Florida to use online registry to shame people who buy sex

Floridians caught trying to buy sex will soon find their mugshot online for the world to see. A new law that took effect Monday will create an online registry of people found guilty of soliciting prostitution.

The online database of sex buyers is part of a broader effort to crack down on human trafficking.The registry will target “Johns” who buy sex as opposed to prostitutes who could be forced into sex work, said state Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation. [FAC NOTE: YEAH RIGHT!]

Opponents argue the new law will do little to stop human trafficking while hurting people who have already been punished for their crimes by making it harder for them to find work and housing.

16 thoughts on “Florida to use online registry to shame people who buy sex

  • July 3, 2019 at 8:17 am
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    Does this include judges, legislators, and politicians? Of course not.

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  • July 3, 2019 at 8:37 am
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    “Opponents argue the new law will do little to stop human trafficking while hurting people who have already been punished for their crimes by making it harder for them to find work and housing.”

    Hmmm. That sounds familiar. Where have I heard that before??….oh yeah, it’s MY LIFE!

    I long for the day when Ron and Lauren Book’s live are utterly ruined through scandal, political humiliation, ethical or law violations, etc… And I have NO PROBLEMS stating that on here. To hell with em.

    **Speaking of which, where is Ron Book’s DUI case at right now??

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  • July 3, 2019 at 8:41 am
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    There are many reasons I hate this kind of Florida thinking. Adding another proven failure of a tactic is one, but another is that stupid laws like this one minimize the seriousness of legitimate human trafficking.

    Human trafficking is a serious and damaging problem. Trying to connect all prostitution to human trafficking is ridiculous and serves no one except for law enforcement. I do acknowledge that victims of human trafficking are forced into prostitution, but not all prostitutes are human traffic victims and not all johns are looking for human traffic meets.

    It’s the all or nothing attitude of Florida that makes its attempt to stop and control illegal activity so ineffective. It seems most states have tiered offense levels, view intent on crimes, punish accordingly, and then providing some way back into society. Florida lumps all convicted citizens of a specific crime into the same pot, makes it difficult to impossible to make it through corrections, and then makes it difficult to move back into society as a productive member of society. Florida refuses to acknowledge that people do change and that after mistakes many people turn their life around. That is why Florida will never get a handle on serious crimes.

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  • July 3, 2019 at 9:31 am
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    i think they need to go back 50 years and start putting them on it

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  • July 3, 2019 at 10:18 am
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    Why do we think the database will capture sex workers and not just Johns? Is that what the language of the statute allows for?

    Just trying to make sense of a little FAC editorial snark.

    Unfortunately the source article was unavailable to me, having already exceeded the Sun Sentinel monthly limit reading about Ft Lauderdale SORR, etc.

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    • July 3, 2019 at 11:31 am
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      “Floridians caught trying to buy sex will soon find their mugshot online for the world to see. A new law that took effect Monday will create an online registry of people found guilty of soliciting prostitution. The online database of sex buyers is part of a broader effort to crack down on human trafficking.

      The registry will target “Johns” who buy sex as opposed to prostitutes who could be forced into sex work, said state Sen. Lauren Book, D-Plantation. “If we go after demand we’ll decrease the likelihood someone is purchased,” said Book, who sponsored the legislation. “We are saying not here, not now. We are going to take steps to ensure modern-day slavery is closed for business here in the state of Florida.” Book cited a 2011 study in which 89% of men who buy sex told interviewers they would be deterred if they knew their name could be added to a registry.

      Opponents argue the new law will do little to stop human trafficking while hurting people who have already been punished for their crimes by making it harder for them to find work and housing. Christine Hanavan, who works with the Sex Worker Outreach Project, told lawmakers they should be focused on collaborating with “consensual sex workers” to combat human trafficking rather than passing further punitive measures that will do little to solve the problem. “Criminalization is the root cause of trafficking,” she said during a hearing in Tallahassee. “Prohibition didn’t end drinking, and it can’t end sex work. What it can do is make it more dangerous. … We need to stop going after the men who pay for sex and go after the men who think they can just take it.”

      A sting geared at human trafficking in the massage parlor industry brought a renewed focus on the issue during this year’s legislative agenda. New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft was one of about two dozen men charged in February and accused of buying sex at the Orchids of Asia day spa in Jupiter. Kraft has pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges.

      The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is in the planning stages for the new registry and has not determined when it will launch, agency spokeswoman Jessica Cary said. The database will become effective Jan. 1, 2021, according to the law. People who are found guilty of soliciting prostitution will have their color photo, full legal name, last known address and their offense entered into the database for five years. Repeat offenders will be permanently listed in the database, which must be reauthorized by the Legislature by 2024 to continue operating.

      The law also adds new training requirements geared at helping hotel workers, law enforcement and medical personnel spot human trafficking. Massage parlors will be required to post signs on how to report human trafficking, and the state will have more latitude in suspending licenses of operators.”

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  • July 3, 2019 at 11:05 am
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    I remember watching the hearings on this law when it was a bill. Several women spoke out against it, but they were either ignored or patronized by Book and her co-whores. Those actions prove that this law and the registry are crafted and perpetuated by an emotional, hysterical agenda by hysterical, vengeful people, while ignoring empirical evidence and subject-matter experts.

