Free Daily Headlines :

  • COVID-19
  • Vaccine Info
  • Money
  • Politics
  • Education
  • Health
  • Justice
  • More
    • Environment
    • Economic Development
    • Gaming
    • Investigations
    • Social Services
    • TRANSPORTATION
  • Opinion
    • CT Viewpoints
    • CT Artpoints
DONATE
Reflecting Connecticut’s Reality.
    COVID-19
    Vaccine Info
    Money
    Politics
    Education
    Health
    Justice
    More
    Environment
    Economic Development
    Gaming
    Investigations
    Social Services
    TRANSPORTATION
    Opinion
    CT Viewpoints
    CT Artpoints

LET�S GET SOCIAL

Show your love for great stories and out standing journalism

Should a publisher be criminally liable for prostitution ads?

  • by Mark Pazniokas
  • March 19, 2012
  • View as "Clean Read" "Exit Clean Read"

A legislator who used to be a cop is trying to force the Hartford Advocate and other alternative papers to ban ads for the sex trade by making publishers criminally liable if an ad leads to an encounter with an underage prostitute.

The constitutionality of such legislation is untested, with a crusading anti-prostitution author, Raymond Bechard, calling it “cutting edge” at a news conference Monday.

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, the former attorney general, spoke in support at the news conference, but he left without taking questions about the bill promoted by Rep. Jeffrey Berger, D-Waterbury, a retired police officer. As attorney general, Blumenthal once sued Bechard over his handling of charitable funds.

[See sidebar: Sen. Blumenthal, remember Mr. Bechard?]

Bechard Katell Berger

L to R, Raymond Bechard, Katell, Jeff Berger.

“Anyone who says it’s a victimless crime is just plain wrong,” Blumenthal said. “It is a scourge that exploits and ruins lives of countless individuals. And we need to do everything possible to stop it.”

Blumenthal was one of dozens of attorneys general who went after Craiglist, the online advertising site that became a portal to prostitution, including the exploitation of underage girls, according to federal authorities.

In 2010, a story in the New York Times projected that Craiglist would make $36 million selling sex.

Like the campaign against Craigslist, which closed its adult section and promises greater monitoring, the Connecticut legislation is designed to bring public pressure on publications that take sex ads.

Thinly disguised prostitution is advertised in the Advocate papers, a chain of alternative weeklies owned by New Mass Media, a subsidiary of the state’s largest daily, the Hartford Courant.

An ad from “Loveable Ladies” this week promises service that is “Prompt, Clean & Discreet, 24/7.” The ladies also say they are “ALWAYS HIRING!” “Spank Goddess” offers “a variety of fantasy, medical and sensual services,” major credit cards accepted.

Berger, who was a Waterbury police officer for 20 years, was the only state legislator at the news conference.

He said the impetus for the bill came from Bechard, who wrote a book about a sex trafficking case in Connecticut involving 14-year-old and 16-year-old prostitutes advertised in the Hartford Advocate. The case was the subject of a feature in Vanity Fair that Bechard says he prompted.

Amann set up a meeting, where Bechard briefed Berger and Rep. Gerald M. Fox, D-Stamford, the co-chairman of the Judiciary Committee, about the ads.

“I was, quite frankly, beyond shocked,” Berger said.

Fox referred to the measure as the “Amann bill.”

Bechard says he has tried without success to discuss the ads with Richard J. Graziano, the publisher of The Courant.

Graziano did not return a call for comment, but a spokeswoman, Jennifer Humes, said the company “strongly supports the efforts of the legislature’s Judiciary Committee to combat the sexual exploitation of minors in newspaper print advertisements.”

She said the bill as written “is problematic due to concerns of constitutionality, enforcement and the inability of newspaper publishers to comply.”

Chris VanDeHoef, a lobbyist for the Connecticut Daily Newspaper Association, said the ads were protected under the First Amendment and a provision in the bill requiring newspapers to verify the ages of advertised “escorts” was unworkable.

The news conference Monday was hosted by James Amann, the former House speaker who now works as a lobbyist and entertainment promoter. He said he was unpaid for his advocacy of the anti-prostitution bill, but may work with Bechard on a documentary movie.

Bechard was accompanied by a woman who identified herself as a former prostitute advertised on Craiglist. She declined to give her full name, but identified herself as “Katell” from Newington in written testimony submitted to the Judiciary Committee, which is hold a public hearing on the bill Monday.

She said she broke free of her pimp after an undercover Hartford police officer arrested her and a judge sent her to a halfway house.

“I am a victim of human trafficking,” she said. “What happened to me, how it happened, is not unique.”

Katell said the advertising for young prostitutes, whom she said are routinely drugged and abused, is in plain sight, while the suffering of the girls is hidden.

“No one sees what our pimps do to us, how they give us drugs to keep us awake for days, feed us just enough to keep us skinny and looking young,” she said.

Sign up for CT Mirror's free daily news summary.

Free to Read. Not Free to Produce.

The Connecticut Mirror is a nonprofit newsroom. 90% of our revenue comes from people like you. If you value our reporting please consider making a donation. You'll enjoy reading CT Mirror even more knowing you helped make it happen.

