'Jail men who pay for sex'
People convicted of paying for sex should be awarded prison sentences, according to the Social Democrats' new equality spokesman Claes Borgström.
It is already possible for people found to have paid for sexual services to be jailed for up to six months. But a Supreme Court ruling has set a precedent by which convictions in practice always result in fines.
But with Justice Minister Beatrice Ask preparing to review the law, Borgström has called for the crime to be punished by "at least one year" in jail.
"These women are exploited and find themselves in a subordinate position, completely under the control of the person buying sex," he said in an interview with Svenska Dagbladet.
The law banning the purchase of sexual services was introduced in 1999. Some 1,500 crimes of this nature were reported from 1999 until 2006.
In 2006, the last year for which records are available, 85 people were convicted of the crime.
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It is already possible for people found to have paid for sexual services to be jailed for up to six months. But a Supreme Court ruling has set a precedent by which convictions in practice always result in fines.
But with Justice Minister Beatrice Ask preparing to review the law, Borgström has called for the crime to be punished by "at least one year" in jail.
"These women are exploited and find themselves in a subordinate position, completely under the control of the person buying sex," he said in an interview with Svenska Dagbladet.
The law banning the purchase of sexual services was introduced in 1999. Some 1,500 crimes of this nature were reported from 1999 until 2006.
In 2006, the last year for which records are available, 85 people were convicted of the crime.
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