    It’s so sad that Florida has become the paradise-lost Floriduh. So-called lawmakers continue to pass unconstitutional laws which must be challenged in court, costing millions while registered citizens languish for decades, loathed by society and unable to find stable housing and employment.

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  • July 3, 2019 at 11:07 am
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    So, when are they going to start looking where the real human sex trafficking exists and rescuing real victims? Human sex traffickers sell their victims (for sex) to rich people in high positions like politicians and other rich men. That is a true story of an actual human sex trafficked victim who was rescued. She had been sold (as a child or baby) to a pimp who produced and provided “high class” prostitutes, in an undercover sex ring, to rich men and politicians. She had been told her whole life that she was born to do this, and her parents had given birth to her for this evil man who paid for her and became her owner, to use her for this purpose.
    She talked about how they (the enslaved forced to be prostitutes) were well trained to know how to act, how to have sophisticated conversations, etc., with their clients. They had to always look good, by always having to have their nails done, hair done, perfect make up, well dressed, always stay fit, etc. Their owners always make sure of this, since they are providing a high quality service to clients who pay a lot of money for this service.
    From living in Midland, TX and knowing that this kind of service is provided at the oil show here every year and at other events where many rich men from the oil business gather (conferences, etc), I also know that the prostitutes are made to get tested for STDs, of course as part of the “high quality” service they are providing to rich people who are paying a lot for this. The health department here has one of their busiest time of the year right after the oil show. The ladies who work as prostitutes at the oil show go in for STD screening, once the event is over, and I guess before they move on to the next big event where they will be working. It’s been happening for many years. It’s no secret, yet police pretend to be targeting “human sex trafficking” by catching “predators” and sex buyers from adult sites. They know very well where to find the real thing. There’s just too much money involved there for them to want to do anything about it.
    The rescued victim described how they were transported by private planes or jets, from location to location. They never knew where they were. They just knew that they would be at another event to work, and the clients were always rich men, including many politicians.
    That is the true, incredibly scary story of how human sex trafficking works. These monsters are very money driven. They are not going to risk being exposed by selling their victims on adult sites. It’s very well organized, and they have established clients.
    Another form of it is the human traffickers who offer to bring in people illegally into the US. They are also victimizing women and children by selling them for sex. They also have established clients, who will pay for this.
    Targeting adult sites is a huge cover up for this reality. Many police know very well where to find real victims, as well as many politicians, because they themselves are victimizing the victims.

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    • July 6, 2019 at 8:36 pm
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      Omg it doesn’t surprise me one bit to here the story of sex trafficking to big wheel money makers. But it makes me sick that something can’t be done to stop it instead of having a registry to hurt harmless people. It seem the FBI would use under cover people to try to catch and stop it!!!. There are probably a lot of missing children from everywhere including the US ; that are in this kind of network, working for this money making low life B.S. business. If so it’s been going on for a very long time. And the children have been so brainwashed it seems normal for them. Like Aracely said!! I think I spelled his name right!!. But I also would imagine that the older ones that do remember there family want to go home. This is real sad, sad, sad. I hope they catch up with them someday. If the money used for the registry was used for something like that. It would make a lot more since!!. AMEN….

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  • July 3, 2019 at 1:21 pm
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    My family and I are being preyed on by psychopaths that pretend these laws and the wrong data are correct and turn the blind eye on the damage to my family and thier family’s I I have to follow what 40-50 laws citizens don’t I have more rules to follow than being on probation for someone that killed someone and none make the world a safer place or are bad in itself it’s all about getting bodies in the court doors!

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  • July 3, 2019 at 5:05 pm
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    Buying sex! What a waste of money!

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  • July 3, 2019 at 5:28 pm
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    This law is an important tool for those exploiting women! People who force women to be sex workers will profit by selling catalogs of teen-age sex worker videos to people on this list. This law is a big boon to the sex video business. Start investing in stock for porn studios! They now have a database of customers!

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  • July 4, 2019 at 10:01 pm
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    This may be off the topic!. But I have been wanting to mention the garbage that children have access too. Television “sexual content” is there a lot, or even just a little is to much, and even if it’s just one child that sees “it” and even if it’s just a sexy dancer or a couple lying in bed on top of one another acting sexual. With clothes on, but also with just under clothes. Do the same people who are concerned that child lives to close to a completely harmless person that has to register for anything that they regret!. Are they not concerned that the garbage the same child is looking at could cause them harm in there developing brain to be a perfect, smart, and normal as possible as they go through the early part of there developing critical time in there live not to be seeing anything such as that!!!!. And yes there is a lot of tv that is innapropriate for a child up to the age of 18. And also the cell phones/ internet/ sexual content. Nudity of any and all kinds! This is what makes me sick when the lawmakers are supposed to be protecting the young lives to be a valuable adult in the society!! Why are they so focused on hurting the same people who are trying to be a good citizen who messed up because he or she were exposed to the same garbage when we were a developing child!!! The registry and all the laws that they keep adding on make me want to leave this world.

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    • July 5, 2019 at 10:03 am
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      Television means money. The movie industry means money. The registry means money. So why waste time going after the real problem? There’s no money there.

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