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Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing

From the Whitman-Walker Institute, the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law, and HIPS

A REPORT ON CRIMINALIZATION OF SEX WORK IN THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | i

Table of Contents

Authors ii Acknowledgments ii Executive Summary iii Introduction 1 Overlapping Crises 1 Background 3 A Source of Vulnerability 3 Theories of Criminalization 4 Current Legal Landscape 4 Timeline of DC’s Prostitution Policies 5 Research on Protecting Sex Workers and Promoting Health and Wellbeing 10 Research Methods 10 Results from Community Focus Groups 11 Motivations and Reasons for Engaging in Sex Work 11 Experiences of Engaging in Sex Work 15 Encounters with Police and the Criminal Justice System 18 Consequences of Arrest And Incarceration 25 Views on Reforming Sex Work Criminal Laws 28 Results from Institutional Stakeholder Interviews 32 Motivations for Individuals Engaging in Sex Work 32 The Police and Criminal Justice System 34 Health 41 Online-Based Sex Work 45 Policy and Legal Reform 45 Comparing Perspectives 48 Motivations of Sex Workers 48 Sex Work versus Trafficking 49 Need for Social Services 49 Laws Create Barriers 49 Support for Legal Reforms 49 Concerns about Legalization 50 Limitations of Vacatur and Diversion 50 Distrust of the MPD 50 Cultural Competency Training 50 Recommendations 51 Reforms That We Recommend 51 Reforms That We Do Not Recommend 51 Research Limitations 52 Appendix A: Community Participant Survey Data 54 Appendix B: Institutional Stakeholder Interview Participants 56 Appendix C: DC’s History of Sex Work Policing 57 Endnotes 59

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | ii

Authors

This report was authored by Sean Bland of the

O’Neill Institute of National and Global Health

Law and Benjamin Brooks of the Whitman-Walker

Institute. The research project was designed

by Sean Bland, with considerable input from

Jennafer Kwait at the Whitman-Walker Institute.

Acknowledgments

This report would not have been possible

without the generous contributions of time

made by our many community participants

and institutional stakeholders. A particular

note of thanks to Shareese Mone and the staff

of HIPS who facilitated focus groups and the

sex workers who participated in focus groups;

your vulnerability, and generosity made this

report happen. Special thanks to Alexander/a

Bradley and Tamika Spellmen of HIPS for their

contributions to this report.

We would like to thank the organizations and

individuals who were part of our institutional

stakeholders: Denise Hunter of Whitman-

Walker Health Legal Services, Brett Parson

and Kelly O’Meara from the Metropolitan Police

Department, Michael Kharfen from the DC

Department of Health, Nassim Moshiree of the

ACLU of Washington DC, David Grosso and

Darby Hickey of the Council of the District of

Columbia, Tina Frundt of Courtney’s House,

Yasmin Vafa of Rights for Girls, Michael Tobin

of the DC Government’s Office of Police

Complaints, and Yvette Butler and Stacie

Reimer of Amara Legal, and an anonymous

activist and educator.

Thanks to Jeffrey Crowley from the O’Neill

Institute. Thanks to staff across the Whitman-

Walker Health System for their contributions

of time and expertise. Particular thanks are

due to Jennafer Kwait and Guillaume Bagal who

conducted focus group interviews and assisted

with stakeholder interviews respectively; Daniel

Bruner who assisted with data analysis and

structuring this report, Blaine Smith who provided

support in analyzing the demographic data from

participants, and Bryan Blanchard who designed

and formatted this report for publication.

This work was supported by a generous grant

from the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

Sean Bland & Benjamin Brooks, 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, Whitman-Walker institute, O’neill institute FOr natiOnal and GlObal health laW, hips (2020), available at bit.ly/DCSexWorkReforms.

Suggested Citation

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | iii

Executive Summary

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

for National and Global Health Law, 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.

This research found that

• Legal and policy reforms are needed to

improve the health and wellbeing for sex

workers.

• DC prostitution laws are not successful

at stopping sex work because people rely

on sex work for survival and for access to

money, housing, and other necessities.

• Harassment, violence, and coercion by

the police and others in the community

against sex workers are facilitated – indeed,

encouraged – because sex workers are

criminalized.

• Sex work is different from trafficking, but

criminalization of sex work allows exploiters

to use the threat of arrest to control and

traffic their victims.

• DC laws stigmatize sex workers, and

stigma creates barriers to accessing HIV

care and prevention, regular medical care,

community programs, and other services.

These barriers act to trap sex workers in

cycles of poverty and homelessness.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | iv

The quotes below are illustrative of the data

captured from community focus groups and

institutional stakeholder interviews: The findings point to four policy

actions that can yield significant

improvements in health and

wellbeing:

1. Reform the criminal code of the District of Columbia to eliminate criminal consensual commercial sexual exchange between adults.

2. Increase access to affordable housing.

3. Expand resources for job training and employment programs.

4. Strengthen efforts to address discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people.

“It’s a real challenge, I think, for people in the sex trade to be able to report any instances of violence.” – Yasmin Vafa, Executive Director, Rights4Girls

“The impact of arrests is you lose everything…. Like but when I came home I lost everything—family, money, whatever clothes I had. I had to start all over.”

“It’s survival to me. That’s what makes me want to do sex work because I don’t like asking people for money.”

QUOTES FROM COMMUNITY FOCUS GROUPS:

“You get caught in this cycle and it prevents you from being able to access health care. It prevents you from being able to access a job. And so, you are both stigmatized but you are also left in a position where you don’t have the tools to get yourself out” – Nassim Moshiree, Policy Director, ACLU of DC

QUOTES FROM INSTITUTIONAL STAKEHOLDERS:

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 1

Introduction

This report was prompted by a need to

understand how Washington, DC’s laws and

policies governing prostitution and solicitation

impact the health of marginalized communities.1

This report is informed by the results of the

community-based research conducted by the

Alliance for a Safe and Diverse DC in 20082 and

the DC Trans Coalition in 2015.3 The earlier

work addressed the lack of research on the

impact of policing and criminalization of sex

work on sex workers and transgender women

stereotyped as sex workers.4 These community-

based research projects identified that the laws

on prostitution in DC create barriers to HIV

prevention and care for transgender women and

gay and bisexual men, and contribute to violence

and discrimination against sex workers and

those stereotyped as sex workers.

