The City of Atlanta is known for many things: the Braves, the Falcons, the Varsity, its strip clubs, its child prostitutes ...

There are believed to be hundreds of young girls - and boys - working in the sex trade in the state's capital city, many of them not yet even teens. While some of them are no doubt on the road to becoming criminals, by and large, most of them at this stage of the game, even though they are breaking the law, still fall into the category of "victim." Most come from broken, chaotic homes, are under-educated, have previously been sexually abused and have been "rescued" by men who then pimp them on the streets or in massage parlors, according to the nonprofit Juvenile Justice Fund. And according to the FBI, Atlanta is one of the top 15 cities in the country with the highest rate of child prostitution.

Now state Sen. Renee Unterman (R-Buford) has sponsored a bill in the state Legislature that would set the minimum age at 16 for prosecuting prostitutes. They would be steered into diversionary programs to get them off the street, rather than locked up.

"When you're 12 years old and you're laying on your back, you are not a criminal," Unterman said. "You don't even know what sex is."

A rally on Monday at the state Capitol in favor of Unterman's bill drew 500 supporters, each of them carrying a single white rose.

As one of those supporters, Jennifer Swain of A Future Not a Past, said, "We want to be consistent with the laws on the books. There's no such thing as a child prostitute. If a child can't consent (to sex) until 16, how can they be charged with prostitution?"

Support for the bill is not unanimous. There are those who feel it would decriminalize prostitution. They say arresting and punishing prostitutes serves as a deterrent. That may be true in some cases, but from the looks of things, not many.

The law as it stands is doing a poor job of keeping young prostitutes of the street, yet doing a good job of stigmatizing for life the children that are arrested. It's worth trying something different, like Unterman is proposing.

And while they're at it, state and city authorities should do more to crack down on those who are pimping out these children - and the customers who are patronizing them.