Prostitution Diversion: Survival Analysis for Recidivism in Prostitution

Purpose: An estimated 58,784 people were arrested for prostitution in 2008 (FBI, 2008) and the cost to arrest, prosecute, and incarcerate prostitutes is estimated to be over $120 million per year (Pearl, 1987). Only 13 U.S. states have prostitution-exiting programs, offered primarily in the form of diversion programming funded by the criminal justice system (Farley, 2008; Wahab, 2006) and little is known about their efficacy. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of a prostitution diversion program.

Method: Data for this study included case files for 465 individuals (n = 35 men, n = 430 women) arrested for prostitution in a large Southwestern city between the years 2004-2006. All individuals signed a plea agreement and enroll in a prostitution diversion program involving: 1) an intake, 2) 36-hour class, and 3) weekly groups for three months. The participants identified as White (187; 40.2%), African American (154; 33.1%), Hispanic (84; 18.1%), and Native American (22; 4.7%), and ranged in ages from 18 and 64 (M =32.9, SD =10.4). Case files were categorized based upon an individual's program completion status of the three program components. Data were analyzed using a chi square for relationships and a ST Cox proportional hazard model to determine risk factors and time to failure (recidivism for prostitution).

Results: Participants were giving 50 months opportunity to be re-arrested for prostitution. Eighty individuals were re-arrested for prostitution (17.2%). The relationship between program completion and recidivism was found to be highly significant with the participants who completed all program requirements less likely to have been re-arrested (9.4%) compared to partial completers (23.1%) and intake only (29.4%) (÷2= (2, N =440) =22.04, p < .001). This finding indicates that the attendance of all three parts of the program has important ramifications for prostitution-specific re-arrest for the participants. From the survival analysis, program completers were found to have a 75% lower risk of being re-arrested for prostitution than all other participants. The first 10 months were the most critical for all three groups for re-arrest. Race had some impact on the results with African Americans still doing well (having low recidivism if they completed the program) but they had a higher risk overall of re-arrest than participants of other races. Participants reporting an addiction to drugs and alcohol had a 2.6 times greater likelihood of being arrested for prostitution at any time.

Conclusions and Implications: Results indicate that individuals who completed the prostitution diversion program were significantly more likely to avoid re-arrest for prostitution at one year following their prior arrest. African American individuals continued to have a higher risk of re-arrest and addiction to drugs and alcohol significantly impacted re-arrest for prostitution. The findings of this study indicate the need for increased attention within the diversion program on substance abuse treatment and a relapse prevention model lasting 10-month should be required as part of the diversion agreement.