Prostitution policy rests with panel of judges

Kim Smith

Monday, Nov. 6, 2000 | 10:15 a.m.

The future of Clark County District Attorney Stewart Bell's prostitution policy is now in the hands of seven justices of the peace.

Chief Las Vegas Township Justice of the Peace Jennifer Togliatti plans to submit transcripts of a Friday hearing to her fellow judges so they can decide for themselves whether the policy is gender-biased.

Bell told his deputies in December to stop negotiating all prostitution cases except those involving first-time male offenders who decided to take a diversion class.

Defense attorneys, including Bill Terry, have objected to the policy, saying it is gender-biased and designed to keep women arrested for prostitution from obtaining work cards.

Bell and Terry argued their cases before Togliatti on Friday.

Togliatti told the attorneys that in order for Bell's policy to be found gender-biased, they would have to show that it is discriminatory in its effect and it was meant to discriminate.

Bell said the policy applies to both male and female prostitutes. If male prostitutes were given deals, the deputies violated the policy and he will send an e-mail to clarify his position.

The policy isn't meant to be discriminatory, but it does differentiate between those who buy and those who sell sex, Bell said.

However, the policy does not define male offenders as only those who buy sex.

It just so happens that most of the buyers of sex are men, Bell said, and there is a diversion program available for them, and most of the sellers of sex are women and there are no programs for them.

"The policy is reasonable and there is a rational basis for what we've done," Bell said.

Roxane Clark-Murphy, a clinical psychologist and coordinator of the first-offender male diversion program, said 874 people have been through the program since December 1997.

Of those, only one was a woman and only three reoffended, Clark-Murphy said.

No programs exist in Clark County for those who sell their bodies, because no funds are currently available, Clark-Murphy said. They are hoping, however, to obtain grants within the next two years to start such a program.