This report places significant focus on the laws,

policies, and practices in DC and is intended to

inform policy makers. The research explores

the mechanisms of criminal laws and police

enforcement practices identified by earlier work.

The DC Council and the Metropolitan Police

Department (MPD) are identified as active policy

makers, and our recommendations focus on

policy changes in DC and within MPD that can

improve the health and safety of sex workers.

The report identifies how the government

can actively promote better health outcomes,

in particular through reducing violence and

reducing HIV infection for Black transgender

women and gay and bisexual men who engage in

sex work.5

OVERLAPPING CRISES

The District of Columbia is home to vibrant

lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer

(LGBTQ) and Black communities, containing

disproportionate numbers of each due to

the District’s history and reputation as a

haven of civil rights for marginalized people. 6

Unfortunately, LGBTQ and Black communities

in D.C. are experiencing twin crises of violence

and HIV, and Black LGBTQ people are most

impacted. Bias motivated crimes are on the rise

in DC, and most of these crimes are targeted

at LGBTQ and Black people (see table on this

page).7 Young, Black gay and bisexual men

accounted for 42% of new cases of HIV among

young gay and bisexual men in the United States

in 2018.8 A 2015 needs assessment conducted

by the DC Trans Coalition sheds light on the

impact of HIV and violence on the lives of

transgender women in DC. Compared to 2.5%

of the general population of DC residents, 20%

of transgender respondents reported living with

HIV, and 43% of transgender respondents who

had engaged in sex work reported living with

HIV.9 Rates of HIV acquisition are higher for

transgender women who engage in sex work

compared to those who do not. While nearly one

third of transgender women in DC report having

HIV, almost three quarters of transgender

Motivations and Numbers of Hate Crimes in Washington, DC in 2018

Sexual Orientation 61

Race 39

Ethnicity 36

Gender Identity 33

Religion 25

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 2

LEADING WITH RACE

Improving laws and policies for sex workers is a matter of racial justice. Nearly all of the sex workers who participated in this project identified as Black. Due to social and economic factors in addition to discrimination in the criminal justice system and other areas, Black people are vastly overrepresented in the sex work population and often face arrest and incarceration. While Black people account for 13% of the population in the United States, nearly 40% of adults and 60% of youth arrested for prostitution in 2015 were Black. Black women, especially Black transgender women, are more likely to engage in sex work and to be arrested and incarcerated for sex work-related offenses. In the United States, 28% of Black transgender people who responded to the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey (USTS) participated in sex work in their lifetimes, compared to 20% of all transgender people in the USTS sample, and Black transgender women represented a disproportionately high percentage of those who participated in sex work. In comparison, 1% of cisgender women in the United States report engaging in sex work. In the District of Columbia, transgender people have even higher rates of sex work participation with greater racial disparities. Over one third of respondents to the 2015 DC Trans Needs Assessment reported engaging in sex work in the past, and transgender women and transgender people of color were more likely to have a history of sex work than other transgender people. Notably, over half of Black and Hispanic transgender people had a history of sex work, compared to 12% of White transgender people.

Policing and criminalization of sex work are ways in which Black people are subjected of racial profiling, police violence, and mass incarceration. Black transgender women are particularly vulnerable. It is critical that we address the root causes of vulnerability. To do so, we must listen to Black people and place the experiences and needs of Black transgender women at the center of conversations about legal and policy reforms for sex workers. This requires recognizing the importance of decriminalizing sex work as well as acknowledging that any interaction with police is not desirable for most sex workers who are Black given histories of mistreatment by law enforcement. Beyond criminal justice issues, access to housing, employment, education, and health care are also important to Black people and other people of color who engage in sex work. Policy action is needed to address various forms of structural racism and oppression that sex workers experience.

Sources: (1) Federal Bureau of Investigation, Arrests by Race and Ethnicity, CRIME IN THE UNITED STATES tbl. 43 (2015), https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2015/crime-in-the-u.s.-2015/tables/table-43. (2) Sandy E. James et.al., The Report of the 2015 U.S. Transgender Survey, NAT’L CTR. FOR TRANSGENDER EQUAL. (Dec. 2016), https://www.transequality.org/sites/default/files/docs/USTS-Full-Report-FINAL.PDF. (3) Elijah A. Edelman et al., Access Denied: Washington, DC Trans Needs Assessment Report, DC TRANS COAL. (Nov. 2015), https://dctranscoalition.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/dctc-access-denied-final.pdf. (4) Prostitutes’ Education Network, Prostitution in the United States - The Statistics (2007).

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 3

people with a history of sex work in DC report

having HIV.10 Meanwhile, nationwide, only about

3% of transgender people at high risk for HIV

infection are taking pre-exposure prophylaxis

(PrEP), a pill that, when taken as prescribed,

reduces transmission of HIV by more than 96%.11

While data collection and reporting on

transgender communities are incomplete,

conservative calculations from 2015 estimate

that the murder rate for transgender women is

4.3 times higher than the murder rate for women

in the general population.12 Recent research on

the impact of structural interventions on public

health indicates that decriminalization of sex

work has the potential to reduce violence and

significantly lower rates of HIV transmission. 13

Gay and bisexual men and transgender

people disproportionately engage in sex work

due to employment discrimination.14 To get

a measure of the extent of anti-trans bias

in hiring, the DC Office of Human Rights

conducted a resume study and found that,

48% of the time, DC employers prefer a less-

qualified cisgender applicant over a more-

qualified transgender applicant. 15

This research finds that the violence and

disease in DC’s Black and LGBTQ communities

are attributable to the vulnerability that arises

from stigma and bias. A review of the literature

finds that an international community of public

health researchers and practitioners believe

that efforts to combat violence and disease are

more effective when they address the underlying

structural forces that contribute to stigma and

bias, forces which disproportionately affect

people in marginalized communities.

Background

A SOURCE OF VULNERABILITY

The growing international consensus is that

the criminalization of sex work erects barriers

to health, limits access to legal systems,

stigmatizes, and exacerbates racial disparities.

