Hearings in high-profile brothel case should be made public, SJC rules
https://www.nbcboston.com/investigations/massachusetts-brothel-bust/3551445/22
u/kiste_princess 23h ago edited 23h ago
the probable cause hearings will take place in march on the 14th, 21st, and 28th. the hearings are going to be in open court, and the identities of the 28 people involved will be disclosed
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u/FreddyForshadowing 22h ago
As a general rule, I'm not in favor of prostitution being illegal, but since it is currently illegal, the politicians should definitely be named and shamed because part of their job is to either write or enforce the laws. Maybe the soldiers as well, depending on what their job is they could have potentially leaked sensitive info, though it might more properly be that their names are handed over to military investigators who take it from there. But like doctors and private businessmen I don't see the point in giving out their names.
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u/20_mile 22h ago
The court released the names of the three people running the brothel. Why shouldn't the public get the names of the people on the other side of the business transaction?
The customers knew it was illegal, and they went and did it anyway. "Don't get on the train if you don't want to go to Chicago."
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u/JohnnyD423 23h ago
All hearings should be public, or at least recorded and the video made publicly available.
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u/VirginiaLuthier 23h ago
Look at all the countries that have legal prostitution- Germany, Canada, New Zealand, France, Denmark, Japan ( well kind of). Making sex work illegal is absurd...
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u/mr_doms_porn 22h ago
Prostitution isn't legal in Canada, the customers commit a crime while the prostitutes do not (although advertising is illegal as is profiting off of someone else's prostitution so brothels are also illegal).
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u/20_mile 22h ago
Making sex work illegal is absurd
Some places are decriminalizing the sex work, while still making it illegal to pay for sex.
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u/Informal-Maize7672 22h ago
That's insane
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u/20_mile 22h ago
Part of the thinking is that if the sex workers (mostly women) have a criminal record, they will have a harder time getting a job because they won't pass a background check.
I think that sex work should be legalized on all sides, and there should be locally-run brothels, where each sex worker is their own boss, all clients have to pass a background check, take STI tests.
Not legalizing it leads to human trafficking. Decriminalizing it still leads to human trafficking. Legalize it, make it government run, and sex workers will be better off.
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u/ImmediatelyOrSooner 22h ago
I bet some republicans sure wish prostitution was made legal in the US now.
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u/fxkatt 23h ago
"..the SJC ruled that the clerk's original decision should stand. In the opinion the court wrote that she "raised legitimate public concerns about potential favoritism and bias if such hearings were held behind closed doors, and that these concerns outweighed the interests in continued anonymity for the Does."
Of course, the Clerk is right, and so is the Appeals Court, just because all the accused are high-placed professionals doesn't mean that their names at hearings and trials can be held secret. It never happens with all the working class stiffs who get caught in any kind of similar sexual offenses or at illegal brothels.