Is There Justice in Johns Schools? by Dr. Lederer

Is There Justice in John Schools?

Laura J. Lederer, J.D.

Like drug trafficking, human trafficking is a business involving a triangle of activity: supply, demand, and distribution.  Unlike drug trafficking, however, there is little, if any, focus on the demand side of the human trafficking business. While some men who buy sex are unaware of the harm to themselves, their families, their communities, and the women trapped in prostitution, far more are crass consumers in the sex industry seemingly without regard for the consequences.  A renewed and vigorous focus on the men who fuel the market for commercial sex is imperative.  In the feminist movement, and in the broader anti-trafficking movement, the question has become:  What is the most effective way to focus on the demand side of the business of trafficking, especially sex trafficking?

Before the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000, and for several years after its passage, the focus was on the victims of human trafficking, and rightly so.  As Congress debated the passage of the TVPA (1998 – 2000) they heard the testimony of dozens of victims – young women and girls who had been physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually devastated by the sexual slavery in which they were trapped.  The law, which is called the Trafficking Victims Protection Act had key clauses that focused on the rescue, rehabilitation, restoration, and reintegration of victims into mainstream society.  This work is critical and must continue.  Yet, two years after the passage of the law, a number of experts who worked on it became convinced that our energies to rescue victims would be misplaced if we did not more clearly understand the business of human trafficking.

During the time I spent in the U.S. Department of State, where I was Senior Advisor on Trafficking in Persons in the Office for Global Affairs, I was responsible for assisting the Under Secretary for Democracy and Global Affairs in shaping USG programs and policies that would address human trafficking. I developed a white paper for the Under Secretary on the economics of human trafficking.  One of the key components of the paper was a model that demonstrated that the law, law enforcement, and victim-centered approach mandated in the TVPA left out a key aspect of the work:  the demand that drives the market for both sex trafficking and labor trafficking.

By the time I left the State Department, several colleagues were talking and writing about the demand, but no one had designed a comprehensive demand reduction strategy with suggestions for concrete programs that could be put in place to address demand.   One my first efforts upon leaving USG and was titled, “The Five S’s of Demand.”  It built on the USG 3Ps framework  of Prevention, Prosecution, and Protection and suggested a strategy for addressing the demand side of human trafficking.  It is beyond the scope of this paper to examine all 5 S’s.  Instead I want to look at one particular S:  Second Chance Schools and discuss the on-going debate about the effectiveness of such schools.

Some background:  Second Chance Schools refer to The First Offender Prostitution Programs (FOPP), more commonly and colloquially known as “Johns Schools.”  They were developed and perfected by the late Norma Hotaling.[1]  A survivor of prostitution, Norma founded the organization SAGE (Standing Against Global Exploitation) in 1992.  SAGE was a resource, advocacy, and counseling center for those trafficked into or trapped in prostitution.  In 1995, she partnered with the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office to create a first-of-its-kind class for men caught soliciting for prostitution.[2]   Though there are variations in the programs, essentially FOPP allows the court to drop charges for first offenders of adult prostitution if they pay a $1,000 fine and participate in an eight-hour course taught by sex trafficking-experts, prosecutors, police, neighborhood activists, and health educators who discuss the harm of prostitution.  Participants also hear from victims of trafficking; examine their own motivations for buying sex; and learn about the nature and scope of human trafficking.  The program was lauded in a 2008 U.S. Department of Justice study, which concluded that men who attended San Francisco’s “john school” were less likely to be rearrested for soliciting than men who did not attend such a program.[3]

It is unclear how many men have been through the FOPP programs in the United States over the past fifteen years.  The number is in the tens of thousands (over 7,000 men have attended the San Francisco Johns School) but to date there has never been a study that of the achievements of all the FOPPs.  Last year, Global Centurion conducted a brief survey of 38 Johns Schools in the United States, and 6 schools in Canada to obtain information about the nature and scope of the program offerings.  Here are some of the key findings from our survey:

• Of 39 Johns Schools surveyed most had units on the legal, health, societal, community, and personal safety consequences of prostitution;
• All but four had a component on the victimization of women and children in prostitution;
• A few programs consist of psychotherapy sessions only;
• One of the programs had only a health component (i.e., warning men about HIV/AIDS, STDs, and other serious communicable diseases;
• 12 schools charge between $250 and $500 per class; 7 schools three schools charge $60 – $800; Only 4 schools charge $1,000 or more for the class;
• Restorative justice is an important aspect of the class for at least 10 schools: in these programs, money from the johns’ fees go directly to the victim services programs.

