But beyond the sound bites and hyperbole of Proposition 35 resides a poorly written law that further criminalizes and discriminates against sex workers and their consensual adult clients.
The importance of the upcoming November 6 election cannot be overstated. Beyond defeating the Republicans War on Women, maintaining the Affordable Care Act and resuscitating a broken economy, brought on by eight years of Bush’s laissez faire policies, California residents will vote on thirteen propositions. Two of them address criminal justice, Prop 34 “End the Death Penalty” and Prop 36, repeal of the “Three Strikes” law of 1994. Both propositions seek to correct bad laws that are unjust, as well as fiscally exacting on the state. The “Three Strikes” law, in its attempt to be tough on crime, instead gives life sentences to non-violent offenders. To date there are 8,800 prisoners currently serving life terms for a third felony conviction—for some, petty theft or drug possession resulted in a life sentence. The “Three Strikes” law was poorly conceived, written, and implemented, just as Proposition 35, the Prohibition on Human Trafficking and Sex Slavery or Californians Against Sexual Exploitation (CASE ACT) is. Continue reading “Proposition 35: Prohibition on Human Trafficking and Sex Slavery—Criminalizes the Sex Worker and not the Trafficker, By Cynthia Garrity-Bond”
Feminism and Religion 