John school

John school is a type of educational intervention aimed at johns, or male clients of prostitutes; john schools are usually a diversion program, but can also be a condition of a criminal sentence. In most jurisdictions in which john schools exist, a man arrested for soliciting the services of a prostitute, or another related offense, may be offered john school as an alternative to criminal prosecution. He will pay a fine, which covers the cost of the program and sometimes contributes to programs to aid prostitutes, and attend a single class or series of classes. In some jurisdictions, courts may sentence men to attend a john school program as a condition of probation. These classes purport to teach about the reality of prostitution, such as the abuse histories of many prostitutes, the sexually transmitted disease risks of prostitution, and the effects of prostitution on families and communities.

The first comprehensive john school program was started in San Francisco in 1995. First time male offenders who volunteer for the program are required to attend an eight hour seminar on the negative consequences of prostitution of all types on neighborhoods, the criminal justice system, and the prostitutes themselves, and face the possibility of a jail sentence if they refuse. In the first 12 years of the still ongoing program, now called the First Offender Prostitution Program, the recidivism rate amongst offenders was reduced from 8% to less than 5%. Since 1995, similar programs have been implemented in more than 40 other communities throughout the US, including Washington, DC, West Palm Beach, FL, Buffalo, NY, Los Angeles, CA, and Brooklyn, NY.^{[citation needed]}.

A 2009 audit of the first john school in San Francisco done by the city's budget analysis, faults the program with ill-defined goals and no way to determine its effectiveness. Despite being touted as a national model that comes at no cost to taxpayers, the audit said the program didn't cover its expenses in each of the last five years, leading to a $270,000 shortfall.

External links

• "Recidivism Among the Customers of Female Street Prostitutes: Do Intervention Programs Help?" by Martin A. Monto and Steve Garcia. Western Criminology Review 3(2), June 2002.
• Reports on School for Johns, BAYSWAN (website). – index of reports critical of john school programs.
• "John school takes a bite out of prostitution" by Justin Berton. "San Francisco Chronicle," April 14, 2008.
• "Final Report on the Evaluation of the First Offender Prostitution Program: Report Summary" by Michael Shively, Sarah Kuck Jalbert, Ryan Kling, William Rhodes, Peter Finn, Chris Flygare, Laura Tierney, Dana Hunt, David Squires, Christina Dyous, Kristin Wheeler. National Institute of Justice, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.