OK. Those guys need to do a bit of reading. I am not a lawyer, but I've spent a lot of time reading and corresponding.
The courts hold that "living off the avails" is applicable only when there is a parasitic relationship. Newspapers accepting ads, web designers, children of the SP, all those people are not "living off the avails" because they are doing for the SP what they do for anybody.
Agency owners are living off the avails because their business would not exist if the girls weren't prostitutes.
The girl referred to on the MERB thread was presumably charged with procuring. Any of the girls anywhere can be charged for procuring if they say "I'm busy tonight would you like to see my friend?". Because then they are acting as agencies and any money or consideration they got for the referral is tainted. It is interesting that the claim is made that the charges were the result of a wiretap. According to
Part VI of the Criminal Code (s 183), a wiretap can be obtained only for these prostitution related offenses:
- (xxxiv) subsection 210(1) (keeping common bawdy house),
- (xxxv) subsection 212(1) (procuring),
- (xxxvi) subsection 212(2) (procuring),
- (xxxvii) subsection 212(2.1) (aggravated offence in relation to living on the avails of prostitution of a person under the age of eighteen years),
- (xxxviii) subsection 212(4) (offence -- prostitution of person under eighteen),
The client of that girl was not charged, he was called as a witness. To get the tap, LE would have had to have shown a judge reasonable grounds for going after her on one of those charges.
The statement
Originally posted by Curious on MERB
Technically, self-employment as a prostitute is quasi-legal, but if a woman works full-time as a prostitute or does not have significant income from another source, she can be prosecuted for "living off the avails" of prostitution
is bullshit.
Note that there are a few situations when customers can be charged, basically when communicating in a public place, or when being a found-in in a bawdy house. For the rest, there is some risk of being called as a witness, but if you simply tell any cop who asks that you don't want to discuss the matter (DON'T LIE!!! NEVER, EVER LIE!!!! They get more people for cover-ups than they do for the actual act, nowadays) then you've got at least some chance of not appearing in court.
