'Hey! Isn't that Dad up on that billboard?'
 

(gg)

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - People who solicit
prostitutes in Oakland, California, could find their
faces plastered on billboards under a new shaming
program that one civil rights group calls bad public
policy.

The city of 400,000 across the bay from San Francisco
started putting up billboards on Wednesday showing men
arrested for soliciting sex. Other signs invite
prostitutes to quit by calling a help line.

"This idea came out of just thinking about new ideas,
doing something to deal with this increasing problem,
especially with the exploitation of underage women,"
said Oakland City Council President Ignacio De La
Fuente, who champions the approach.

The photos on the billboards were partially blurred so
the men are not easily identifiable. But in the future
photos might be displayed unaltered, an aide to De La
Fuente said.

Critics say the technique -- which De La Fuente said
has been used in Texas -- recalls medieval public
humiliations.

"It doesn't seem to us to be appropriate for Oakland
to be using shaming as an additional and extrajudicial
punishment to single out this group of offenders,"
said Alan Schlosser, legal director of the
American Civil Liberties Union for Northern
California. "We don't think this is good public
policy."

Some newspapers have long printed the names of those
soliciting sex for money, and courts have backed
punishments that include shaming. Last year a U.S.
federal appeals court allowed a punishment in which a
mail thief had to wear a signboard telling of his
crime.

This is an outrage!!!!!


What's next, making them wear a sandwich board? :D

Certainly the scarlet letter will be next...

Are the pictures of the prostitutes also shown ...



... along with their phone numbers? :rolleyes2

I can see something like this happening somewhere else,but Oakland California? This type of news prompted me to renew my ACLU membership.

Lil, what's your source on this? This seems absolutely unbelieveable. No way in hell the ACLU will ever let that happen.

I sent it to her-I tend to peruse the weird news sites on a regular basis, send her a lot of the sex-related items.


I got this one from yahoo on-line news: ultimately, they use Reuters. IOW, as a story, it's pretty legit.



As an action,... :bsflag:

So it's honestly a legit story? That is what we down here in the Southland like to refer to as HORSESHIT! What a re-damned-diculous idea.

P.S. gekko - I didn't mean to question your credibility, I wanted to know the actual newspaper source. And i'd say Reuters is pretty reliable.
;)

Another reliable source for these kind of stories of steewpid people with easy access to OUR TAX $$$$ is DAZE READER {sex news blog}

Never got the feeling you were. But , you wanna question the intelligence of the legislators in that part of the country? I'm with you there.

Honey, I question the intelligence of legislators and leaders in all parts of the country. Especially the one at the top....

Little late now sorry...my source was gekkogecko :p or as I like to call him....DeepThroat

Lilith, is that a deep throat, or just a garden variety throat pouch?

What happened to the concept of cruel and unusual punishment?

I drive through Oakland daily. I am waiting for the first billboard to go up.....

Hey, the guys at my workplace would cheer him on.

And yes...everyone else in this city (who has any brains) thinks this is a stupid law. I've heard rumors that prosecutors will drag their feet on this one.

Waste of money.