They still get freebies.......

"It's flawed because the numbers do not explain the social situation these women are in. It's not just a business transaction," stated Samir Goswami.

A draft report of a yet to be published study had been presented last week at an economics convention in New Orleans LA and it seems that there already are critics of the conclusions made. University of Chicago professor and author Steven D Levitt and Sudhir Venkatesh of Columbia University studied street level prostitution for two years in three Chicago IL neighborhoods.

Prostitutes from Chicago's Roseland, Pullman and Washington Park neighborhoods were paid $150 a week to participate in the study. They reported an average of $20,000 a year income from prostitution, slightly more if they had a pimp. Not surprizingly, Friday was their busiest working day and Monday their slowest.

Other things noted in the draft were the differences in cost to patrons, whites and Hispanics paying more, blacks and repeat customers paying less. The woman also reported being beaten at least once a month and about 3 percent of them reported they performed "freebies" for the Chicago police to avoid arrests.

The full draft of the paper is on the University of Chicago's website and the authors expect that they will have the completed report released in April. While some may dispute parts of the study and how accurate it is........... it doesn't surprize me that police departments are still in line for "freebies" when they can get them.