Abstract
This exploratory study examines the effectiveness of SAFE Court, a prostitution problem-solving court located in Harris County, Texas (Houston). During a two-year period, 344 participants were screened for SAFE Court eligibility. Of these, 230 individuals refused participation, 68 entered SAFE Court, and 46 entered community supervision. These three groups were compared on recidivism, as measured by rearrest. Results indicate that community supervision participants recidivated less than participants who refused SAFE Court, but SAFE Court participants did not differ from community supervision participants or the SAFE Court refusal group. Prior arrest served as the strongest predictor of recidivism.
Note
Notes
1 There is an ongoing debate in the field concerning whether all aspects of prostitution (the purchase and sale of sex) should be decriminalized, or the sale of sex should be decriminalized but buyers should be prosecuted. We do not venture an opinion one way or other in the limited space provided here. Instead, we simply note that, at a minimum, both approaches advocate for decriminalizing the sale of sex.