YES, I'LL DONATE TODAY

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Pazniokas

SEE WHAT READERS SAID

RELATED STORIES
AG says COVID showed Connecticut that it needs a tougher price-gouging law
by Mark Pazniokas

Connecticut's attorney general said the state's price-gouging law was no match for COVID profiteers

House Democratic leaders want to repeal CT’s ‘poverty tax’
by Keith M. Phaneuf

House Democratic leaders want to effectively end Connecticut’s longstanding practice of placing liens on the homes of former welfare recipients.

Is the state’s vaccine rollout leaving behind Black and Latino residents?
by Jacqueline Rabe Thomas, Kasturi Pananjady and Jenna Carlesso

Rolling out the COVID vaccine to older residents first means it's more likely to go to white residents first.

Education is the cornerstone of democracy
by John J. Petillo

The events of January 6 represent an inflection point for our democracy and, in truth, for our concept of civil society. Much has already been written about the political and cultural tides that swept our nation toward these events —and a real understanding of their significance will not be possible for some time, in part because the reactions and responses to these events are still unfolding as I write.

A rebuttal to ‘A call to save arms’
by Tyler David Gavitt

A response to "A call to save arms: is vaccination really the solution?" published January 25: The aforementioned article, written by Genevieve Diamant, stands to do potentially significant damage to the efforts by the citizens and government of the State of Connecticut to bring under control the COVID-19 pandemic.

Support Our Work

Show your love for great stories and outstanding journalism.

$
Select One
  • Monthly
  • Yearly
  • Once
Artpoint painter
CT ViewpointsCT Artpoints
Opinion Education is the cornerstone of democracy
by John J. Petillo

The events of January 6 represent an inflection point for our democracy and, in truth, for our concept of civil society. Much has already been written about the political and cultural tides that swept our nation toward these events —and a real understanding of their significance will not be possible for some time, in part because the reactions and responses to these events are still unfolding as I write.

Opinion A rebuttal to ‘A call to save arms’
by Tyler David Gavitt

A response to "A call to save arms: is vaccination really the solution?" published January 25: The aforementioned article, written by Genevieve Diamant, stands to do potentially significant damage to the efforts by the citizens and government of the State of Connecticut to bring under control the COVID-19 pandemic.

Opinion The Holocaust, history and today’s politics
by Avinoam Patt and Laura Hilton

On January 6 the world watched as domestic terrorists stormed the U.S. Capitol building in Washington, DC.  The pictures seared into our memories of this day are replete with symbols of hatred, racism, and extremism: The Confederate battle flag, the white power hand gesture, and the gallows erected near the Capitol reflecting pool. What many may not have noticed within this sea of white supremacy was the prominence of anti-Semitic images.

Opinion Sticker shock
by Eric W. Kuhn

It would award a modest amount to families making less than $203k in the first year of the program, ramping up to as much as $1,800 in year four. On a sliding scale, the money would also go to families making up to $682,000 a year. Really? That's 8.7 times the median household income in America.

Artwork Grand guidance
by Anne:Gogh

In a world of systemic oppression aimed towards those of darker skintones – representation matters. We are more than our equity elusive environments, more than numbers in a prison and much more than victims of societal dispositions. This piece depicts a melanated young man draped in a cape ascending high above multiple forms of oppression. […]

Artwork Shea
by Anthony Valentine

Shea is a story about race and social inequalities that plague America. It is a narrative that prompts the question, “Do you know what it’s like to wake up in new skin?”

Artwork The Declaration of Human Rights
by Andres Chaparro

Through my artwork I strive to create an example of ideas that reflect my desire to raise social consciousness, and cultural awareness. Jazz music is the catalyst to all my work, and plays a major influence in each piece of work.”

Artwork ‘A thing of beauty. Destroy it forever’
by Richard DiCarlo | Derby

During times like these it’s often fun to revisit something familiar and approach things with a different slant. I have been taking some Pop culture and Art masterpieces and applying the vintage 1960’s and 70’s classic figures (Fisher Price, little people) to the make an amusing pieces. Here is my homage to Fisher -Price, Yellow […]

Twitter Feed
A Twitter List by CTMirror

Engage

  • Reflections Tickets & Sponsorships
  • Events
  • Donate
  • Newsletter Sign-Up
  • Submit to Viewpoints
  • Submit to ArtPoints
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Commenting Guidelines
  • Legal Notices
  • Contact Us

About

  • About CT Mirror
  • Announcements
  • Board
  • Staff
  • Sponsors and Funders
  • Donors
  • Friends of CT Mirror
  • History
  • Financial
  • Policies
  • Strategic Plan

Opportunity

  • Advertising and Sponsorship
  • Speaking Engagements
  • Use of Photography
  • Work for Us

Go Deeper

  • Steady Habits Podcast
  • Economic Indicator Dashboard
  • Five Things

The Connecticut News Project, Inc. 1049 Asylum Avenue, Hartford, CT 06105. Phone: 860-218-6380

© Copyright 2021, The Connecticut News Project. All Rights Reserved. Website by Web Publisher PRO