Men busted for patronizing prostitutes in Brooklyn get the choice of a court hearing and possible jail time — or paying $350 to sit through five hours of class time featuring lectures from an HIV-positive hooker and stern assistant district attorneys as well as graphic slides of diseased genitalia.
Out of 3,079 johns who have taken the class, only a bone-headed 26 — fewer than 1 percent — have ever been collared again for the same crime.
The Brooklyn class has been so successful that other cities, such as Philadelphia, are considering using it as a model for their own programs.
Kirsten Heine, a prosecutor in Philadelphia, recently drove to Downtown Brooklyn to sit in on a class and take notes. She said the strongest speech came from an HIV-positive former prostitute who said she kept working the streets after her diagnosis.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brook...z1uC7AAsay
Out of 3,079 johns who have taken the class, only a bone-headed 26 — fewer than 1 percent — have ever been collared again for the same crime.
The Brooklyn class has been so successful that other cities, such as Philadelphia, are considering using it as a model for their own programs.
Kirsten Heine, a prosecutor in Philadelphia, recently drove to Downtown Brooklyn to sit in on a class and take notes. She said the strongest speech came from an HIV-positive former prostitute who said she kept working the streets after her diagnosis.
Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/brook...z1uC7AAsay