Bawdy House charges now a "serious offence"

[Luke T]

from Yahoo

The Conservatives slip in another one under the "get tough on crime" smokescreen.

Feds move to gore Mob's cash cows

55 minutes ago

By Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press
MONTREAL - Law enforcement is about to get tougher on three of organized crime's biggest money-making machines: gambling, prostitution and drugs.
The Conservative government has broadened the definition of a "serious offence" under organized-crime legislation in an effort to prosecute and punish those groups' most lucrative activities.
Justice Minister Rob Nicholson announced the changes at a news conference Wednesday. He said the new rules focus on things currently not considered serious offences, like book-making and bawdy houses.
"What I've been told by law-enforcement agents and provincial authorities is we should get all the offences included," Nicholson told The Canadian Press in an interview.
"It gets them all, so that if a person involved in any type of illegal activity, if they're involved in organized crime, it gets caught within the serious offences provision."
The "serious offence" provision would not only mean longer prison stays for convicts — it would also become easier to send people there.
It would give police more power to conduct wiretaps and other investigative measures for crimes that fall under the provision. The move was welcomed by the Ontario Provincial Police, among other forces.
"Wiretap legislation is complex," said Don Bell, chief superintendent of the OPP.
"In wiretap cases outside criminal organizations, you have to see all means have been tried and tested. In criminal-organization cases you can . . . skip a couple of steps in the process and go right to wiretap."
Accordingly, prosecutors will have new powers to block bail, seize proceeds of crime, deny parole and obtain stiffer sentences.
Criminal Intelligence Service Canada estimates there were as many as 750 organized crime groups operating in Canada last year.
The move is being enacted by executive decision from the federal cabinet; it will not require a parliamentary vote.
Until now, only crimes punishable by at least five years in prison fell into the "serious offence" category. The rules officially changed Wednesday.
The 11 new serious offences include:
— Keeping a common gaming or betting house.
— Betting, pool-selling and book-making
— Committing offences in relation to lotteries and games of chance
— Cheating while playing a game or in holding the stakes for a game or in betting
— Keeping a common bawdy house
— Various offences in the Controlled Drugs and Substances Act relating to trafficking
— Importing, exporting or production of certain scheduled drugs.
"They're not necessarily part of organized crime, but if the Crown and the law enforcement agencies can make the case, they can be part of that," Nicholson told reporters.
"What we find is that if you're into illegal gaming, if you're into prostitution, many times this is the currency of organized crime."
The opposition expressed qualified support for the move. But it accused the government of using crime as a political football.
It said the government ignores any expert advice on crime prevention, and seeks only to score points with voters by promising to toss criminals in jail for longer.
"You have a government that's entire solution — its whole tool kit — is all focused just on locking people up. All the things that we know work, we know save money, save lives . . . they ignore,'' Liberal MP Mark Holland said in Ottawa.
"This government, any time it gets into trouble, any time there's a situation where the water starts getting very hot for them politically, starts dumping on the table a rash of crime bills and more often than not, they're not thought through.
"There's very little logic or evidence behind them. It's all about changing the channel and talking points. . . What we get is the government writing policy on the back of a napkin and throwing it out, hoping that people will believe they're doing something.''
Claude Laferriere, a retired lawyer who acts as legal counsel for a Quebec victims' rights group, called the changes a good start.
He hopes they begin to close the gap in sentencing length between Canada and the United States.
"This is a very small effort — but it's a beginning, so I'm not criticizing," Laferriere said. He wants more co-ordination with authorities in the U.S. on things like sentencing.

 

[expecting baby #3 =)]

Bawdy House charges now a "serious offence"

Great. Now a girl who rents a condo unit for her and a couple of friends to work out of is a "serious criminal"!

More sick Harper bullshit!

 

[Dayana]

Bawdy House charges now a "serious offence"

Sounds like the politicians are just doing their jobs . :

Sorry way to hard to resist . Inside joke friends .

Of course I condemn any attempts to constrain the growth of bawdy houses especially ones containing those darling Asian girls .

 

[Pompal 09.]

Bawdy House charges now a "serious offence"

Am I off base here, but sounds like it doesn't pertain to one girl in a hotel room?

 

[saleem]

Bawdy House charges now a "serious offence"

It's a grey area, but if she rents it it is easier to pursue a bawdy house charge. If you rent it, it is tougher.