The United Nations’ Human Rights Council16,

Amnesty International17, the Global Alliance

Against Trafficking in Women18, Freedom

Network19, and Human Rights Watch20 critique

the criminalization of sex work from a human

rights perspective. Sex workers are unable to

access the protective features of legal systems

because of their participation in criminalized

work. A human rights analysis reveals that

criminalization submits sex workers to a paradox

by creating violent social conditions and cutting

off access to resources to ameliorate that

violence.21

The World Health Organization22, UNAIDS23,

the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to

Health24 identify that the criminalization of sex

work propagates stigmatizing messages about

sex work. Stigmatization of sex work, LGBTQ

people, and people living with HIV directly

contribute to elevated rates of HIV transmission

in priority populations.25

The Black Lives Matter26 movement, in addition

to the international organizations listed above,

critiques criminal laws around sex work as

discriminatory against marginalized groups.

Laws criminalizing sex work have resulted in

the disproportionate incarceration of Black and

Brown people, immigrants, and LGBTQ people.27

Arrest, incarceration, and criminal records are

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 4

additional burdens for members of communities

that already experience discrimination in

employment, housing, education, and health care.

This research focuses on the experiences

of community participants as sex workers,

but their identities and relationships are

multifaceted and complex. Sex workers are

parents, children, spouses, renters, friends,

and taxpayers. The human rights approach

critiques criminalization of sex work as isolating

sex workers by criminalizing the economic

transactions that go along with it, including

paying rent, a driver, a security guard, or a

babysitter. 28 The human rights community and

the public health literature recognize that an

approach to reform that allows sex workers

to organize and advocate collectively is more

effective. Research on collectivists projects

find that they are safer and healthier; reporting

increased condom usage and reductions in

client and third-party violence.29

THEORIES OF CRIMINALIZATION

Sex work is criminalized under a theory that the

criminal and social consequences of operating

in the sex trades will prevent and deter people

from engaging in sex work. Some policy makers

justify these laws with moral or religious beliefs

that condemn sex work as inherently immoral

or the belief that sex work is so exploitative of

women that no woman would freely choose

to engage in it.30 Other justifications are that

sex work is associated with organized crime,

gambling, and illicit drugs and is socially

undesirable in its own right or because it

“spreads” disease and crime.31 Some believe

that sex work must be criminalized because law

enforcement needs to arrest sex workers to stop

human trafficking, or that all sex work is coerced

and therefore sex work is indistinguishable from

sex trafficking.32

CURRENT LEGAL LANDSCAPE

States and cities have the power to legislate

around sex work. Sex work is criminalized

throughout much of the United States. Aside

from a few counties in Nevada, selling or

buying sexual services in the United States is

a criminal offense that results in fines and jail

time. Other states laws adopt “prostitution”

and “solicitation” prohibitions to limit exposure

to negative externalities of sex work like public

visibility of sex workers or their clients. 33

Local Laws and Advocacy Efforts

The District of Columbia currently criminalizes

engaging in or soliciting prostitution.

Washington, DC imposes penalties ranging from

a maximum fine of $500 and 1 to 90 days in jail

for a first offense, to a fine of $1,000 and 1 to 180

days of imprisonment for the third offense.34

Acts and behaviors that are criminalized under

the District’s prostitution laws are found in DC

Code §§ 22-2701 – 22-273. Criminalized acts

include the following:

• Prostitution, defined as performing a sexual

act or contact with another person in return

for giving or receiving anything of value;

• Soliciting for prostitution;

• Arranging for prostitution, pandering,

or procuring;

• Operating or keeping a “house of prostitution”

or a “disorderly or bawdy house”; and

• Coercive, non-consensual activities and

activities involving minors.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 5

TIMELINE OF DC’S PROSTITUTION POLICIES

Note: See Appendix A for a narrative of this historical timeline with greater details

DC’s prostitution laws and policies have changed throughout the years, often following cultural

shifts and sustained advocacy.

Congress passed legislation to define and

prohibit pandering in the District.

Congress criminalized solicitation for prostitution

in the District.

DC Council passed laws restricting freedom of

movement and empowering MPD to stop, search, and arrest people suspected of sex work.

Street signs were installed in the District to prohibit

right turns at certain times and intersections to prevent clients from

circling blocks where sex workers gathered.

Congress passed legislation to restrict “houses of

lewdness, assignation and prostitution” in the District.

MPD forcibly removed sex workers from downtown DC

to Virginia.

DC Council passed a 90- day bill criminalizing people

for wearing revealing clothing and for repeatedly engaging in conversation

with passersby for the purpose of prostitution.

1910 1935 1990s Late 1990s1914 1989 1998

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 6

Note: See Appendix A for a narrative of this historical timeline with greater details

Mayor Muriel Bowser convened a Working Group to explore potential diversion programs for sex workers.

MPD data revealed significant racial disparities in policing practices, specifically finding that MPD stopped Black

people in excess of their demographic make-up by 14%-39%, depending on the outcome and type of police encounter

The Human Trafficking and Narcotics Unit of MPD conducted

extensive enforcement operations, resulting in over 200 arrests for

solicitation and prostitution.

DC Council passed legislation to suppress sex work, including laws declaring indoor sex work a nuisance, impounding vehicles used in furtherance of a prostitution-related offense,

and empowering the police chief to create “prostitution free zones” (PFZs).

Human Rights Watch published a report on

MPD officers’ interactions with sex workers, and in

response, MPD launched a public education campaign

for its officers.

DC Council repealed PFZs.Sex workers and

communities of transgender people organized the

Alliance for a Safe and Diverse DC. DC Council passed

the Neighborhood Engagement Achieves

Results (NEAR) Act. Alliance for a Safe and

Diverse DC organized to challenge MPD policies

and secure support from District officials

and organizations.

201920152006 2012 20142005 20162007- 2008

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 7

Neither sexual activities involving coercion nor

minors are the subject of this research.

Presently and in this report, MPD characterizes

its enforcement tactics as consisting of

two actions: responding to requests of

neighborhood residents complaining about the

presence of sex workers around the District35

and sporadic sting operations targeting

street and hotel-based sex workers. MPD

sting operations have come under scrutiny.

