Moves by the House of Lords to decriminalise child prostitution have failed.Peers voted by 80 to 68 to retain the current position on Friday night.
Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Miller of Chilthorne Domer tabled an amendment to the Policing and Crime Bill, arguing that child prostitutes should be treated as victims, not criminals.
"Children end up in prostitution because of the failure of
institutional services, and we should not criminalise them further,"
she said.
But junior Home Office minister Lord Brett said the government did not want to criminalise child prostitutes.
"Children are prosecuted only in the most exceptional circumstances; in other words, as a very last resort," he said.
But junior Home Office minister Lord Brett said the government did not want to criminalise child prostitutes.
"Children are prosecuted only in the most exceptional circumstances; in other words, as a very last resort," he said.
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