__________________________________________Ask the DA
 

Question: I know that the District Attorney’s Office is serious about ending prostitution, but what happens to the Johns, the people who patronize prostitutes?

At the Kings County District Attorney’s Office, we have a three-pronged approach to fighting prostitution: we investigate, arrest, and incarcerate pimps; we offer rehabilitation programs to prostitutes, and we address the demand side by busting Johns. Defendants charged with Patronizing a Prostitute in the Fourth Degree (Johns) are given a choice: either enroll in Project Respect – John School – or go to trial and risk a 90-day jail sentence. 

Project Respect is a program available to non-violent offenders accused of soliciting an adult prostitute. John School is not an option for any defendant who has been arrested for soliciting sex with an underage prostitute or child. Eligible defendants are offered the opportunity to enroll in the program at arraignment. Project Respect is a five-hour course offered every six to eight weeks on a Tuesday night. Each defendant pays a $250 fee and must plead guilty in order to attend. All charges are dismissed six months after the class is completed, provided there has been no re-arrest. 

In Project Respect, defendants learn about sexually transmitted diseases, prostitution’s impact on communities and neighborhoods, and about the prostitutes themselves. There are several speakers, one of whom is a former prostitute who discusses the reasons teenage girls and women enter the sex trade and how it affects them. A former undercover detective lectures on the dangers posed by patronizing prostitutes, such as being robbed or assaulted. Health professionals, mental health experts, and community advocates also address the group. 

Most participants are employed, and they come from all walks of life. At a typical session of John School, any number of different professions my be represented. There are usually 75 to 90 participants in a given class. The program is available in every language.   

Since its inception in 2002, John School has had 1980 “students,” and only nine have been rearrested for the same crime. That is less than a one-percent rate of recidivism. 

Educating these men about the real impact of their behaviors, while at the same time humanizing the women whom they patronize, is a new and effective way of addressing an age-old problem.