The Anti-social Behaviour, Crime and Policing Act 2014: implications for sex workers and their clients (original) (raw)
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Intent to Criminalise: Men who buy sex and prostitution policy UK
PCA) introduced the first piece of legislation to criminalize the purchase of sex in the United Kingdom (UK) 1 . Section 14 of the Act made the purchase of sex from a person who is subject to force, threats or any other form or coercion an offence, regardless of whether the purchaser knew the person was being exploited or not (Home Office 2009). In such cases, a lack of knowledge or ignorance is no justification, excuse or defence, as the offence falls under the remit of "strict liability". This significant shift in legislation, which followed the first review of prostitution policy in over fifty years, demonstrates the severity by which the UK government views those who buy sex, as it could be assumed that such important and historic legislative changes could not have been made without considerable reasoning, consultation and justification. However, this chapter will demonstrate that the arguments upon which the legislation has been based are founded upon insubstantial evidence, a neglect of robust bodies of data and research and an ideological argument influenced by a particular strand of feminism.
The Police, Sex Work, and Section 14 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009
The Howard Journal of Criminal Justice, 2014
This article considers the origins and aims of section 14 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009 and the offence of paying for the sexual services of a prostitute who has been subject to exploitative conduct; this offence is one of 'strict liability'. Section 14 was implemented on 1 st April 2010 and using the Freedom of Information Act the authors have attempted to show the number of times s.14 has been used by the police in England and Wales since the act became law; how the act has been used and the outcome of the use of this section.
This article considers the origins and aims of Section 14 of the Policing and Crime Act 2009 and the offence of paying for the sexual services of a prostitute who has been subject to exploitative conduct; this offence is one of 'strict liability'. Section 14 was implemented on 1 April 2010 and using the Freedom of Information Act 2000 the authors have attempted to show the number of times Section 14 has been used by the police in England and Wales since the Act became law; how the Act has been used and the outcome of the use of this section.
Demanding Victims: The Sympathetic Shift in British Prostitution Policy
Negotiating Sex Work: Unintended Consequences of Policy and Activism, University of Minnesota Press
This chapter interrogates the ideological foundations of New Labour’s articulation of the problem of prostitution and its coordinated strategy to eliminate street sex work. I argue that efforts to divert women from sex work are part of a sympathetic shift in policy, premised on viewing prostitutes as victims of gender-based violence. Although the designation of “victim” suggests sympathy for sex workers, it mobilizes rehabilitative interventions to convert prostitutes into self-regulating, responsible citizens in line with neoliberal demands. Such interventions extend the law’s remit beyond sanctions for specific criminal acts to a wide range of medico-behaviorist exercises that turn the problem of prostitution into a personal one. This prescription demands that sex workers change even when their economic and social conditions remain the same. While the rehabilitative turn may be well-intentioned, its reliance on a crime-control framework privileges victimhood and punishes women who persist in prostitution.
Stigmatising Prostitution: Some Evidence from the UK
RePEc: Research Papers in Economics, 2016
The question of how to regulate prostitution and whether it is or not a criminal activity has long been debated, and social norms around the sex industry both underpin and reflect the views of participants in the industry as well as those of society: prostitution is seen by some as an activity to be condemned and others as a part of the entertainment industry. Here we present economic models of paid sex and show to what extent they help understand this activity, as well as how they differ from models of crime, and discuss how these models can be used to analyise policy and to what extent they predict what is observed empirically. We then discuss what happens when criminalising prostitution, making use of changes in legislation in the United Kingdom, which moved from a relatively permissive regime under the Wolfenden Report of 1960, to a much harder line of aiming to crack down on porsitution with the Prostitution (Public Places) Scotland Act 2007 and the Policing and Crime Act of 2009 in England and Wales. We make use of two waves of the British National Survey of Sexual Attitudes and Lifestyles (Natsal2, conducted in 2000-2001 and Natsal3, conducted in 2010-2012) to investigate the effects of criminalisation on both the amount and composition of demand, and draw some implications on the welfare effects of considering prostitution a form of crime.
The Current Landscape of Prostitution and Sex Work in England and Wales
Sexuality & Culture, 2020
This paper presents a comprehensive typology of the sex industry based on primary data collected between 2018 and 2019 for a UK Home Office-funded study. Typologies of the contemporary sex industry in England and Wales have tended to be limited to particular sectors or have been developed from a specific disciplinary perspective or theme (e.g. sexual health programming, income). Situated in the context of international sex industry typologies, this paper seeks to address this gap. Data was derived from an online survey, questionnaires and consultations with stakeholders including individuals currently or formerly involved in selling sex, service providers/NGOs, police, local authority representatives and others. The data was supplemented with insights from a systematic literature search. This work aims to assist with programme and policy planning in the UK context. Our methods can assist in developing typologies in other contexts.
2021
Sex work is defined as ‘a person who on at least one occasion and whether or not compelled to do so, offers or provides sexual services to another person in return for payment or a promise of payment to A or a third person’ . Sex work law is often controversial, and must balance the interests of the workers, the clients and the public. Examination of the relevant law relating to sex work, and the history and policy considerations that influenced it are crucial to understanding the principles that underpin the current law, as well as its application and flaws. There are a variety of critiques of England and Wales’ current approach to sex work and the reforms put in place thus far, including criticism suggesting that the current law is in places confusing, dated and ineffective. I will suggest proposals for reform, aimed at clarifying and modernising UK sex work legislation. These proposals for reform will explore and compare existing alternative models that could potentially be adopt...
Policy discussions relating to the selling of sex have tended to fixate on two spaces of sex work: the street and the brothel. Such preoccupation has arguably eclipsed discussion of the working environment where most sex is sold, namely the private home. Redressing this omission, this paper discusses the public health and safety implications of policies that fail to regulate or assist the ‘hidden population’ of sex workers, focusing on the experiences of home-based workers in Sydney, NSW. Considering the inconsistent way that Home Occupation Sex Services Premises (HOSSPs) are regulated in this city, this paper discusses the implications of selling sex beyond the gaze of the state and law. It is concluded that working from home can allow sex workers to exercise considerable autonomy over their working practices, but that the safety and legality of such premises must be considered in the development of (non-punitive) prostitution policy.
Discourses Surrounding Prostitution Policies in the UK
The European Journal of Women's Studies, 2004
This article examines discourses invoked in the UK debates about prostitution and trafficking in women. The authors suggest that there are three striking features about these discourses: (1) the absence of the sex work discourse, (2) the dominance of the public nuisance discourse in relation to kerb-crawling and (3) the dominance of moral order discourses in relation to trafficking. At a time when the UK is about to revise its sex laws, it is important to consider the discourses that frame prostitution policies in other European countries, with a view to broadening the range of policy options. In this context, the authors compare the UK with the Netherlands, where a sex work discourse has framed debates. This comparison indicates that UK prostitution discourses could be shaped by discourses other than those of public nuisance and moral order and may open up new policy options.