Gillespie, Alisdair (2007) Diverting children involved in prostitution. Web Journal of Current Legal Issues, 2. ISSN 1360-1326
Full text not available from this repository.Abstract
In the period between 1989 and 1995 there were nearly 4,000 convictions or cautions of children under the age of 18 for crimes relating to prostitution (Ayre and Barrett 2000, p50). Whilst, of course, some of these convictions and cautions would be for the same person it is staggering to think that less than 15 years ago there were that many prosecutions of children. At the turn of the millennia it was decided to adopt a new approach and to treat children involved in prostitution as victims not offenders (DoH 2000). In this piece I seek to question the impact of this policy and question whether the criminal justice system does now divert children away from criminality and prostitution or whether it continues to expose them to the very real risk of prosecution.