Bland & Brooks on Criminalization of Sex Work

Sean E. Bland and Ben Brooks (Santa Clara University School of Law and Whitman-Walker Health) have posted Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing: A Report on Criminalization of Sex Work in the District of Columbia on SSRN. Here is the abstract:

The District of Columbia has made significant investments in reducing violence and improving community health. DC implemented violence interruption programs and accountability mechanisms, reformed policing and trained in cultural competency, and increased access to health insurance for vulnerable communities of immigrants and homeless people. Despite their continued prioritization, violence and infectious disease continue to be major public health challenges, especially for DC’s Black and LGBTQ communities. There is considerable evidence from public health researchers that criminalization of sex work contributes to community violence, propagates crime, blocks access to public health resources, is an ineffective deterrent to participation in sex work, and is deeply harmful to sex workers.

Whitman-Walker Institute, the O’Neill Institute, and HIPS collaborated on this research project and report to examine the impact of laws and policies on sex workers in DC and identify recommendations for lawmakers and law enforcement. Three focus groups with 27 sex workers and individual interviews with 13 DC institutional stakeholders were conducted in 2017. Focus group participants were almost all Black transgender women and gay or bisexual men. Community focus group participants and individual institutional stakeholder interviewees discussed the motivations and reasons people have for engaging in sex work (including limited options for housing and employment), priorities for addressing the health needs of and violence against sex workers, sex workers’ experiences with police and the criminal justice system, the consequences of arrest and incarceration in connection with sex work, and needed legal and policy reforms in DC.

The report shows that DC laws criminalizing sex work stigmatize and victimize sex workers, degrading their health and trapping them in cycles of poverty and homelessness. Recommendations for change include reforming the criminal code of the District of Columbia to eliminate criminal penalties for consensual commercial sexual exchange between adults; increasing access to affordable housing; expanding resources for job training and employment programs; and strengthening efforts to address discrimination against LGBTQ people.