Investigative reports find that undercover

operations fail to arrest traffickers and subject

sex workers to sexual contact by officers,

tactics which are unnecessary to meet the

legal standard for arrest.36 There have been

reports of MPD officer misconduct and reports

of harassment, extortion, and assault of sex

workers by law enforcement officers in the

District and surrounding jurisdictions.37

Advocacy and education by the DecrimNow

DC campaign built around the efforts to

pass a decriminalization bill, the Reducing

Criminalization to Promote Public Safety and

Health Amendment Act of 2017 during the 22nd

legislative session and the Community Safety

and Health Amendment Act of 2019 during the

23rd legislative session. The 2019 bill would

decriminalize consensual commercial sexual

exchange involving adults, repeal portions of

the criminal code criminalizing places of sex

work, and heighten the standard for consent

for cooperation between sex workers.38 The

advocacy around this effort resulted in a 14-hour

Judiciary Committee hearing in October 2019.

HIPS and Whitman-Walker are supporters of this

campaign and testified in favor of the bill during

a 2019 committee hearing.

Source: Screen Capture, The Community Safety and Health Amendment Act of 2019: Hearing on Bill 23-0318, Council of the District of Columbia (October 17. 2019) (Forefront from left: HIPS Staff members, T. Spellman, A. Bradley, J. Martinez, testify in support of the bill and billionaire S. Hunt testifies against the bill while council members and staff look on), http://dc.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=44.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 8

Additional calls for reform came from the Black

Lives Matter protests sparked by the death

of George Floyd on May 25, 2020. Ongoing,

nationwide protests against police violence

reached a crescendo in the summer of 2020.

In DC, protests called for decreasing the MPD

budget, greater police accountability, and

greater investments in community supports.

In response to advocacy and activism in DC,

the DC Council introduced the Comprehensive

Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act

of 2020 on July 31, 2020.39 The legislation

is primarily a series of reforms to increase

transparency and accountability around use of

force by police. The bill would introduce reforms

to MPD hiring and training practices, enhance

access to the vote for people in prisons and jails,

and repeal a DC law that criminalized an officer

for neglecting to make an arrest when a crime

is committed in their presence. It is unclear

whether these reforms will pass the Council

or how much or how quickly these reforms

would affect MPD practices and the material

conditions of DC’s sex worker and transgender

communities. While Chief of Police Peter

Newsham has characterized the MPD as being

engaged in reform for the past two decades,40

there appears to be resistance to the new

reforms from within the MPD. For example, on

August 10, 2020, the DC police union, which

represents the approximately 3,600 MPD

officers, filed a lawsuit seeking to block the

release of body-camera footage.41

Federal Laws

The federal government’s powers are restricted

by constitutional limits. The federal government

has passed laws targeting criminal enterprises

that cross state lines under the power of the

Commerce Clause.42 Recent federal laws include

the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000,

which provides additional tools for investigating

and prosecuting human traffickers,43 and

the Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act and Stop

Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (FOSTA-SESTA),

which allows website owners to be held liable for

transactional sex facilitated on their websites.44

Even before FOSTA-SESTA was enacted, the

federal government took numerous actions

to shut down websites used by sex workers,

including MyRedbook.com in 2014, Rentboy.

com in 2015, and Backpage.com in 2018. Fear

of increased liability from FOSTA-SESTA and

federal enforcement caused Craigslist, Google,

and others to remove portions of their sites most

often used by sex workers.45 FOSTA-SESTA

is criticized for making sex work less safe by

curtailing the ability to negotiate and screen

clients beforehand.46

At the time of publication of this report,

Congress is considering another bill aimed

at regulating content on the internet, the

Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of

Interactive Technologies Act of 2020 (EARN

IT).47 Like FOSTA-SESTA, EARN IT proposes

to expand criminal and civil liabilities for

internet services based on user-generated

content.48 The bill has received criticism from

supporters of internet freedom for enlisting

private companies to proactively search and

censor their content, which restricts speech

without recourse or appeal.49 The EARN IT Act,

if passed, is likely to make it more for difficult

to sex workers to operate in online spaces,

exacerbating many of the harms of FOSTA-

SESTA (see Text Box).

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 9

FOSTA-SESTA HARMS SEX WORKERS

The Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act (FOSTA) and the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA), known together as FOSTA-SESTA, became federal law on April 11, 2018. While FOSTA-SESTA ostensibly focuses on curbing sex trafficking on online platforms, there is little evidence that the law has actually reduced sex trafficking, even as it has vastly expanded liability for all online platforms, including those that host content related to consensual sex work. Not only does FOSTA- SESTA allow law enforcement to pursue civil penalties against online platforms for “knowingly assisting, facilitating, or supporting sex trafficking,” but it also penalizes online platforms that “promote or facilitate prostitution.” As a result of this overbroad and unclearly written language, online platforms that host advertisements for sex workers, such as CityVibe, shut down, and websites such as Google and Craigslist eliminated large portions of their platforms that they feared could be in violation of the new law. In consequence, sex workers who used those platforms have been negatively impacted.

A major effect of FOSTA-SESTA is its elimination of a safety mechanism that sex workers greatly relied on, namely their ability to review and screen clients before in-person meetings. Research indicates that online platforms that allow sex workers to advertise, vet, and choose clients create safer work environments. Some online platforms even provided the opportunity for sex workers to screen clients for safety via peer references or “bad-date lists,” but these lists were mostly deleted because they could expose online platforms to civil liability under FOSTA-SESTA. With at least parts of online platforms shuttering due to FOSTA-SESTA, sex workers have been forced to find clients on the street, where they have fewer advance safety precautions in place and are more susceptible to violence. A study from Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics (COYOTE) found that following the passage of FOSTA-SESTA, sex workers reported a 28% drop in screening clients and reported taking more risks to access clients.

Additionally, FOSTA-SESTA has jeopardized the livelihood and financial security of sex workers. Online platforms offered a sense of stability and predictability in terms of financial income, but after FOSTA- SESTA was passed, respondents in one study of sex workers noted that their main source of income had now become more unstable. Some respondents in that study stated that they are now “always barely scraping by” or are now “...homeless and can’t pay the bills.”

