Judges are trying to decide whether a fine of $5000 for buying a person for sex is too harsh. If you put the person who’s been kidnapped, enslaved, beaten, raped and forced to sell herself so she can give the money to another person on a scale and then put $5000 on the other side of that scale, how would that weigh out? 
So, you’re the man who buys sex from someone underage, trafficked, and enslaved; and you think you should be left alone? But the legislators pass a bill saying not only is minor sex trafficking against the law, but also, anyone who does this will be fined. So, you are warned ahead of time.
But you do it, anyway–claiming later that “I really didn’t know anything about it. Trafficked?? I thought this 14-year-old was really eighteen and really into me and was going to buy a Princess dress with the money I gave her.” Sure. Now the legislators said if you break this particular law, there’s a fine you have to pay. No, they’re not going to slap you in jail–too bad–they’re just going to fine you.
Now here’s the unbelievable part–some judge might rule that this is cruel and unusual punishment to you. No, really. To you! Yeah, you get off. And the 14-year-old? She’s still in prison–the one of being used and enslaved and controlled for years, the one she so desperately needs help to climb out of.
Writing for God, Fighting Human Trafficking 
Reblogged this on Writing for God, Fighting Human Trafficking and commented:
Went to the Task Force meeting for Tampa Bay yesterday, and this is still viable. We still have judges fighting this and defense lawyers. Why, I wonder?
Thoughts from a retired Certified Financial Planner: Honorable Judges, please do not fear assessment of the $5,000 fine for soliciting a prostitute. If you could look at the spending habits and/or debt accumulation habits of a person who pays for sex, you would most often find that those who do not have the $5,000 in hand, have had and spent or went into debt for that amount many times over and left unassessed – this amount will slip through the fingers of the perpetrator many more times. In addition to the funds spent for necessities, there will be funds spent for habitual cravings – excesses and/or obsessions – sex, drugs, alcohol, cars, motorcycles, lottery drawings and other gambling, unnecessarily expensive vacations or “dates”, excessively expensive clothes, food, or other things that they hope to salve their cravings, and the list goes on.
Perpetrators need to be brought to a halt in their quest to satisfy their cravings and a hefty fine along with a down-to-earth-lesson – taught by a survivor of sex trafficking, explaining of what prostitution does to the physical bodies, lives, minds, hearts, souls of the victims – can and in most cases does turn the life of these perpetrators around. Buying sex is something many men and some women need to do to prove to something to their peers. These lessons can be taught by survivors on a more casual basis, perhaps in courthouse conference rooms at first, then when our laws become more refined and exact, these “John School” sessions can become more inclusive, exact, and effective.
Those lessons taught by survivors in “John Schools” across the nation have so cleanly and thoroughly hit their mark that the recidivism rate is only 1% and 3%. This would make a huge difference – it would go a long way toward stopping commercial sex trafficking.
To explore this a bit further; first we need to have every law enforcement personnel trained by a survivor so that they know the whole story; so they know that no little girl (or little boy) grows up wanting to be a prostitute. When a vulnerable person of any age is coerced into prostitution, it does such deep harm that the average law enforcement officer cannot understand unless they hear this from a survivor’s perspective.
I implore you; assess the $5,000 fines, we will fight to get law enforcement properly trained and get John Schools legalized and up and running. Together we can create cultural change. If we can stop this pandemic demand, the parent of a young girl (or boy) will no longer have to be in constant fear of their child being abducted or coerced into prostitution or pornography; and victims will be treated as victims.
In short: Engage our Survivors as Educators to educate – Judges, Law Enforcement, the Public; arrest the “Johns”, assess the fines that will pay the for the John Schools and care for the victims/survivors. In Billy Graham’s Prayer for Our Nation, he said “We have lost or spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.” You Dear Honorable Judges can take great strides today to put our cultural values aright!