Polanski Not to be Extradited to US, Free man.
- Thread starter Chiliagon
- Start date
All that may be true petros, I am not disputing that. However, prostitution is not called the oldest profession in the world for nothing. It has been with us for a long time and it will be with us till the end of humanity.
So rather than keeping prostitution illegal and victimizing women yet again, it makes much better sense to make it legal and then to regulate it, crack down on pimps, to try to improve their working conditions etc. For instance, in Germany prostitutes are unionized. Is there really anything wrong with that?
If you want to get rid of (or to lessen the extent of) prostitution, the proper thing to do would be to try to get rid of the underlying causes which turn women to prostitution. Making prostitution illegal simply victimizes the women even further and does nothing to get rid of prostitution.
I read a revealing statistics a few years ago. Prostitution is legal in Amsterdam, illegal in New York. Yet there are more prostitutes in New York than there are in Amsterdam (and you can be sure that they work under appalling conditions in New York).
So rather than keeping prostitution illegal and victimizing women yet again, it makes much better sense to make it legal and then to regulate it, crack down on pimps, to try to improve their working conditions etc. For instance, in Germany prostitutes are unionized. Is there really anything wrong with that?
If you want to get rid of (or to lessen the extent of) prostitution, the proper thing to do would be to try to get rid of the underlying causes which turn women to prostitution. Making prostitution illegal simply victimizes the women even further and does nothing to get rid of prostitution.
I read a revealing statistics a few years ago. Prostitution is legal in Amsterdam, illegal in New York. Yet there are more prostitutes in New York than there are in Amsterdam (and you can be sure that they work under appalling conditions in New York).
SJP - you just might want to update your reading , regarding the state of prostitution in Amsterdam - all is not well in the land of tulips and wooden shoes when it comes to the sale of human flesh.
Now I grant you, I'm cutting and pasting the below from a Wikipedia article, but I reviewed the sources and they appear to be credible:
When the Dutch government legalized prostitution in 2000, it was to protect the women by giving them work permits, but authorities now fear that this business is out of control: "We’ve realized this is no longer about small-scale entrepreneurs, but that big crime organizations are involved here in trafficking women, drugs, killings and other criminal activities", said Job Cohen, the former mayor of Amsterdam.[3] Recently, officials have noticed an increase in violence centered around this irregular industry, and have blamed this increase on the illegal immigration of individuals into Amsterdam to participate in the sex industry: "The guys from Eastern Europe bring in young and frightened women; they threaten them and beat them", said a resident of De Wallen.[3] Prostitution has remained connected to criminal activities, which has led the authorities to take several measures, including detailed plans to help the prostitutes quit the sex trade and find other professions.[6]
In response to the problems associated with the involvement of organized crime into the sex trade, the Dutch government has decided to close numerous prostitution businesses. Concerned about organized crime, money laundering and human trafficking, Amsterdam officials under Mayor Cohen denied the license renewals of about 30 brothels in the Amsterdam red light district De Wallen in 2006; the brothel owners appealed. To counter negative news reports, the district organized an open house day in 2007 and a statue to an unknown sex worker was unveiled, "intended to honor those employed in the industry world-wide."[7] In September 2007 it was announced that the city of Amsterdam was buying several buildings in the red light district from Charles Geerts in order to close about a third of the windows.[8]
At the end of 2008, Mayor Cohen announced plans to close half of the city’s 400 prostitution windows because of suspected criminal gang activity. The mayor is also closing some of the city’s 70 marijuana cafes and sex clubs.[4] This comes at the same time as the Government's decision to ban the sale of "magic mushrooms" and the closure of all coffee shops situated near schools.[4] Nevertheless, Mayor Cohen has noted, "It is not that we want to get rid of our red-light district. We want to reduce it. Things have become unbalanced and if we do not act we will never regain control."[4]
In 2009 the Dutch justice ministry announced the appointment of a special public prosecutor charged with closing down prostitution windows and coffee shops connected to organized crime syndicates.[9
[I]The Netherlands is listed by the UNODC as a top destination for victims of human trafficking.[11] Countries that are major sources of trafficked persons include Thailand, China, Nigeria, Albania, Bulgaria, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine,[11] Sierra Leone, and Romania.[12]
Currently, human trafficking in the Netherlands is on the rise, according to figures obtained from the National Centre against Human Trafficking. The report shows a substantial increase in the number of victims from Hungary and China. There were 809 registered victims of human trafficking in 2008, 763 were women and at least 60 percent of them were forced to work in the sex industry.[13] [14]
Within the Netherlands, victims are often recruited by so called "loverboys" – men who seduce young Dutch women and girls and later coerce them into prostitution. The phenomenon was highlighted in 2008 by Maria Masterd, who published a book about her ordeal as the 12-year-old victim of a loverboy.[15]
Many victims of human trafficking are led to believe by organized criminals that they are being offered work in hotels or restaurants or in child care and are forced into prostitution with the threat or actual use of violence. Estimates of the number of victims vary from 1000 to 7000 on a yearly basis. Most police investigations on human trafficking concern legal sex businesses. All sectors of prostitution are well represented in these investigations, but particularly the window brothels are overrepresented. [16] [17] [18]
At the end of 2008, a gang of six people were sentenced to prison terms of eight months to 7 1/2 years in what prosecutors said was the worst case of human trafficking ever brought to trial in the Netherlands. The case involved more than 100 female victims, violently forced to work in prostitution.[19] In December 2009, two Nigerian men were sentenced to 4 and 4 1/2 years in prison for having smuggled 140 Nigerian women aged 16–23 into the Netherlands. The women were made to apply for asylum and then disappeared from asylum centers, to work as prostitutes in surrounding countries. The men were said to have used "voodoo" curses on the women to prevent escape and enforce payment of debts.[20][/I]
Just because it's 'legal' and just because the Dutch in particular and Europeans in general are more tolerant, does not mean that legalizing prostitution erases all problems. Look at it! the Netherlands is the TOP destination for human trafficking! And in the top countries - the States isn't even there, so yes, the conditions for sex trade workers in the States may indeed be appalling, the conditions of sex trade workers in the Netherlands - where it is legal, seem to be worse.
