

Answer 3

"prostitution" i.e. being paid for sex, is not illegal in the UK. However, plying your trade on the street is illegal (soliciting) and so is running a brothel (keeping a disorderly house), which basically involves having more than one prostitute working out of the same address. So one woman working alone out of a property, who does not solicit for business on the street, is not actually breaking the law.

Plus, at this point, I think the police have other priorities, and rightly so. How would you feel if you and your friend were smoking weed when she was murdered, and instead of interviewing you to find out what you saw, they took you in because you had been smoking weed?

Answer 4

It's like people still do drugs, people still drive too fast, people break laws everyday, etc. Meaning it is all illegal but it still goes on due to the resources of the police. The police are there to maintain a level of safety not to stop crime within a society of freedom. (Hence the blind eye.) In this instance human life stands above the law as it should do, these prostitutes are still human beings & deserve the complete safety any law abider in the country would. This illustrates the argument based in Amsterdam where prostitution is legal for the benefit of their safety & health as human beings.

Answer 5

Being a prostitute is not illegal. The same as being a Disqualified Driver is not illegal - it only becomes a criminal offense when the person drives a motor vehicle. Well, it is the same with prostitution. It becomes an offense if a 'common prostitute loiters or solicits for prostitution in a public place'. It is also an offense if more than one prostitute shares a brothel.

Answer 6

Prostitution is illegal in the UK although it is tolerated in some areas. Easier for the police to keep check on it if they turn a blind eye.

Answer 7

The Police need the prostitutes on their side to help find the Killer.
They have said they are not interested in busting for prostitution and I agree - they have bigger fish to fry.

A Pro has already mentioned a Blue BMW and given a brief descripton of the driver.....................

Answer 8

Quite frankly the answer is simple. Even if it's illegal, they are human beings and have a right to safety. Second, the cops have a lot more important criminals to deal with than prostitutes.

Answer 9

Because the Police have said that they will not prosecute any prositute who comes forward and gives information regarding the murders. The safety of these girls are far more important than worrying about prosecuting them. The killer needs to be caught fast so that the streets of Ispwich can be made safe again.

Answer 10

it is illegal but there are so many that it wouldn't be worth the police time to go out every night and arrest them all. hours of paperwork. if caught or the kerb crawler is caught they will be arrested but as far as i am aware the police won't necessarily go out and actively try and catch people unless the problem escalates.
also the majority of prostitutes sell their bodies because they are heroin addicts, so if you take their living away from them they will just turn to crime to make money to feed their habit.