Lastly, the implementation of FOSTA-SESTA has had a significant impact on the mental health and wellbeing of sex workers, mainly because of the law’s disruption of the online community and ability to connect with others. Online platforms are spaces to share resources and build community, but the new law has prevented sex workers from accessing these spaces and has contributed to increased fear and anxiety among sex workers.

Sources: (1) Pub. L. No. 115-164, 132 Stat. 1253 (2018) (codified as amended at 18 U.S.C. §§ 1591, 1595, 2421A and 47 U.S.C. § 230). (2) Aja Romano, A new law intended to curb sex trafficking threatens the future of the internet as we know it, VOX (July 2, 2018, 1:08 pm EDT), https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/4/13/17172762/fosta-sesta-backpage-230-internet- freedom. (3) Danielle Blunt, Ariel Wolf & Naomi Lauren, Erased: The Impact of FOSTA-SESTA, hackinG//hustlinG 1, 20, https:// hackinghustling.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/HackingHustling-Erased.pdf (last visited Oct. 11, 2020). (4) Noah Berlatsky, Female homicide rate dropped after Craigslist launched its erotic services platform, THINKPROGRESS, (Oct. 20, 2017, 1:19 pm EDT), https://thinkprogress.org/craigslist-erotic-services-platform- 3eab46092717/. (5) COYOTE-RI Impact Survey Results 2018, SWOP-SEATTLE 1, 17, http://www.swop-seattle.org/wp-content/ uploads/2018/11/COYOTE-Survey-Results-2018.pdf (last visited Oct. 15, 2020). (6) D Blunt & A Wolf, Erased: The impact of FOSTA-SESTA and the removal of Backpage on sex-workers,14 anti- traFFickinG revieW 117, 118-19 (2020), https://doi.org/10.14197/atr.201220148.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 10

Research on Protecting Sex Workers and Promoting Health and Wellbeing

RESEARCH METHODS

In December 2016, the O’Neill Institute,

Whitman-Walker, and HIPS received a grant

from the Elton John AIDS Foundation for

this research project. The research project

consisted of three focus groups with a total of

27 individuals, at least 18 years old, who had

engaged in commercial sex work (exchanged sex

for money or some other type of compensation)

within the past two years, and individual

interviews with 13 institutional stakeholders

– DC police officials, other DC public officials,

lawyers who represent sex workers in criminal

proceedings, immigration attorneys, social

service providers, and community activists

who work with sex workers and sex trafficking

victims. All research forms and protocols

were approved by Georgetown University’s

Institutional Review Board (IRB), and all

individuals involved in the facilitation of focus

groups, interviews of institutional stakeholders,

or review or analysis of data completed

Georgetown University’s human subjects

research training.

Focus Groups with Community Participants Two focus groups of individuals who disclosed

that they had engaged in commercial sex work

within the past two years were held at HIPS

offices in Northeast DC on September 11 and

September 25, 2017. Focus group participants

were recruited by HIPS by word of mouth

and venue-based recruitment at HIPS and

Whitman-Walker’s health centers. A third focus

group was held at Whitman-Walker’s health

center in Northwest DC on December 19,

2017; participants in that group were recruited

by Whitman-Walker. A total of 27 individuals

participated in the focus groups. Participants

received lunch and each participant received

$50 in the form of a gift card at the end of the

focus group. Individuals could participate in

only one focus group. All three groups were

facilitated by a Whitman-Walker researcher

trained in qualitative research methodologies,

with the assistance of staff from HIPS and

the O’Neill Institute, following the written IRB-

approved focus group protocol.

Prior to the commencement of each focus

group, participants received written and oral

explanations of the study and of their rights, and

each participant signed a consent form. Each

participant then met separately, in a private

setting, with a researcher, who asked IRB-

approved survey questions to the participant

and recorded the participant’s answers on a

standardized form. The survey included questions

about demographic characteristics, experience

with sex work, history of arrest and incarceration,

HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and

access to health care. Appendix A contains a table

of community focus group participant responses

to survey questions. Participants’ names were

not recorded on the surveys, and during the

focus groups, participants were advised to avoid

referring to other participants, or others engaged

in sex work, by name. Focus group discussions

were taped, and the recordings were transcribed.

The transcriptions were reviewed and the very

few references to an individual participant’s name

were redacted. Formal focus group sessions

lasted between one and one-half hours and two

and a quarter hours.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 11

Individual Interviews with Institutional Stakeholders

Institutional stakeholders were recruited jointly

by Whitman-Walker, O’Neill Institute, and HIPS

staff, with the aim of ensuring perspectives

from across DC government, human services,

and legal and public health officials. Individuals

who agreed to interviews included; two officials

of the DC Metropolitan Police Department

(interviewed jointly at their request); officials

of the DC Department of Health and the DC

Office of Police Complaints; an elected Member

of the Council of the District of Columbia and a

member of his staff; an immigration attorney at

Whitman-Walker and two attorneys at a nonprofit

that represents sex workers in criminal and

other cases; an attorney with the ACLU-DC; a

community transgender activist; and two service

providers and advocates for youth and victims of

sex trafficking. Appendix B lists all interviewees.

Interviews were conducted in person and lasted

approximately one to one and one-half hours.

Interviews were taped, and the recordings were

transcribed. Institutional stakeholder affiliations

are listed for context only and their comments

do not necessarily represent the beliefs or policy

positions of the entities listed. While some of the

institutional stakeholders have changed roles,

they are identified in this report by their role at

the time the research was conducted.

Results from Community Focus Groups

The focus groups with members of the sex

worker community consisted of a discussion

of the following topic areas: (1) motivations and

reasons for engaging in sex work, (2) experiences

of engaging in sex work, (3) experiences with

police and the criminal justice system, (4)

consequences of arrest and incarceration, and

(5) views on reforming sex work criminal laws.

The following section discusses the major focus

group findings in each of these topic areas.

Results from the focus group participant survey

are included to provide a more comprehensive

portrait of the topic areas and to supplement the

focus group findings.