But overall bawdy house convictions just got easier to pursue.

 

[ExeneC]

Bawdy House charges now a "serious offence"

.

Well now that you have been crowned Miss Canada what are you going to do for peace in the world .

I would promote registered bawdy houses .

How will that help ?

Silly , that's how you make sure the world gets a piece and show what a great country Canada is .

 

[Chiliegirl]

Bawdy House charges now a "serious offence"

still waiting for the Ontario court decision

http://www.canada.com/news/workers+launch+challenge+prostitution+laws/2072437/story.html

 

[Richard]

Bawdy House charges now a "serious offence"

Crazy. Will have to read this online. They really just made it easier to bust mp's and owners actually.

 

[Pompal 09.]

Bawdy House charges now a "serious offence"

http://www.canlii.org/en/ca/laws/stat/rsc-1985-c-c-46/latest/rsc-1985-c-c-46.html



This is a big deal for SPs, and for clients as well - the "found in" clause means that a client who gets caught during a raid can be charged with supporting a criminal organization, and the SP who lives there would be considered a member of said criminal organization! :aww:

As before, our fight for decriminalization of prostitution laws continues, and SPOC strongly opposes the decision to lump bawdy-houses in with other elements of organized crime.

Justice Susan Himel recently informed us to expect her decision by September 30. However, I've heard gossip saying that date might be pushed back (hopefully because she intends to rewrite some or all of the laws being challenged). I don't know if she will address this particular issue in her decision, but since we fully expect the decision to be appealed, I think it will be an issue when we reach the Ontario Court of Appeal (or the Supreme Court, if the OCA lets us leapfrog straight to the SCC... no matter what, we're going all the way to the top with this one!).

Regardless, we remain dedicated to the complete decriminalization (instead of legalization) of sex work, and I'll post updates of our legal battle as things develop. Until then, your support, as always, is greatly appreciated. :great:

Sex Professionals Of Canada (SPOC)
www.spoc.ca

 

[Green Man]

Bawdy House charges now a "serious offence"

Keep up the good fight Nikki, all the power to you!

 

[Mamta]

Bawdy House charges now a "serious offence"

Agreed.

One question Nikki, if I may. How interested are the police in looking at sites like massageplanet and T$#B to track down the SPs and their locations. I was under the impression that the agencies and independents were mostly ignored by the cops because the activity was orderly and didn't cause any trouble for them. It was only when the neighbours in the condo buildings complained that there might be trouble or if some doorman didn't think he was being tipped enough that he might do some damage.

If the police become more active in making arrests it's going to be harder for the activity to continue isn't it? Clients will be frightened away, landlords reluctant to rent to SPs or agencies and everyone becomes more vulnerable to shakedowns and arrest. Do you see this escalating or do you think the status quo will likely persist?

 

[misohott.]

Bawdy House charges now a "serious offence"

*please note - this is my own opinion, I'm not speaking on behalf of SPOC here*



I have it on good authority that the cops are indeed monitoring these sites, as well as others. However, their primary interest is stopping underage prostitution, and they really don't care about indy girls or their clients, unless they're searching for someone who has assaulted a sex worker.

In order to lay a bawdy-house charge, there needs to be an investigation, usually involving surveillance of the person/place in question, followed by a sting operation. This requires considerable time and resources, and it's very rare for them to launch an investigation without being prompted. If they have reports of underage girls, gratuitous drug use, complaints from neighbours, etc, that would be sufficient cause to launch an investigation. But beyond that, they probably don't have time for it.



I suspect there might be a few high-profile, highly-publicized raids in the coming weeks/months, likely targeting the body rub parlours. Their goal will be to uncover cases of human trafficking to justify the passage of this law. The cops will do their dog-and-pony show, the media will laud their success in fighting human trafficking, and after the lights go out, things will return to normal, just as they were before.

The cops know full well that the Chinese and Russian mafia are heavily involved in prostitution, and my guess is that they'll be the primary targets. However, that doesn't mean they won't do a crackdown on other sex workers, simply as a show of force. I hope that's not the case, but I really have no idea what they're thinking over at 40 College St.

 

[purplegirl31671]

Bawdy House charges now a "serious offence"

I hope you're right Nikki.

