LEGAL ASPECTS cont.

Amendments to the legislation in 1891 made it a crime to "procure or attempt to procure, any girl or woman under twenty-one years of age, not being a common prostitute or of known immoral character, to have unlawful carnal connection, [...] or to leave her usual place of abode in Canada, such place not being a brothel, with intent that she may become an inmate of a brothel." The punishment was up to two years' imprisonment with hard labour.

It is interesting to note that, in contrast to the two year imprisonment carried by most charges associated with female prostitution, Section 5 of the Criminal Code stated that:

"Every male person who [...] procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, is guilty of a misdemeanor and liable to five years' imprisonment, and to be whipped." This suggests that the 'moral corruption' of men was regarded much more harshly than that of women.

Nonetheless, police records from the 1890s suggest that police continued to lay charges mainly against the "frequenters," "habitual frequenters," or "keepers" of brothels, rather than pursuing the prostitutes.

Perhaps, the Victoria police's infrequent prosecution of the prostitutes themselves is a reflection of the sympathetic view that the women had entered the occupation "not because they were helpless victims of sinister procurers, nor because they were merely passive individuals, but because they perceived prostitution as a means of fulfilling particular economic, social or psychological needs." Certainly, this was a view held by those in society who hoped to help to reform this darker side of their society.

On the other hand, as was suggested by one early reformer, perhaps it was because the laws that provided for the two-month imprisonment of a prostitute were simply ineffective:

"This period seems to be well chosen as regards the interests of prostitution, just long enough to restore them so far as to enable them to return to their sad career without incurring upon them any necessary delay."

Regardless of the reason, it seems that the police, if not society, held a a somewhat sympathetic view of prostitutes.

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