Safety of Sex Workers in New York
Two bills are making their way through the New York State Legislature in an effort to reform the sex work industry, protecting workers and victims and contributing to a shift in how sex work is viewed. Here’s a breakdown:
What is going on?
Currently, New York classifies prostitution as a Class B misdemeanor, which is punishable by up to 90 days in jail and/or a $500 fine.
Two bills have been proposed in order to increase protections and rights for sex workers and victims of trafficking.
Senate Bill S1352
The first bill, Senate Bill S1352, is sponsored by Democratic representative Liz Krueger. It would allow sex workers and trafficking victims to avoid criminal charges while maintaining penalties for people associating with sex workers, specifically aiming to
end the arrest and incarceration of people in prostitution,
expand access to social services, particularly for young adults up to age 24,
strengthen laws against trafficking to hold profiteers and perpetrators accountable, and
advance criminal justice reform by clearing the records of survivors and workers.
Krueger believes sex workers should be “protected, not prosecuted” while perpetrators are held accountable for the harm they cause, as she told Daily Voice.
Senate Bill S4396
The second bill, Senate Bill S4396, is sponsored by Democratic representative Julia Salazar. It advocates for the full decriminalization of sex work. Specifically aiming to
repeal statutes that criminalize sex work between consenting adults but keep laws relating to minors or trafficking, and
provide criminal record relief for people convicted of related crimes
Salazar told Politico that in places where sex work is fully decriminalized, workers and consenting adults “have the ability to report abuse and crimes they are afraid to report right now.”
Why is this important?
This contributes to the larger conversation of the stigma surrounding sex work and the concept of decriminalization.
Decriminalization “removes criminal penalties for sex workers that don’t include trafficking [and] criminalizes those engaging in violence, exploitation, or trafficking or anyone who promotes, traffics, or buys sex from a minor,” while legalization involves “strict regulations on what is ‘illegal’ and ‘legal,’ which fosters an underground illegal market of vulnerable sex workers,” according to DecrimNY.
As seen in studies by Human Rights Watch, decriminalizing sex work allows workers’ legal protections and human rights to be maximized and their access to “justice and health care” to be increased; it also “maximizes their protection, dignity, and equality,” which is “an important step toward destigmatizing sex work.”