Promoting Intimacy and Positive, Healthy, Consenting Adult Sexuality
Former professor accused of prostitution,
commits suicide
Is Society Now safer? 1/29/07
BALTIMORE Maryland authorities say a former university professor accused of
prostitution hanged herself over the weekend. Brandy Britton's body was found at
her home in suburban Baltimore by a family member. She was a sociology and
anthropology professor at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County until she
lost her job in 1999 and filed a discrimination suit.
Britton was charged a year ago with four counts of prostitution. She had been
scheduled to go on trial next Monday. The charges carried up to a year in jail
each. A prosecutor says it's unlikely she would have served any time. Her
attorney questions whether the public was served by Britton's arrest and
prosecution.
Comments from a blog sent to me:
Brandy Britton, 43, had been a professor at the University of Maryland. She
taught in the fields of sociology and anthropology at the University of Maryland
until 1999 when she lost her job. There isn’t a high demand in those fields. You
rarely hear anyone saying, “Gee, I was looking for a good anthropologist. Can
you recommend anyone?” So Britton turned to the oldest profession in the books,
so old in fact that anthropologists study it. She became a prostitute.
And things must have gone well enough for her since she continued in the
profession for some years. One year ago the local police, having run out of real
criminals to pursue, turned their attention to Britton and arrested her. The
local prosecutor also lacking any other activity of value worth doing was taking
her to court in a few days times. Britton faced four charges and each carried a
potential of one year in prison. Britton, however hung herself.
Christopher Flohr was her attorney. He said she was “kind and generous”. And he
noted: “Her death underscores an important question: Was the public benefited at
all by the resources spent on her arrest and prosecution?”
Busybody neighbors bare some of the responsibility. They noticed “men pulling up
in fancy cars and staying only briefly”. What is missing? They didn’t notice any
deterioration of the upscale neighborhood. They didn’t find drug dealers or
other prostitutes hanging around outside the door. In fact they didn’t see
anything except men periodically driving up to Britton’s home. But they
suspected she was having sex and in America that’s practically considered
tantamount to genocide. One can have sex, of course, provided they hide the fact
and feel guilty about it.
With the nosey neighbors peering over the fence, hoping to catch a glimpse of
something salacious, the police decided to investigate. Now one news article I
read said: “According to Baltimore Crime Statistics and Crime Data, Baltimore’s
crime level rates ‘worse’ than the national average in every category except the
‘Rape” category.”
The Baltimore Examiner had a headline that screamed: “In Baltimore, not even
police officers are safe from random crime.” They write: “Two visiting law
enforcement officers were robbed at gunpoint outside a bar in a trendy section
of Baltimore, hours before they were to attend the funeral of a Baltimore
detective who was shot to death during a robbery attempt at the end of his
shift.”
Police Commissioner Leonard Hamm said: “We’re hurting as a city.” After this
attack one of the police officers said: “I’m upset that stuff like this is
happening in Baltimore and in areas that are fairly decent. I could have been
dead. This is terrible. This city has been horrible lately.” Horrible lately?
Perhaps true but the city is sending a message to women who engage in
prostitution.
So they don’t have the resources to fight robbers and murderers. But the police
and the prosecutors and the courts can spend hours going after woman like
Britton. They can put them under surveillance and troll the internet to see if
they are advertising prices for their services -- which is what they did in
Britton’s case. And real criminals are dangerous! They sometimes do nasty things
to officers who arrest them. It’s safer to arrest someone who is harmless,
someone like Britton. So that’s what they did while Baltimore goes to hell in a
handcart.
Brandy Britton’s arrest made life difficult for her. She had to hire an attorney
and attorneys are not cheap in America. To make things worse she had to stop
working since the police were watching her. With her trial only days away she
would have been despondent. With no income she was desperate. And then she found
the piece of paper on the front door of her home. It was being repossessed. The
only glimmer of hope she had was that a conviction could mean she wouldn’t need
a home -- the state of Maryland would provide one at great expense to the
taxpayers.
The eviction notice, coming on top of the arrest and pending trial, was
obviously more than she could take. So she hung herself.
That must give some comfort to the people of Baltimore and the nosey neighbors
with nothing better to do. An obviously dangerous criminal is now off the
streets -- permanently. She may have been kind. She may have been generous. She
may have done nothing to harm another person. But the good Christian people of
Baltimore can sleep knowing that one less prostitute threatens their safety. But
if I were them I’d sleep with one eye open. While the police and prosecutor were
chasing Britton they were ignoring murderers, rapists, thieves, and sundry other
violent individuals who actually violate the rights of others. But in a decent
society you have to have priorities. After all this horrible woman was having
sex! For money!!!!
A visit to Baltimore might mean that you get mugged, your wife is murdered and
your daughter is raped. But joy of all joy, Brandy Britton isn’t around to
solicit you anymore. Don’t you feel better already?
