PRESS NOTICE . . . PRESS NOTICE . . . PRESS NOTICE . . .

Contact: Cari Mitchell 07811 964 171

THE GOVERNMENT HAS AMENDED CLAUSE 13 OF THE POLICING AND CRIME BILL to replace “controlled for gain” with “force, deception or threats” . They are finally acknowledging that a distinction should be made between situations where sex workers are working voluntarily, and situations where a woman is being coerced and suffers violence . Why then continue to raid, prosecute and convict women who are working collectively and independently, and usually discreetly, without exerting any force or coercion on anyone? It is not illegal to exchange sexual services for money . So why are sex workers being prosecuted? What is their crime?

Prosecutions for “Controlling prostitution for gain” and “Keeping a brothel used for prostitution” (2003 Sexual Offences Act) are rising yearly . (Answers to Lord Faulkner, Hansard 15 January 2009 . )
Neither offence requires evidence of force and coercion .

Women continue to be prosecuted and convicted even though they have no control over the activities of the sex workers they work with and when their primary role is to ensure women’s safety . This is despite precedent cases such as Elliott & Kuhn v DPP and Dublidis v DPP Justice Taylor ruled that “some evidence of control or a say in the running of premises is essential before a court can find that a person can be found to be ‘assisting in the management’ .

Women end up institutionalised in prostitution by criminal records as they cannot get other jobs, even when they are qualified for them .

TRAFFICKING HAS BEEN USED AS THE MAIN JUSTIFICATION FOR these proposals . Yet the widely used claim that “80% of women working in the sex industry in the UK have been trafficked” has been thoroughly discredited including on a Radio Four programme[1]: even if 80% of women working in brothels, saunas and massage parlours are not British, “foreign does not mean forced” . The UK charge of trafficking for prostitution, unlike trafficking for any other industry, does not require force or coercion . This enables every woman with a foreign accent to be falsely labeled a victim of trafficking!

PROCEEDS OF CRIME – VESTED INTEREST
Since the Proceeds of Crime Act, raids and prosecutions of women working in prostitution have become profitable . The police have a vested interest in raiding brothels . They keep 25% of any assets confiscated both at the time and from subsequent prosecutions; the Crown Prosecution Service keeps another 25%; and the Inland Revenue the rest .

This corruption of law and order has serious implications for all policing: it determines priorities . It is no longer the seriousness of the offence and the need to protect the public that decide police involvement, but whether or not the police are going to benefit financially from the raid . Prostitution raids are profitable . They make good money and good statistics, and the effort is minimal .

It is common for police to seize any money found on premises they raid . Even if no one is charged, the money is rarely returned as police take advantage of sex workers’ reluctance to go public . Women who have worked for years to put money aside lose not only their livelihood but their home, car, life savings, jewellery, etc . This is the worst form of pimping . It is the laws on prostitution and on proceeds of crime that are corrupting law enforcement .

DESTITUTION -- STOP CRIMINALISING MOTHERS
70% of prostitute women are mothers, mostly single mothers . What is their crime? Struggling to support themselves and their families . Government figures found that 74% of off-street sex workers “cited the need to pay household expenses and support their children .

These measures are being brought in at the same time as the Welfare Reform Bill . The government is legislating for destitution and therefore for an increase in prostitution .

If the Welfare Reform Bill goes through, mothers, especially single mothers, will lose Income Support and be forced to ‘progress towards work’ or take a job . So will carers of people with disabilities, mostly women, women over 60, and even traumatised victims of domestic violence . Those who can’t find jobs will have to ‘work for their benefits’ i . e . for £1 . 73 an hour! Anyone refusing to comply with the new rules or unable to cope will face economic sanctions .

Given the greatest economic crisis most of us have ever seen, where are all these women to find jobs? As more women end up in prostitution as a result of the recession and the proposed welfare cuts, more will be criminalised and sent to prison under this Bill . Children will be separated from their mothers .

New Zealand successfully decriminalised all prostitution, both indoors and on the street, six years ago . There has been no increase in prostitution and women find it safer .