Lilith
06-03-2005, 12:07 PM
(gg)
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - People who solicit
prostitutes in Oakland, California, could find their
faces plastered on billboards under a new shaming
program that one civil rights group calls bad public
policy.
The city of 400,000 across the bay from San Francisco
started putting up billboards on Wednesday showing men
arrested for soliciting sex. Other signs invite
prostitutes to quit by calling a help line.
"This idea came out of just thinking about new ideas,
doing something to deal with this increasing problem,
especially with the exploitation of underage women,"
said Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La
Fuente, who champions the approach.
The photos on the billboards were partially blurred so
the men are not easily identifiable. But in the future
photos might be displayed unaltered, an aide to De La
Fuente said.
Critics say the technique -- which De La Fuente said
has been used in Texas -- recalls medieval public
humiliations.
"It doesn't seem to us to be appropriate for Oakland
to be using shaming as an additional and extrajudicial
punishment to single out this group of offenders,"
said Alan Schlosser, legal director of the
American Civil Liberties Union for Northern
California. "We don't think this is good public
policy."
Some newspapers have long printed the names of those
soliciting sex for money, and courts have backed
punishments that include shaming. Last year a U.S.
federal appeals court allowed a punishment in which a
mail thief had to wear a signboard telling of his
crime.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - People who solicit
prostitutes in Oakland, California, could find their
faces plastered on billboards under a new shaming
program that one civil rights group calls bad public
policy.
The city of 400,000 across the bay from San Francisco
started putting up billboards on Wednesday showing men
arrested for soliciting sex. Other signs invite
prostitutes to quit by calling a help line.
"This idea came out of just thinking about new ideas,
doing something to deal with this increasing problem,
especially with the exploitation of underage women,"
said Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La
Fuente, who champions the approach.
The photos on the billboards were partially blurred so
the men are not easily identifiable. But in the future
photos might be displayed unaltered, an aide to De La
Fuente said.
Critics say the technique -- which De La Fuente said
has been used in Texas -- recalls medieval public
humiliations.
"It doesn't seem to us to be appropriate for Oakland
to be using shaming as an additional and extrajudicial
punishment to single out this group of offenders,"
said Alan Schlosser, legal director of the
American Civil Liberties Union for Northern
California. "We don't think this is good public
policy."
Some newspapers have long printed the names of those
soliciting sex for money, and courts have backed
punishments that include shaming. Last year a U.S.
federal appeals court allowed a punishment in which a
mail thief had to wear a signboard telling of his
crime.