For many of the programs, building a Johns School that supports the work with victims is critical.  Kristy Childs, Director of Veronica’s Voice, says that one of the most important aspects of the Johns School in Kansas City is the fact that it has a restorative justice element. “The fact that the fees from the Johns School go directly into victim services, including our street outreach to women and our drop in program is hugely important factor in our Johns School design.” She said.  For SAGE, in San Francisco, fees are shared with the D.A’s office and the SF Police Department.  Even so, if police arrest men, SAGE can pull in several hundred thousand dollars from The Johns School, dollars that help keep their program for women running.
The biggest debate is about whether the Johns School are effective programs for deterring men from the sex industry.  Melissa Farley, of the Prostitution Research & Education Group says that Johns Schools are not the solution to the problem.  She believes that the growing use of “john schools” that offer educational programs and counseling as an alternative to sentencing for first offenders is a mistake.  In a recent study Farley conducted, she found that johns themselves viewed jail as a far more powerful deterrent to recidivism, and the strongest deterrent of all was the threat of being registered as a sex offender.[4]

A recent study by the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE)  conducted among johns in Chicago, Illinois, seems to concur.  It found that 41 percent of men said John School would deter them from buying sex, compared with 92 percent who said being placed on a sex offender registry would scare them from re-offending.[5]

And yet a half dozen other surveys and studies seem to indicate that Johns School can have a lasting positive effect.  The Brooklyn D.A.’s office reported a recidivism rate of .005% (twelve out of 2218 men) since the Johns School was put in place.  In Cincinnati, Ohio and Columbus Ohio, the recidivism rate is 0 since the inception of the Johns School.   In Marion County, Indiana 2% (8 out of 400 men) of the graduates of their diversion program have been rearrested (over a period of nine years).  In Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, a recidivism rate of .004% (2 out of 500 men) has been reported since 2008. Breaking Free in Minneapolis Minnesota area reports a recidivism rate of .004% (3 out of 700 men as of 2009).  SAGE reports a recidivism rate of 1% (14 out of 1512 re-arrests).  Most of these studies are not scientifically significant: for one thing there is no control group.  Much more research is necessary to draw final conclusions about The Johns Schools.

The most significant information to come from these studies is the words of the men themselves.
One young man said, “I used to laugh at prostitutes. Now I see them as people with real feelings.” SAGE founder Norma Hotaling told me that one man emerged from Johns School saying “Why didn’t I have this when I was 17 – my whole life would have been different if I had known then what I know now.”  Another participant, a 37-year-old unemployed mental health counselor, said when his wife left him, he vowed never to get emotionally involved with another woman. Seeking out women in prostitution, he thought, was the perfect answer: no one would get hurt. “Now I realize it isn’t the solution. If they had put me in jail, I’d probably have gone back to it. It probably wouldn’t have changed anything. But now I have been exposed to that information. I’m transformed.” Justice in Johns Schools?  The evidence isn’t in yet, but it points in that direction.

 [1] The first concept of education of men involved in prostitution began in 1981 when Cindy Sikkema started running “John Groups” in Grand Rapids Michigan.  In 1988 Steve Sawyer of Minneapolis/St. Paul developed a counseling program for men who had been arrested for prostitution.  Norma Hotaling refined and enlarged the concept, engaging the City of San Francisco, the Mayor’s Office, the District Attorney, and others to help build and sustain the program.

[2] SAGE, First Offender Prostitution Program; http://www.sagesf.org/html/about_services_fopp.htm

[3] Final Report on the Evaluation of the First Offender Prostitution Program; Author: Michael Shively, Ph.D. ; Sarah Kuck Jalbert ; Ryan Kling ; William Rhodes, Ph.D. ; Peter Finn ;
Chris Flygare ; Laura Tierney ; Dana Hunt, Ph.D. ; David Squires ; Christina Dyous ; Kristin
Wheeler Document No.: 222451; Date Received: March 2008; Award Number: 2005-DD-BX-0037; Available on-line; U.S. Department of Justice, NCJRS.

[4] Prostitution Research and Education, “ Comparing Sex Buyers With Men Who Don’t Buy Sex,” August 2011, http://www.prostitutionresearch.com/

[5] “Deconstructing The Demand for Prostitution: Preliminary Insights From Interviews With Chicago Men Who Purchase Sex,” Rachel Durchslag and Samir Goswami, May 2008, http://caase.org/pdf/resources/17-deconstructing-the-demand-for-prostitution.pdf

About Laura Lederer
Laura Lederer is President of Global Centurion Foundation, an international organization  fighting human trafficking by focusing on demand.   Global Centurion assists communities, states, and governments in developing a comprehensive demand reduction strategy.  Visit www.globalcenturion.org  for more information and to see a global map of other hubs of demand for sex trafficking.