Kerb crawler
{{Short description|Person who drives around looking for sex}}
A kerb crawler (or curb crawler) is a person who drives around areas known for street prostitution, soliciting prostitutes for sexual activity. The act is known as kerb crawling because the person will typically drive very slowly along the kerbside.
Where prostitution is illegal, kerb crawlers are widely regarded as a public nuisance; they help to keep street prostitutes in business in red-light districts and often solicit pedestrians who are not prostitutes for sex. As a result, kerb crawling is illegal in many jurisdictions.
Sting operations in which undercover police wait for kerb crawlers to proposition them are a common method for tackling kerb crawling.{{cite web |last1=Hill |first1=Amelia |title=The policewomen who pose as prostitutes to trap kerb crawlers |url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk/2002/dec/15/ukcrime.gender |website=The Guardian |access-date=29 November 2018 |language=en |date=15 December 2002}} Kerb crawling is illegal in Canada,{{cite web |title=Prostitution laws around the world |url=https://globalnews.ca/news/128029/at-a-glance-prostitution-laws/ |website=Global News |access-date=29 November 2018 |language=en |date=20 December 2013}} the United Kingdom, the United States,{{cite web |title=US Federal and State Prostitution Laws and Related Punishments |url=https://prostitution.procon.org/view.resource.php?resourceID=000119 |website=prostitution.procon.org |publisher=ProCon.org |access-date=29 November 2018 |language=en}} South Korea{{cite web |last1=Cook |first1=Ian |title=Research Projects |url=https://research.northumbria.ac.uk/urbanfutures/research-projects/prostitution |website=Imagining Urban Futures |access-date=29 November 2018 |archive-date=25 September 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190925053033/https://research.northumbria.ac.uk/urbanfutures/research-projects/prostitution |url-status=dead }} and India.{{cite web |title=Prostitution in India and {{as written|i|t's [sic]}} legal analysis |url=http://www.lawyersclubindia.com/articles/Prostitution-in-India-and-it-s-legal-analysis--9151.asp |website=Lawyers Club India |access-date=29 November 2018 |language=en}} Police may also collect licence-plate numbers of vehicles that appear to be kerb crawling and may contact their registered owners. Kerb crawling and soliciting in a public place are legal in New Zealand.{{Cite web |title=Prostitution Law Reform in New Zealand - New Zealand Parliament |url=https://www.parliament.nz/mi/pb/research-papers/document/00PLSocRP12051/prostitution-law-reform-in-new-zealand/ |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=www.parliament.nz |language=en}}
United Kingdom
Although prostitution is legal in the United Kingdom, soliciting in a public place is not. Following the recommendations of the 1984 Criminal Law Revision Committee report Prostitution on the Street, the United Kingdom's Sexual Offences Act 1985 introduced an offence of kerb crawling to persistently solicit women for the purposes of prostitution.{{cite web |title=Sexual Offences Act 1985 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1985/44/pdfs/ukpga_19850044_en.pdf |website=legislation.gov.uk |access-date=29 November 2018 |quote=Section 1}}{{cite book |last1=Hubbard |first1=Phil |last2=Scoular |first2=Jane |editor1-last=Canter |editor1-first=D |editor2-last=Ioannou |editor2-first=M |editor3-last=Youngs |editor3-first=D |title=Safer Sex in the City: The Experience and Management of Street Prostitution |date=2010 |publisher=Ashgate |isbn=978-0754626152 |pages=135–153 |language=en |chapter=Making the vulnerable more vulnerable? The contradictions of British street prostitution policy|doi=10.1177/1057567710373119 |s2cid=144214060 }} The Policing and Crime Act 2009{{cite web |title=Policing and Crime Act 2009 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2009/26/section/19 |website=www.legislation.gov.uk |access-date=29 November 2018 |language=en |quote=Section 19}} modified the Sexual Offences Act 2003{{cite web |title=Sexual Offences Act 2003 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2003/42/section/51A |website=www.legislation.gov.uk |access-date=29 November 2018 |language=en |quote=Section 51A}} to redefine the offence and remove the requirement of "persistence".
Soliciting in the UK is a summary-only offence limited to a fine, although in some circumstances, offenders can be disqualified from driving and have their cars impounded.{{cite web |title=Prostitution and Exploitation of Prostitution |url=https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/prostitution-and-exploitation-prostitution |website=www.cps.gov.uk |publisher=Crown Prosecution Service |access-date=29 November 2018 |language=en |date=5 July 2018}} Police in England have the discretion to charge, issue an out-of-court disposal (caution), or even take no further action against offenders, and this depends on local practice.{{Cite web |title=Prostitution and Exploitation of Prostitution {{!}} The Crown Prosecution Service |url=https://www.cps.gov.uk/legal-guidance/prostitution-and-exploitation-prostitution |access-date=2023-04-05 |website=www.cps.gov.uk}} Alternative strategies such as Kerb Crawler Rehabilitation Programmes (KCRP) have been introduced in some areas, such as Leeds, but these programmes are criticised by some.{{cite journal |last1=Campbell |first1=Rosie |last2=Storr |first2=Merl |title=Challenging the Kerb Crawler Rehabilitation Programme |journal=Feminist Review |date=March 2001 |volume=67 |issue=1 |pages=94–108 |doi=10.1080/01417780122701 |s2cid=143593103 }}
The British Crown Prosecution Service and National Policing Guidelines do not encourage enforcement against prostitutes or customers but rather against those who exploit prostitutes for financial gain (e.g., "pimps").