The main question
of the paper is the limits on the profession and the different penalties that
have been imposed on the profession are hampering the progress and development
of the profession in a legitimate business (Laing, 2015). The criminalisation
of the different aspects of the business while legalising the act itself, is
highly inconvenient for not only the customers but also the sex workers
themselves. The overall image of the profession that was to be projected by the
legalisation of the act of prostitution is unfulfilled. The problem is not only
relevant in the business aspect of the profession as the different legalities
ban third party advertising and impose fines on the payment in exchange of sex
or any establishment selling sex for money is not only hampering the business
operations and the clean running of the businesses of the sex workers. Therefore,
the law although designed to bring transparency on the legalities of the
business of prostitution has utterly failed as the complexity of the business
has increased by the implementation of the new law. The legalization of the
prostitution has not had any positive impact on the business as it raised even
more questions on which aspects of the business are legal and which are
illegal. The primary failure of the overly complex laws is reflected in the
response of the sex workers themselves who are generally not from the legal
background or highly educated ones (Bunch, 2014). The law that replaced the old
law was supposed to make clear distinction between the legal and illegal
aspects of the prostitution business, which it clearly failed to do as the
different aspects of the law, and the penalties are not clearly differentiated
in the law and the as such resulted into a hazy that is free to different
interpretations. This makes the debate against the new law stronger as the clarity
of the law was one o the main points against the old law that led to the law
being repealed.
The safety of the
sex workers in the business in Canada was also one of the main reasons of the
old law being repealed (Krüsi et al., 2014). The new law has some provision on
the safety of sex workers who are forced into the industry against their
consent. The program for the prevention of the incidence there has been a
provision made into the new law that facilitates the rehabilitation program for
any prostitute who wants to leave the profession. However, the condition of the
profession has not increased as the legalization of the prostitution does not
extend to the brothels or other establishments that sell sex for money.
Therefore, the prostitutes are still forced to find their customers on their
own and their safety is jeopardised as they have no protection of any agency or
business as the running of a business that sells sex is still illegal under the
new law. There are no provision under the new law that allows for a third party
to negotiate with the customer on behalf of the prostitute so they have to
handle all aspects of the trade by themselves. This forces them onto the streets,
which makes them vulnerable to the use of force by the customers and other criminal
elements of the society. This increases the probability of sexual crimes on the
prostitutes several folds and many in the legal profession admit it and the
different unions and collaboration of the sex workers like the Toronto Sex
Workers’ Action Project are protesting strongly against the new law. The main
demand from the quarter of the sex workers is the decriminalization that makes
the business legal entirely and allows the sex workers the same protection that
other taxpaying professionals have (Brock & Teixeira, 2015). The
decriminalization of the prostitution is out of the question as it is a
sensitive subject for the society and can lead to many adverse impacts on the society.
However, the safety of the sex workers that has been jeopardised by the new law
needs to be amended immediately. The legalization of one profession is entirely
up to the government but if it has been legalised then there needs to be
adequate protection offered to the prostitutes like any other profession. The
overall uptake of the new law that are affecting the safety of the citizens is
the main matter of concern from the new law.
The use of the
advertising of sex by any third party is illegal by advertising for his or her
sexual services are legal. There is confusion regarding this aspect of the law
as well as many of the prostitutes working in the industry are unclear about
the implication of an industry being subjected to more unjust unclear regulations
is a matter of concern. The complexities of the laws that legalise the trade of
sex but many criminal penalties are imposed upon the providers of service and
the customers is unjust and the different nuances of the laws are liable to
lead to misinterpretation of the law and result in unintentional breach of law.
This is another problem of the new law that can be used as a point against the
new law and the similarity of the new law to the old one makes it just as unfair
and hazy.
The interpretation
of the laws in the professionals is vague in most cases and is unable to
clarify which aspects of the business of sex are illegal (Perrin, 2014). The
confusion in the misinterpretation of laws have raised more questions regarding
the phrasing of the new law within just a few years that attest to the fact
that the new law is indeed just as unfair to the profession as the old one. The
numbers of questions that are not clarified raise the question of the
applicability of the law. The law enforcement professionals are quite
opinionated about this regard as they in many cases admitted that the impact of
the law enforcement of the new law is minimum as it is not very different in
regard of the criminalization from the old law. Some of the questions that have
been asked by the sex workers or their representative point out the fact. One
such question quotes two parts of the law that separately imposes a fine on the
sex worker and the customer if they are involved in the business in the
vicinity of a public place that might have potential underage visitors. Another
part makes the point of having sex in a place where a minor can be exposed to
the act a punishable offence. Therefore, the question is quite valid as it asks
if it is illegal to conduct the business indoors which is in the vicinity of a
place where the children are present. There are many such questions that arise
from the wording and unclear definition of the law. Therefore, it can be said
that the new law is raising the same problems that caused the repealing of the
old law by the supreme court of Canada.
The new bill that
has been passed in 2014 to create the new law does not clear the old law
regarding the prostitution, the limits imposed on the profession even after the
legalization of prostitution, and this affects one profession severely even
after the legalization (Sampson, 2014). The law is obstructive to the business of the
sex workers and in the name of safety and decency limits the scope of the business
that is unfair as no such obstructions are placed on any other profession. The
criminalization and the complexity of the law also increase the chance of
unfair imprisonment and the prosecution of the professionals in the sex trade a
possibility. Therefore, the law needs to be more modernised where the business
of the sex trade is truly legalised instead of just in name. Therefore, the law
is very important as it subjects a part of the taxpaying citizenry to
unnecessary hardship and affects their safe operations within the scope of the
business.
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