TAMPA, Fla. — A year after the ABC Action News I-Team revealed a state database meant to publicly shame and deter sex buyers listed just one person despite hundreds of arrests, a formal review of Florida's "Johns" list was recently sent to the Governor and lawmakers.
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The Soliciting for Prostitution Public Database went info effect in 2021, with all but one lawmaker supporting the list. The thought was the database would help to prevent sex trafficking. But the Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability (OPPAGA), a research arm of the Florida legislature, found what the I-Team did — that there were significant delays in adding anyone to the list and that for any public shaming to have a shot at deterring sex buyers, the public would have to know the list exists and it needs to provide more information.
A Review of the Soliciting for Prostitution Public Database
A year ago, the I-Team reported the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office alone arrested 262 people in 2021 for soliciting prostitution. Just one of them was listed on the state's database nearly a year after it launched. He was the only one listed at the time in the entire state.
The I-Team brought its finding to State Attorney Andrew Warren in January 2022 and asked if a name, picture and address at the time the person was arrested really told the public anything, for the database to be effective.
“No it doesn’t. The idea that this database was somehow going to be the ‘cure all’ for what’s happening with prostitution and human trafficking? Was far-fetched," Warren said.
As of Jan. 2, 2023 the Johns list has grown to 191 people.
But the men in the database represent only a small portion of sex buyers in Florida.
OPPAGA noted in its report that "very few" people arrested in Florida for soliciting prostitution are ultimately found guilty or have their adjudication withheld — a requirement to be included on the list. Only 21 percent of those arrested in Florida between January and the end of August 2021 were found guilty or had their adjudication withheld. Then, out of the 249 individuals who were convicted or had their adjudication withheld since January 2021, only 134 were listed on the database.
Statewide, just 21 of Florida's 67 counties have people listed on the Soliciting for Prostitution Public Database. The highest number comes from Polk County, with 86 men listed. Hillsborough County is fourth.
An I-Team review of the Johns list, concentrating on the men from the Tampa Bay area, found one listed as an owner of a preschool, a one-time owner of an insurance company, a head of a small nonprofit group and a man who worked with the Office of Homeland Security. But many of the men who made the list had lengthy histories of misdemeanors and traffic offenses. A few were listed as homeless.
I-Team Investigations: Human Trafficking
Moving forward, if no action is taken, the database will disappear Jan. 1, 2024. OPPAGA saID lawmakers could also make improvements to the database, such as expanding the eligible crimes that land people on the list. Beyond that, the research group says changes to state law could focus on sex buyers to reduce demand, like increasing the penalty for a first offense to a felony and taking steps to change the perception of prostitutes from criminals to victims.