Participants ranged in age from 20 to 55 years

old, with a majority in their 20s and 30s. All but

one of the participants identified as Black. Two-

thirds of participants were transgender women

who identified as a range of sexual orientations,

and 30% identified were cisgender men, all

of whom identified as gay or bisexual. One

participant was a bisexual, cisgender woman.

MOTIVATIONS AND REASONS FOR ENGAGING IN SEX WORK

Community participants noted various reasons

for engaging in sex work. The most commonly

reported reason for engaging in sex work was

the motivation to earn a livelihood. All but one

participant mentioned the need for money. A

majority of participants (60%) reported that

substance use was tied to their motivation for

engaging in sex work. Specifically, sex work

was a way to earn money to buy drugs. Many

participants discussed their struggles with

substance use and addiction, suggesting that

these sex workers could benefit from behavioral

health services. Substance use may also be a

way of coping with stress and discrimination,

including in the context of sex work. One

participant said, “I may have been at this time

active in my drug addiction. Due to housing,

due to stigma, due to all this, I’m doing the only

thing I know how to cope with.”

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SUMMARY OF FOCUS GROUP RESULTS

As the District considers efforts to improve the health and wellbeing of sex workers, it is important to heed the voices experiences and recommendations of sex workers. The following themes emerged from focus groups with community participants who engaged in sex work in the District:

1. Motivations and reasons for engaging in sex work: Community participants stated that they engaged in sex work to make a living, earn money to buy drugs (noting struggles with substance use and addition and a need for behavioral health services), and access to housing and food. Participants, especially those who identified as transgender, faced significant socioeconomic challenges. While participants had many barriers to housing and employment, they emphasized their own agency in sex work and viewed sex work as survival.

2. Experiences of engaging in sex work: Community participants noted their desire to protect their overall health and wellbeing while engaging in sex work. While participants recognized that sex work places them at risk for contracting HIV and STIs, participants encountered barriers to effective HIV prevention. Participants living with HIV reported health and mental health challenges, including stress due to their HIV status and problems with storing and taking HIV medications. Transgender participants discussed their needs for accessing gender- affirming health care without stigma and discrimination. The majority of participants reported experiencing physical or sexual abuse from sex work clients.

3. Encounters with police and the criminal justice system: An overwhelming number of community participants had negative encounters with police in DC. Officers were reported to have often mistreated, profiled, and harassed transgender sex workers and physically and sexually abused sex workers either during arrests or actual client interactions with officers. Because of mistreatment, sting operations, and officers’ lack of cultural competency, participants had a strong mistrust of law enforcement. Participants noted that they were unwilling to call the police when they were victims of crimes because they feared arrest, worried about being harassed, or just did not think the police would do anything.

4. Consequences of arrest and incarceration: Most community participants reported a history of incarceration. Arrests and criminal convictions have negatively impacted their lives. When arrested, community participants were often charged with prostitution or solicitation. Other common reasons for arrest while engaging in sex work included drug crimes, failure to obey an officer, and disorderly conduct. The reported negative effects of arrest and incarceration included reduced access to health care and medication while imprisoned, worse health and wellbeing, economic instability, housing insecurity, and lack of social support from family members and community networks.

5. Views on reforming sex work criminal laws: There was a strong consensus that the current criminalization model regarding sex work was unacceptable. Full decriminalization was favored as an alternative to the current approach over the options of partial decriminalization and the legalization of sex work.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 13

Access to housing (41%) and food (37%) were

commonly cited by participants as reasons for

engaging in sex work. Participants situated

their reasons for engaging in sex work cited

in a larger context where structural factors

(such as socioeconomic status, housing,

and employment) and survival needs play a

significant role in their motivations.

Socioeconomic Status

Community participants faced significant

socioeconomic challenges in their lives. Nearly

three-fourths of our participants (74%) lived below

the federal poverty level ($12,060 annually in

2017), 70% reported unstable housing in the past

2 years, 59% had a high school diploma/General

Educational Development or less, and 85% had

a history of incarceration. Employment options

outside of sex work were limited. In the past two

years, the majority of participants (52%) earned all

or most of their income from sex work, and 70%

engaged in sex work at least once a week.

Housing and Employment

Barriers to housing and employment

contributed most strongly to participants’

low socioeconomic status. Participants often

said their inability to obtain housing or a job

resulted from anti-transgender discrimination.

One participant elaborated on gay, bisexual,

and transgender people not being afforded

educational opportunities that would put them

in a good position for housing and jobs:

“There are not a lot of [LGBT] people who are in a place to get an education to qualify for jobs like yours or yours. But it goes back to housing and not having food, and not having this and not having that because they are not afforded it.”

Participants repeatedly underscored that housing

was a critical issue for sex workers. Securing

housing was not only seen as a motivator for

engaging in sex work, but as a key approach for

better meeting the need of sex workers.

“Housing is very important. Once you got a house, then everything else will fall in place.”

“We need housing. Without housing, we cannot take our pills, we cannot make meetings, we cannot have stability. Without housing, everything is in an uproar.”

“It gets really emotional to talk about housing. Because it’s a constant struggle. Homelessness is a constant struggle because there is no curb to homelessness…. It’s a constant struggle. And it gets more and more emotional because you are worried about it. You’re worried about it.”

“I hope some change will come to get us housing, not so drastic. It all comes back to housing in the end. Some housing if you get lucky… I hope each individual gentleman and girl in here, if they don’t have housing have the opportunity to get it, keep it. Because you don’t know when you have the opportunity to get it back. But I hope you have the opportunity because it won’t stop until you have some housing.”

Sex Work as Survival

While participants struggled with poverty and

having few options for work and housing, they

repeatedly emphasized their own agency in sex

work. None of the participants characterized

themselves as victims of trafficking. Instead of

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 14

victimhood, participants repeatedly mentioned

“survival” in connection with their sex work.

Survival meant different things to different

participants. For many participants, survival

meant engaging in sex work to cover basic

necessities and to avoid homelessness and

encounters with the police.

“Of course, like I said a lot of times people just do that because their back is up against the wall. Somebody needs a quick dollar.”

