Prostitution Scandals in China by Elaine Jeffreys

Prostitution Scandals in China by Elaine Jeffreys

Author:Elaine Jeffreys [Jeffreys, Elaine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Gender Studies, Ethnic Studies, General, Women's Studies
ISBN: 9781136312595
Google: ADGAn5AMnKkC
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2012-06-14T04:42:17+00:00


As these criticisms suggest, the practice of regulating prostitution offenders according to the system of administrative sanctions created serious problems as police-led campaigns against prostitution were implemented throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, even though this practice was based in theory on a principle of leniency. Prior to the introduction of the PRC’s Public Security Administrative Punishments Law in March 2006 (Quanguo renda changwu weiyuanhui 2005), the legal control of first-party participants in the voluntary prostitution transaction was based on the ‘Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Administrative Penalties for Public Security’ (1986). The 1986 Regulations define first-party participants in the prostitution transaction as minor offenders who have committed an unlawful rather than a criminal act. In theory, this meant that first-time offenders would be released with a warning and possibly a fine, whereas repeat offenders would be detained for police-funded rehabilitative education. However, the ongoing implementation of campaigns against crime and illegality in the 1990s put pressure on the entire administrative system as the Chinese police used their authority not only to detain a wide range of offenders, but also to meet targets or quotas by side-stepping the more rigorous evidentiary and sentencing procedures required by the criminal justice system. Administrative reform centres subsequently became overcrowded and increasingly costly to run, which exacerbated the already poor conditions in such centres and encouraged the practice of releasing those apprehended as first-party participants in the prostitution transaction with a warning and punishment fine. In turn, the fining of minor prostitution offenders became a way for cash-strapped local police to generate revenue. Although Article 36 of the 1986 Regulations stipulates that all of the monies received from administrative punishment fines belong to the state treasury, and a 1997 ruling prohibits the use of quotas and the substitution of fines for detention, local police were able to retain a significant proportion of the income derived from the issuing of fines in practice (Biddulph 2007: 239).

The tendency for local policing authorities to treat the fining of minor prostitution offenders as an income-generating activity became particularly pronounced when a series of campaigns were launched in the late 1990s and early 2000s to enforce the 1999 ‘Regulations Concerning the Management of Public Places of Entertainment’ (Zhonghua renmin gongheguo guowuyuan 1999). The 1999 Entertainment Regulations reiterate stipulations outlined in the 1997 Criminal Law by forbidding all forms of commercial sexual activities in recreational enterprises, including the provision of ‘accompaniment/hostess’ services, which had become a known front for prostitution activities by the mid-1990s. To support this ban, the Entertainment Regulations aim to restrict the available pool and turn-over of labour within the hospitality and service industry by reinforcing the long-standing stipulation in China that all personnel must possess a residency permit, or a temporary work and residency permit, and hence be ‘known’ to the local police. The Entertainment Regulations also aim to control the existence of government corruption by stipulating that members of China’s public security forces and their families are not permitted to run recreational enterprises.



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