The gist of the article is that the police are arresting fewer prostitutes and instead focusing on the "johns". I suspect most "Equal Justice" types would support this action.

While forever citing the high cost or incarceration there's two things the lenient crowd always leave out of their advocacy.

The incarcerated are the bad. Not simple drug uses and other minor offenders.
And having them locked up means a huge dollar savings from preventing the crimes they would be committing as well as the societal value in preventing many people from being victimized.
Crime has a high cost to the victims, public and society.

Oregon's M11 mandatory sentencing has been an enormous success.

Oregon's high cost of of prison operation is not.
The aging prison population and health care costs don't help.

http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/06/_oregon_taxpayers_pay_spiralin.html

http://www.politifact.com/oregon/statements/2013/jan/18/john-kitzhaber/does-oregon-spend-10000-year-student-30000-inmate/

"prosecutors are not enthusiastic about Kitzhaber’s plans to "reform" public safety, and say that the Oregon’s corrections system is fine as is. John Foote, Clackamas County’s district attorney, served on the governor’s public safety commission and submitted a minority report supported by district attorneys, the association of chiefs of police and the state sheriffs’ association.
"Foote, He says Oregon is considered a high cost state, in that we don’t incarcerate a lot of people but the cost is high when we do. The obvious fix, he says, is to lower the daily cost of incarceration."

The gist of the article is that the police are arresting fewer prostitutes and instead focusing on the "johns".

Please come back when you've read it -- no, on second thought, don't.

Nice article, Jack, and congratulations to Portland for finally getting the pimps. But for every one of these stories there are others where people of color are doing time for something a white guy goes free for - drug cases being an obvious example.

It's also unfair that schools attended by Blacks, Latinos and American Indians are, on average, sh*****r than your typical white school. You can blame it on the parents, but that's not exactly fair to the kids, is it?

I appreciate your Clint Eastwood attitude of "mow down the pinps!" And the crowd agrees! Yes, kill the pimps Kill the pimps!

But we shouldn't ignore the most severe inequities out there, by income, race, or whatever else and try to get to the root of those problems so more people can thrive.

As boorish as the clowns at the city and state offices of equity may - or may not - be, that's doesn't remove those important needs that the so-called "equity justice yada" folks are working to address.

Blah blah blah Clint Eastwood blah blah blah. So tired.

I support long jail sentences without cell phones for pimps of any color, gender, religion, income level, etc.

I watched closing arguments of the Hightower case discussed in the article and it was not pretty.

A couple of adult chaperones brought a class of middle school kids on a field trip right in the middle of the DA's closing. The prosecutor was playing tapes of phone calls and reading out loud the testimony of trial witnesses and a string of 15 year old victims.

When the chaperones heard what was going on, they gathered up the kids and split, presumably in search of a courtroom with less traumatic proceedings.

That's a dude that deserves to be in prison forever.

Even if the long sentences don't end up as a warning to others it's good that these animals are locked in cages so they can't re-offend. My bet is that the word will get out on the street is that pimping will get you serious hard time in Oregon, especially if the victims are under age. Many of these scum operate across state lines, and it would be good to see the Feds pursuing more prosecutions so when the rats scurry away to set up shop in Seattle or California they still get busted.

Pete, 20 years ago your argument had some teeth. Not so much any more. Police, prosecutors, defense lawyers, and judges all know there are limited dollars and limited space to house the worst of the worst. You don’t get a ticket to the big house unless you have exhausted every chance given, failed every program offered, and/or commit very violent acts. White, black, brown and tan monsters all share an equal chance for prison if they work hard enough at it.

If inequities exist for children, then lets work to get them fixed. Suggesting the justice system is "going after" minority young men is simply blame shifting the problem over to where the end result occurs. It is not only mis-directed, but hampers any real effort of spending our valuable resources on the kids at risk you mention.

Not buying it here. Prostitution is much like recreational drugs. Make it illegal on moral grounds, and you restrict the supply and raise the barriers to entry to the market. That increases profits for the providers. All of it feeds a hungry law-enforcement system and diverts public money from better uses than locking people up and throwing away the key. Women who want to exchange sex for money, or anything else, should be free to do so, subject to reasonable regulations for disease control. Period.

Alan L. This story is about pimps who traffic under age girls against their will. These girls are forced onto the streets where they service as many as 10 johns a day,and the pimp keeps most if not all of their money. This is a far cry from the $500 hr. adult "call girl" who works out of a high end hotel. Legalization with strict regulation for consenting adults may be the solution, but there will alwyas be the sickos who prefer the under age girls and the pimps who control them from the shadows.

there will alwyas be the sickos who prefer the under age girls and the pimps who control them from the shadows.

Kevin, I understand the ugliness of these crimes. I just see them as falling at least in part under the umbrella of criminalization of sex acts. The financial incentives for pimps are big because of the fact that prostitution is illegal. Maybe legalizing sex acts would not make all of the exploitation go away. But neither will more aggressive punishment.