“So this is survival and if I don’t do this then I’m going to be in the streets, where I gotta deal with the police. And I’m still dealing with everything as a whole.”

“Sex work to me has become a way of life. It was first out of necessity because I did it to help my family and then it became something that I got used to doing.”

At the same time, participants framed survival

in a positive manner. They denoted a sense of

power in their choice to engage in sex work. For

those participants, sex work was empowering

because they could take care of themselves and

did not have to rely on others.

“Taking this word ‘sex work’ that ya’ll so badly beat up and turned it in to such a dirty thing, that its survival to us. Without that sex work procedure, we don’t eat at night or we don’t sleep at night, or we cannot protect ourselves.”

“I was very proud of, because I think that being a sex worker is very honorable because you’ve giving up yourself and you’re getting money for it. You’re giving services. This isn’t violence, I’m working for

people, and I’m getting my money and providing a service. Survival. It’s an honorable job. It’s a survival,

it’s for survival, I mean right.”

“It’s survival to me. That’s what makes me want to do sex work because I don’t like asking people for money.”

“Sex work to me is survival. I am doing it just to survive. It’s not like I am doing it just to be the hottest thing on the street. That’s what we do to eat. Appearance, transportation, everything that [is] anything that revolves around money. Even if we were to have help from our parents, it’s us being how we are. We would rather make it on our own.”

Some participants found sex work to be an easy

and acceptable occupation. One sex worker

stated that sex work was a skill that they picked

up and honed. Sex work was also discussed

as a lifestyle or way of life and viewed as a

good option given their wants, aspirations, and

circumstances. Still others found sex work to be

difficult and changed their attitude over time as

they became either used to sex work or tired of it.

“To me sex work is its own career, it is its own type of work, it is its own job.”

“Sex work to me is survival and it’s a skill, because to be honest I’m good at it. It went from me graduating, life hit me hard. As soon as I graduated it was like boom you’re grown, what you want to do. And I made the best of it coming from two years ago to where I’m at now. I can say that I picked on quick.”

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 15

“A lot of people like it for the lifestyle…. It’s a lifestyle you looking for the attention, you looking for the dollar, it has to be done in order to meet your everyday needs or your every month needs.”

“Sex work to me is a way of life, it’s survival, but I feel like it’s kind of overrated and sometimes it’s draining, it’s physically, mentally, and spiritually draining

sometimes.”

There were participants who discussed stopping

sex work, but how participants felt about

stopping varied enormously. A few participants

stated that they would stop engaging in sex

work if they found a suitable alternative job or

had housing. While discussing this topic, one

participant responded, “A job, a place to lay

my head, a therapist that is just not going to

sit there and write down what I’m saying but

is actually want to get inside my brain and not

judge me.” A transgender participant said,

“A place, and my surgeries and I’ll be out.”

However, not all participants shared this view.

For example, another transgender participant

said, “Nobody can really do anything to make

me stop. Even if I do get a house, a car, and all

that, I’m still going to do what I need to do to

make that extra money.”

EXPERIENCES OF ENGAGING IN SEX WORK

Prior research has indicated different experiences

of stigma, violence, and criminalization between

sex workers who meet their clients on the street

and sex workers who meet their clients on the

internet. In the past two years, 85% of focus

group participants reported engaging in street-

based sex work, compared to 74% of participants

who reported engaging in internet-based sex

work. While most participants engaged in both

street-based and internet-based sex work, 26%

of participants only met clients on the street,

and 15% only met their partners on the internet.

Other places where participants reported meeting

clients included brothels or massage parlors (11%),

a bar (4%), and a bathhouse (4%). Regardless of

where participants met their clients, participants

commonly engaged in the transactional sex

either at a hotel (64%) or a private home (52%).

Participants also reported sex occurring in

brothels, massage parlors or bathhouses as well

as in a car or outside.

HIV and STIs

HIV and sexually transmitted infections (STIs)

are major health concerns for many sex workers.

Participants discussed their desire to protect

their sexual health, recognizing that sex work

places them at risk for contracting HIV and STIs.

Some participants noted that gay and bisexual

men and transgender women are heavily

impacted by HIV and STIs generally, but they

further discussed how sex work increased risk.

“HIV is a top priority. I’m negative but I guess it’s easier to say than do when you don’t have it because you tend to push it as a back burner.”

“When it comes to HIV even though I’m not positive, it ranks high for me too. I think coming into contact with people who are HIV positive and seeing the physical struggles that they go through and the mental struggles that they go through, to protect myself from that. It becomes very high ranking. I used to not really think about it, but now I do.”

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“To me I would think that catching STDs is, STIs, would be most important to me. Because with sex work and without sex work, there is a lot of unprotected sex in the gay community. And that is probably the main thing on my mind after I finish having sex with somebody or even before I think about having sex. It is the main thing that I’m thinking about, is who doesn’t have it, if I’m going to catch it, if I’m not going to catch it.”

A number of participants noted the importance

of getting tested for HIV and STIs and discussing

their engagement in sex work with health care

providers. All eight participants who reported

not having HIV indicated that they had an HIV

test in the past year, but participants faced

barriers to effective HIV prevention. While

these participants reported that they had heard

of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), only two

of the eight participants reported using PrEP.

Among the two people who had used PrEP, one

said she was non-adherent (“I don’t really take

it”), and the other said she only used it after an

accident, i.e. condom break. Another barrier

to HIV prevention was that 30% of participants

reported not disclosing to health care providers

that they do sex work. One participant expressed

a reluctance to disclose this information because

of stigma and bias against sex work. Participants

described the stigma of being a sex worker as one

of multiple stigmas they experience, including

the stigma of being gay, bisexual, or transgender,

the stigma of being of person of color, the stigma

of being homeless, the stigma of being in jail or

prison, and the stigma of living which HIV, all of

which can have a negative effect on taking care of

their sexual health.

“I’m free when it comes to talking about my health care with my provider…. So I didn’t have any problem with talking to them about me being a sex worker. You know I am frequently asked can I be tested for STDs. So she asked if I am a sex worker, I said yes. I don’t feel like I should hide it. You are my medical provider. Number one with me.”

