Commercialized Prostitution in New York CityKneeland, George J. (George Jackson)
History
Commercialized Prostitution in New York City
Kneeland, George J. (George Jackson)
Prostitution -- New York (State) -- New York
_Offenses_:--Not all of the 647 cases studied were committed to Bedford
for prostitution; but all were leading the lives of prostitutes in New
York City at the time of their commitment and the specific offense which
they committed was an incident in the life of prostitution.[310] Table
XXIV shows that 105 women or 16.22 percent were convicted of felonies,
while 450, or 69.55 percent were convicted of offenses directly connected
with prostitution. The 25 cases committed as disorderly children were
girls under eighteen years of age whose parents or relatives caused their
arrest and brought them into court as the only means of taking them from
the life. The 38 commitments for vagrancy were under Subdivision 3 and 4
of Section 887 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which defines a vagrant
as "a person who has contracted an infectious or other disease, in the
practise of drunkenness or debauchery, requiring charitable aid to restore
him to health" or "a common prostitute who has no lawful employment
whereby to maintain herself."
The stories of the following girls will illustrate the relation between
prostitution and crime in the cases of women sent to us for felonies or
misdemeanors:
A. B. was a girl of eighteen, convicted of manslaughter in the second
degree. She was not only leading a life of prostitution but was supporting
her lover by it. As is so often the case, she was very fond of the man and
intensely jealous when another girl won him away. She bought a sharp knife
and carried it for a month before she met the girl, who had tried to avoid
her. When at last they met, our girl stabbed her rival so seriously that
she died from the effects.
C. D. was also only eighteen years of age. She was convicted of shooting
her lover. The time had come when they were no longer happy together. A
quarrel arose on the street over a trivial matter. She wished to go to one
place and he to another. Neither would yield. He started across the street
to go his own way. She drew a pistol and shot him dead. Asked how she
happened to have a loaded pistol in her possession, she said that she has
always carried one ever since she came to New York. She thought it
necessary for self-protection.
The story of E. F., convicted of grand larceny in the first degree, was as
follows: She came north from a southern city thirteen years ago with her
mother, who died soon after. She had had a lover before her mother's
death. By him she had an illegitimate child. After the child was born he
married her but they were not happy together. Another man coaxed her away
from her husband. She claims he put her on the street, that she was
violently in love with him and supported him by prostitution. Finally she
was with a man whose watch she admired and coveted for her lover. She
stole it and gave it to her lover in whose possession it was found. Both
were convicted.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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