Police: All fined sex customers are men

Hamburg, Reeperbahn sex customersHamburg, Reeperbahn. Photo: Pixabay.com

Police: All fined sex customers are men

233 people have been taken for sex purchases in Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane since 2009. All the fines are given to men, reports the West Police District.

 

– Apart from gender; the customers seem to be a cross-section of the population. They have no other common features. We are talking about anything from single to married with family, students, unemployed and highly educated, says Sylvia Myklebust, police adviser at the Exit Group in the West Police District, to Bergens Tidende.

Large age span

The customer’s age ranges from 19 to 78 years.

58 people were taken for buying sex in Hordaland and Sogn og Fjordane in 2016. It is the peak year since the ban was introduced in Norway six years ago. By comparison, only seven sex customers were registered in the two counties in 2014.

Since 2009, the fines for buying sex have increased from NOK 10,000 to NOK 15,000. The vast majority have chosen to take this as a writ, rather than have the case sent to court.

Sexkjøpsloven (The Sex Code Act), Wikipedia

The Sex Code Act, formally called the Act on Changes to the Penal Code 1902 and the Criminal Procedure Act (criminalization of purchase of sexual intercourse or action, etc.) is a Norwegian law that made it punishable to buy sexual intercourse. Selling sex is however legal.

The law was passed on 12 December 2008 and entered into force on 1 January 2009. It amended the Penal Code of 1902 by adding a new section 202a, which laid down a penal framework for fines and imprisonment for up to six months – in some cases prison for up to one year – to obtain sexual intercourse by providing or agreeing remuneration.

The Sex Purchasing Act affected both the acquirer or other sexual intercourse or act by giving or agreeing consideration, the person who achieves sexual intercourse or act by the fact that such consideration is agreed or perpetrated by another, and the person who makes or agrees to pay to carry out actions that correspond to sexual intercourse.

 

© NTB Scanpix / Norway Today