It is possible to identify three approaches for controlling prostitution in the nineteenth century: laissez-faire, state regulation, and police repression. For the first half of the century the police appear to have been ‘reluctant agents of moral reform’. They adopted the laissez-faire approach to controlling prostitution and seldom interfered with brothels unless the inhabitants committed crimes or disturbed the peace. For some the best solution was the system of police repression adopted in Glasgow. They promoted it as a compromise between the laissez-faire and state regulation and argued that, unlike the C.D. Acts, the Glasgow system did not ‘produce cynicism, corruption, and deep seated moral degradation’ in all social classes. For the latter the Glasgow system was just another form of ‘veiled regulation’. It is also necessary to question whether women truly entered the Institution ‘voluntarily’ or were driven from the streets by the police.