No need to hide: Mexican city legalizes sex in public so police can instead focus on fighting crime
Lawmakers in Guadalajara, Mexico passed legislation that now legalizes public sex acts as long as there are no third-party complaints filed with police. Authorities in the Jalisco state's capital city approved the law which revoked the authority from police to apprehend people having sex in public view.
Council members who proposed the legislation said that the law was passed in order to prevent to prevent police from extorting young couples caught having sex. At the same time, they hope that this new law will help authorities to investigate more serious crimes, such as the rising rate of murders in the recent time. However, if citizens request police intervention, they are allowed to respond to the situation.
"Having sexual relations or committing acts of exhibitionism of a sexual nature in public places, vacant lots, inside vehicles or in private locations in public view will be considered administrative offenses, as long as a citizen requests police intervention," reads the modification to article 14 of the Bylaws of Good Government, KNBC-TV of Los Angeles reported. But police in Guadalajara will still be able to detain people.
Nor will they be able to give an administrative fine to those performing "immoral acts of exhibitionism" should a third-party notify law enforcement while the act is still underway. Council member Guadalupe Morfin Otero said that the measure was created to stop police from extorting "'people giving each other' in a consensual manner, especially young people."
Guadalupe noted that a recent survey which was done pointed out that 90% of college students had been threatened by police with serious penalties or demands after being caught in a public sexual act. However, because of the city's highly Catholic and conservative nature, embarrassment and other tactics of the police prevent such cases from ever even reaching the judicial system.
Critics of the public sex legalization reforms said that they view this matter as a moral issue rather than a legal issue. Many people believe that this law is calling for crime more than they had expected as it allows pedophiles and rapists to abuse their victims in broad daylight when everyone is present. But the city's rapidly rising homicides have pushed police to look into crimes that are more violent in nature, rather than public acts of passion.
As reported by Newsweek, earlier this week, more than 20 bodies were found in graves in the metropolitan area of Guadalajara. According to local newspapers, these bodies were found in two clandestine pits. At the same time, Mexico, as a city, has noted its annual murder rate rise 16 percent during the first half of 2018.
While the council hopes for this to decrease, people on the internet had their own views about this law. "Apparently it’s legal to have sex in public in Guadalajara now. Lmao whatttt porn industry there is gonna be wild. Just kidding, I don't know," wrote one, while another added, "Great, u seemingly can’t walk the street in most of #Mexico without being robbed, kidnapped, or shot BUT u can engage in public sex #Hopeless."