themselves in a bad position , to prevent it from happening again . '' Set in a church in Nashville , Tennessee , the John School is led by former prostitutes , health experts , psychologists and law enforcement officers who talk to -- and at times berate -- the men about the risks of hiring a prostitute . Prostitution is based on the law of supply and demand . The thinking is : Women wo n't stop selling sex until men stop buying . So Nashville and a growing number of cities are shifting their focus from locking up suppliers to educating buyers . Across the country , about 50 communities are using John Schools . Atlanta , Georgia , and Baltimore , Maryland , are among dozens more cities that plan to launch similar programs by the end of the year . See where the John Schools are '' `` It will make them -LSB- offenders -RSB- see that this is not a victimless crime , and they are contributing to the exploitation of women , '' said Stephanie Davis , policy adviser on women 's issues at the mayor 's office in Atlanta . `` It 's
NASHVILLE , Tennessee -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- The accused came from all walks of life : Retirees , dads and twentysomethings . An engineer , a business owner and an auto worker . A man in a wheelchair . Men in need of Spanish or Farsi translators . Brett Beasley , with Nashville 's Health Department , educates men arrested for trying to buy sex about STDs . About 40 men somberly entered a classroom on a recent Saturday morning . About half of them wore shiny wedding bands . All had tried to buy a prostitute 's services and were caught by police . It was their first offense , and a county court referred them to a one-day program called the John School . It 's a program run by volunteers and city officials in conjunction with Magdalene House , a nonprofit that works to get prostitutes off the streets . `` Prostitution does n't discriminate , '' said Kenny Baker , a cognitive behavioral therapist who is the program 's director . `` Most of these men do n't have a prior criminal history , so our goal is to help these folks understand why they put