Not to make light of the seriousness of this matter (the S.O.B. deserves to be shoved under a logjam in the river), but there's a current situation happening that I think is much worse in that it adversely affected thousands of people and that is this talk of Conrad Black being prematurely released from prison, when he should be doing the same time as Madoff. :smile:
In the end, in my opinion, people shouldn't blame the Swiss for how their laws are but the US for missing the "technicality" in the first place. Again, if they had done it right and done their research about it, and argued against it well enough, they might have the SOB in their hands.
Ironsides - if they did have a treaty with the countries he's been in, then that's a good question. Why hasn't he been gone after before now?
Ironsides - if they did have a treaty with the countries he's been in, then that's a good question. Why hasn't he been gone after before now?
Like Polanski did after the 13 year old? He moved on alright. He moved on to other very young women. Emanuelle Seigneur was a surprise because when they married she was an old 23 or 24 (he was 56 at the time).
Pretty much. Also, it's ok to abuse children if you are famous, rich, and popular.
Look, folks, there's just no point in discussing this while BP has a leaking oil well that's going to kill all of us.
Or so I've been told.
Or so I've been told.
So is someone going to start a BP ruination thread?8O
And just explain to my why 'justice should be tempered with mercy'? He never showed any remorse - in fact his plan of defense was to calm that it was her 'fantasy'. He's never changed his lifestyle, he never seemed to have shown any regret over his rape of a 13 year old girl - in fact he just went on to have his way with other very young women. why should he be shown 'mercy'? While I don't think that there should be mob justice against this 'man', I do think that justice should be done and seen to be done. Switzerland let him go on a very flimsy technicality - one that if they had researched and if the States had properly addressed, would have resulted most likely in a different outcome.But then the Swiss have never been a nation to do what is right, rather they seem to do what is best for themselves. They are very pragmatic - much as you seem to be.
You don't appear to dig very deep, SJP, you seem to prefer to dwell on superficial levels. Possibly it's your atheist bent. I don't belong to any belief system - but if atheism is what drives your moral centre? It's as bad as all those religions that have wrecked havoc upon the world. Rather than addressing wrongs, if you are the example of the quintessential atheist, seems to breed a desire to rationalize them.
And the trial part SIN'T over - he evaded the country before the trial could actually finish.
Absolutely - what's stopping you from starting one? :smile:
Great news- the oil flow has finally been stopped. Bet B.P. comes out smelling like a rose and probably getting all kinds of tax breaks. Drill baby drill............:lol::lol::lol::lol:
DHWsays it all.
During WW2 the Swiss were 'neutral'. Rather than be moral, they chose to be bankers to the Nazis and to be th playground to both sides. Yes, they allowed refugees in but at a great monetary cost. They facilitated the escape of many high ranking NAZI officials (they had money), Their 'morality' seems to be dictated by dollar value rather than doing what's right.I read the transcripts and I've done my best to follow all the articles regarding that case, and bottom line, he skipped the country before sentencing. who knows? He may very well have been found innocent - but he left before due process has a chance to finish.If the Swiss decided not to acknowledge that, well it just shows them to be the same people they were during the war. A country without a moral compass.
Yes the Swiss foreign Ministry was a key player in getting the NAZI's to stamp the Letter J on German Jews passports - easier to identify and refuse entry at the border crossings.
During WW2 the Swiss were 'neutral'. Rather than be moral, they chose to be bankers to the Nazis and to be th playground to both sides. Yes, they allowed refugees in but at a great monetary cost. They facilitated the escape of many high ranking NAZI officials (they had money), Their 'morality' seems to be dictated by dollar value rather than doing what's right.I read the transcripts and I've done my best to follow all the articles regarding that case, and bottom line, he skipped the country before sentencing. who knows? He may very well have been found innocent - but he left before due process has a chance to finish.If the Swiss decided not to acknowledge that, well it just shows them to be the same people they were during the war. A country without a moral compass.
Yes the Swiss foreign Ministry was a key player in getting the NAZI's to stamp the Letter J on German Jews passports - easier to identify and refuse entry at the border crossings.
Ok - I will change teams but not the Oilers OK - Montreal sounds good.
Her? ugh. If I was married to her, I don't think I'd be able to get it up.
That probably depends largely on how much hassel she's been going through getting her weekly "house money" out of him.