The District of Columbia Superior Court is giving prostitutes a chance to get treatment for their addiction problems rather than going to jail, and a Baltimore group would like to replicate the program, the Baltimore Sun reported June 18.

The D.C. program addresses a range of quality-of-life offenses, from prostitution to simple assault to minor drug cases, but the Baltimore group wants to focus on prostitutes. The theory is that if prostitutes get addiction treatment, counseling and job training they have a better chance of getting out of the sex business.

"The prostitution problem in our city is severe," said Judge Keith E. Mathews, chief of the Baltimore District Court, who supports the idea of a prostitution court. "It is really a quality-of-life problem for neighborhoods -- they are very concerned about it. And your heart goes out to the women who get caught up in it, 99 percent because they are drug addicts."

Advocates say many prostitutes also support the court concept. Baltimore previously ran a prostitution court for about a year, but it shut down when grant money ran out. "The population is so damaged that you can't expect a huge success rate, but we did see women who did well," said Judge Charlotte Cooksey, who runs the city's mental-health court and worked on the prostitution court.

But Cooksey said the key to success is having adequate treatment resources available for women who come before the court.