New Version Worse: S.B. 304, Juvenile Prostitution Decriminalized, PLUS Prostitution Bill, highly influenced by U.N. Rights of the Child, Focus on Juvenile Justice

Question: Should Georgia pass a law that considers juvenile prostitution
to be no more serious than the behavior of an “unruly child?”

The original version of S.B. 304 was unbelievably bad! It was introduced to do the unthinkable in this Bible Belt state – decriminalize prostitution for anyone under age 16. So no one under 16 could be charged for prostitution, even if caught soliciting for or committing the act. That was disastrous! But it, also, gave the okay for juveniles to collect money from johns.

The bottom line (no pun intended) of the original S.B. 304: juveniles could become sex workers and earn a salary in occupations outside the purview of law enforcement.

But, believe it or not, the revised S.B. 304 is worse! Just when I thought S.B. 304 couldn’t be up-staged, it up-staged itself! After a ten-day delay, a new version was released to the bill’s opponents. The old language was discarded and entirely new language, meant to disguise the true intent, was substituted. Though the approach is totally different, the end result is even more drastic than the first. Follow along as I outline the bill and insert editorial comments.

• To read the rest of this newsletter in PDF format, please click here.