In general the number of charges goes up when the law is changed so it is easier to charge and/or convict.

Easy pickings for the stats, and to your point they have to show how important the change was.

 

[Danny K]

Bawdy House charges now a "serious offence"

Are you sure it refers to that or is it just defining "keeping a bawdy house " as a serious offense under the organized crime legislation as the article states.

Presumeably a "one woman show" does not qualify as organized crime. Hard to be against mafia style bawdy houses not being shut down as this is where you are more likely to see underage prostitution and "human trafficing".

Given that the opposition supports the idea and is only against the political opportunism one has to think that this really is an anti-organized crime and not anti-indpendent business woman legislation.

Hard to tell from a newspaper report in any event.

 

[Mohawk]

Bawdy House charges now a "serious offence"

I have no problem with the Chinese and Russian mafia being targets. I would like to know more about the mechanics of the new provisions and how they are specifically tageting organizes crime and wether they can be used by municipal and provincial police against other sex workers.

I suspect that nothing will change for the individual sex workers and judges will treat them the same as before.

 

[Ladeedaa.]

Bawdy House charges now a "serious offence"

I hope you are right. But i seem to read more of "popcorn pimps" getting busted at bus terminals and strip clubs then organized crime syndicates. I am sure that when they do make a bust or two they will make it "look" like they took out the heads of organized crime. Which may very well be a SP sharing rooms in a residence and a couple of johns there just having a good time. :arf:

 

[John Conrad]

Bawdy House charges now a "serious offence"

While I'm sure you are right, the law doesn't make that distinction --- if the authorities get interested in the gal in the hotel room then it might be a problem for the gal.

While the longer jail sentences and the words Organised Crime Groups draw a great deal of attention, the real meat of this legislation is how easy it will be for LE to wire tap phone calls and build criminal cases against anyone involved in prostitution.

Things just got a lot easier for LE and I would be concerned about discussions on the phone or computor that might be of interest to LE.

kf

 

[Pompal 09.]

Bawdy House charges now a "serious offence"

I would suggest that the key item for the ladies to be aware of is the seizure and forfeiture of all of their money and assets.

Everything you own will be considered proceeds of crime, seized, and forfeited to the government. All bank accounts, cars, condos etc are all taken.

In Ontario that can be done by the Attorney General's office as a civil proceeding not a criminal one. You do not even have to be charged with any criminal offence, let alone found guilty, it simply requires that on a balance of probabilities (as opposed to beyond a reasonable doubt) you were part of the criminal organization.

On the other hand there are some true pieces of scum that are involved in human trafficking and what amounts to modern day slavery. If the police were to focus these powers to go after the real bad guys that would be fine. A recent raid by the York regional police is a good case in point were numerous young girls were found to have been brought to Canada as nannies and then forced into prostitution.

But at some point, these laws will be applied to people way down the food chain of criminal activity simply because it is the easy way out for the investigating officer.

The proverbial hammer to kill a fly.

I would imagine that the independent ladies would be less likely to be police targets, but the outcall agencies that have traditionally used that mantra "outcalls are legal in Canada" may find themselves as the subject of new scrutiny.

Low key, no drama, no unwanted attention should be the new watch words.

 

[Cris]

I agree.


The politicians and LE like to sell expanded power based on fears in the general population; scary organized crime, repeat offenders of vicious crimes, etc. But the execution tends to be different.


In the so called “war on drugs” it borders on humorous (in a sick sort of way) the way we are told laws need to be changed, often personal rights and freedoms eroded for the greater good of fighting organized crime. They will then point to the extreme violence of the major drug operation; the cartels, Russian organized crime rings, etc. as the “need”. And we can see the violence on the news; with drug wars in Mexico, some South American countries, and the extreme violence brought on by gang turf wars elsewhere. These are big time, big dollar, well armed, and dangerous groups that deal in the “hard” drugs; heroin, cocaine, etc.
But how often do you see them take down the groups that were used to justify the expanded power? I would say very rarely. They use the new powers to make easy busts; small to mid-size marijuana operators, mules at the border, etc. Much easier and way less dangerous than taking on gangs with military weaponry and no aversion to using it.


Time will tell, but my prediction is that the new laws regarding bawdy houses will impact the "legitimate" in-calls much more than organized crime involved in sex slavery.