Interesting article on one of the perils of keeping prostitution illegal in NYC

Last year, New York City health workers gave out 37.2 million condoms. That works out to an average of 70 condoms every minute of the year. The city got into mass-scale condom distribution to help prevent the spread of debilitating and deadly diseases.

On the other hand, the condoms are also used to mark people for arrest on prostitution charges.

Here, for example, are affidavits filed in criminal court by two police officers in Brooklyn. They are part of the routine paperwork assembled in prostitution arrests. The first officer wrote that he “recovered from the defendant’s person currency in the following denominations: $1.25. Sexual paraphernalia, namely: One condom.”