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Street prostitution is a form of prostitution in which a prostitute solicitation customers from a public place, most commonly a street, while waiting at street corners or walking alongside a street, but also other public places such as parks, benches, etc. The street prostitute is often dressed in a provocative manner. The sex act may be performed in the customer's car, in a nearby secluded street location, or at the prostitute's residence or in a rented motel room.
It is estimated that only 10-20 percent of sex workers are working on the streets; however, it is also estimated that 90 percent of the arrests of prostitutes are of street workers.
In some jurisdictions where prostitution itself is legal, such as in the United Kingdom, street prostitution has been made illegal.S. 1(1) of the Street Offences Act 1959 as amended by section 16 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009
Some jurisdictions also outlaw kerb crawler, slowly driving around with the intent to procure the services of a prostitute.
In Australia, in New South Wales it is legal to solicit on the streets, except in some areas (such as near schools).. The other Australia states and territories prohibit street solicitation,. although some of these jurisdictions allow licensed brothels..
Street prostitution is legal in New Zealand. In Germany it is allowed too, but cities can restrict it to certain areas or hours (regulations vary widely from place to place).
In the United States, street prostitution is illegal in all 50 states; 49 of the states outlaw all forms of prostitution. Nevada allows licensed brothels, but only in some rural areas, not in the major metropolitan areas (only eight counties have active brothels and prostitution outside these brothels is illegal throughout the state).
In four towns in the Netherlands, a special zone ( tippelzone) is designated for legal street prostitution. The zone is often in a business park to avoid inconvenience for residents and can include a sex drive-in (afwerkplek).(18 August 2008). Onderzoek naar ruimere afwerkplek, Algemeen Dagblad (in Dutch) (article states prostitutes are reporting that the stalls in the Utrecht facility are too small for some luxury cars and SUVs, as the facility has remained mostly unchanged since its construction in 1986) In most of the zones, the prostitutes need a licence.
The World Health Organization reported that a study in Bangladesh found that between 50% and 60% of street-based prostitutes had been raped by men in uniform, and between 40% and 50% had been raped by local clients.
Melissa Farley's study of 854 prostitutes in nine countries—Canada, Colombia, Germany, Mexico, South Africa, Thailand, Turkey, the United States, and Zambia—found that 95% of prostitutes had been physically assaulted, and 75% had been raped. 89% of the women interviewed stated that they wanted to leave prostitution. However, the methodology and neutrality of Farley's studies has been criticised by other academics such as Ronald Weitzer. Pdf. Weitzer has also said that Farley's findings are heavily influenced by radical feminist ideology.Weitzer, R. "Flawed theory and method in studies of prostitution" (above-cited);
In a 2008 study of Chicago street prostitutes, economists Steven D. Levitt and Sudhir Alladi Venkatesh found that women working without pimps work for an average hourly rate of about $25, and those working with pimps make 50% more. This is roughly four times the wage of other jobs available to them. Prostitutes are arrested once for every 450 encounters and every 10th arrest results in jail time.
In 2004, a study in the UK showed that up to 95% of women in street prostitution were problematic drug users, including around 78% heroin users and rising numbers of crack cocaine addicts.
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