Do you think Hugh Grant will ever try another street pleasure?

No way! As a study shows that men arrested for buying sex from prostitutes are much less likely to continue this activity compared to men who are not busted. "Our findings are unexpected, because previous studies of youth indicated that arrest had no effect on, or even increased, their delinquent and criminal behavior," said lead researcher Devon Brewer, director of the research firm Interdisciplinary Scientific Research.

Previous studies have discovered that arresting young adults for minor crimes - such as marijuana-related offenses - did not impede them on continuing their activity compared to those who escaped arrest. In fact, sometimes, the police contact could actually increase the illegal behavior.

And studies usually focus on the prostitutes themselves, not on their customers. The researchers compared rates of arrest for two groups of prostitute amateurs in Colorado Springs, Colorado between 1970 and 2000. One group was of men who had been arrested for sex-buying, and the other group included sex-buyers detected but not arrested.

Clients were typically arrested when lured by female police officers posed as decoys. Difference in arrest rates showed if arrests deterred men from buying street sex: the likelihood of another arrest dropped by 70 %.

Records from several U.S. states also showed that the men didn't look out prostitutes in different jurisdictions or those in off-street settings. Thus, simply arresting clients for soliciting paid-sex is a significant deterrent. "Arrest could keep men from street corners because they generally are otherwise law-abiding," Brewer suggested.

Another arrest could destroy their reputations, their marriages or relationships. "However, because only a very small percentage of clients in a community are arrested, other strategies and increased enforcement may be necessary to reduce the demand for prostitution further," Brewer said.

Some educational programs developed to challenge many popular understandings of prostitution, inform men about the high levels of violence experienced by prostitutes. Violence, coercion by pimps, dire economic circumstances and drug addiction make prostitution not always consensual.