“It basically makes you feel reluctant to mention that you actually do sex work. You might want to say oh I do sex work, and they look at you kind of funny because of all the stigma and bias are related to sex work. Like they don’t want to help you or you’re too much of risk to help you and certain other things you have going on. Like, oh, you might not be a good fit because you are currently sex working and things of that nature…. You may not go. You may not mention that you do sex work.”

Difficulties in negotiating condom usage in

the context of sex work was also discussed.

Participants described that when clients offer

more money to not use condoms, sex workers

sometimes agree because they need the

money to survive. One participant elaborated

as follows: “Everybody don’t have to know if I

use condoms, or I don’t use condoms, I have

to make that rent money because if somebody

comes and says I have $500 for your rent today

and my rent is due, I‘m behind. I trust you’re

gonna remove that condom. We’re gonna make

this work. I’m going to pray to the gods that

I don’t catch nothing, but I need that five, ya

know what I’m saying, because this is survival.”

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 17

The majority of participants (70%) reported

having an HIV diagnosis. For those participants,

accessing HIV treatment and care was considered

one of their top health priorities. Participants

living with HIV said that HIV was stressful and

affected their physical, mental, and social

wellbeing. They emphasized the importance

of accessing health care, making medical

appointments, and adhering to HIV antiretroviral

therapy. One participant worried about having

a secure place to store HIV medication, noting

that sex workers who are unstably housed would

not be inclined to carry pills with them, but also

do not want to leave pills in a location where

they could be stolen. Another participant noted

that an arrest related to sex work can also result

in medication disruption because they did not

receive the medication they needed and asked for

in the DC jail.

“I think probably the most important health care would be most likely be like HIV health care and receiving AIDS care. Being able to have access to people so you can go and get them.”

“It’s the highest rank for me because it’s stressful. It’s just stressful. You can’t have a normal relationship, you have to be very healthful because your immune system is so affected by it. It is just a lot. That is the most stressful thing.”

“Make sure you take your meds everyday if you’re HIV positive, or um just get regular checks with your doctor because you never know. You could be walking around with an STI

and you probably won’t know it.”

“Speaking for me, when I am homeless, the last thing on my mind is taking my HIV pills. The first thing on my mind is where I am going to lay my head. Then how long I can lay my head there. Can I leave my HIV pills there and not come back and they be gone…. And if you are not one pill [a] day like me, thank God. Then if you got seven packs of pills, you’re not going to carry them in your purse and they start jiggling.”

“Every time you go through DC Court jail system you already know what’s about to be there….You ask for some medicine, they don’t have no medicine.”

Occupational Violence

Participants talked about the dangers and

risks they faced while engaging in sex work.

The majority of participants (56%) reported

experiencing physical or sexual abuse from

clients in the past two years.

“A lot comes from sex work. You get

beat up, you get robbed, you get cut.”

“I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been in rooms and in different states with girls and had a gun pulled on

me.”

“Last year I was shot and I almost died. I was on [deleted] Avenue prostituting.”

The violence that participants experienced

during sex work also stemmed from people who

were not their clients. In addition to violence

from police officers discussed in the next

section, participants reported violence from

other third parties. Violence from third parties

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 18

such as strangers in the area was an issue that

rendered street-based sex workers particularly

vulnerable.

“I was on [deleted] street and some boys came out on [deleted] street with paintball guns and they were

shooting girls on the stroll.”

“That time when [someone] got hit by a car. You know when you’re coming from [deleted] Avenue and the lower ledge that everybody be at, and the lower fence that’s right there. Out of nowhere, we were just all standing there, and you hear her screaming. And all you see is her wig scrambling up from up under the car and she was limping, and some Mexican man tried to stab her

or something.”

In part due to experiencing violence and other

stressors in the context of sex work, participants

emphasized that mental health was a priority.

They discussed the need to address stigma and

depression as well as alcohol and substance use.

“The main thing for me would be how to deal with stress. Stress can take a tear on your body: mentally, physically, emotionally. Especially your mental. So if you learn how to deal with stress, I think your life

will be a lot better.”

“The mental health aspect is a big deal. Because you got to understand that we, or I, coming into this community open and honest, you have to deal with a lot of stigma coming from society and previous people I used to know. The acceptance piece and am I being accepted by that. I personally suffer

from depression, so that coupled with society’s stigmatisms, and a lot of the unprotected sex, partner to partner, the non-trustworthiness. The mental health piece and holistic health piece is the most important part...I mean mental, spiritual, emotional, physical. All that coupled into one. We are, I am not new, but I am coming into a point of comfort. But that comes with mentally, spiritually, emotionally, just having a strong outer exterior to deal with what’s coming at me on a day-to- day basis”

“I don’t think, um, African Americans address mental health issues like they should. We’re so used to self-medicating, if it’s drinking, or drugging, or um substituting drinking with sex.”

ENCOUNTERS WITH POLICE AND THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Nearly all participants talked about negative

interactions with police in DC. These negative

interactions include harassment, abuse, and

violence from Metropolitan Police Department

(MPD) officers as well as from United States

Park Police and Capitol Police. The following

information focuses on the MPD.

Harassment

Transgender sex workers reported

mistreatment associated with their gender

identity. For example, police officers often

mis-gendered transgender sex workers, asked

invasive questions about their anatomy, and

verbally harassed and demeaned them.

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HEALTH NEEDS OF TRANSGENDER SEX WORKERS

Two-thirds of focus groups participants identified as transgender. Transgender sex workers ranked gender-affirming services as a top health issue. Participants reported that access to gender- affirming health care was important and generally available to them in DC, but that they face stigma and discrimination accessing care at health facilities and in jail and prison. They emphasized the importance of addressing the comprehensive needs of transgender sex workers, including hormone therapy and surgeries as well as mental health, assistance with name changes and insurance, and risk for breast cancer and other health problems. Participants indicated that health facilities like Whitman-Walker Health provide high-quality health care to transgender people and mentioned that transgender people in the DC Jail are able to receive hormone treatment and therapy and were housed consistent with their gender identity. However, they noted that in other jurisdictions it is common to be taken off hormones and other medications in jail or prison. Some participants told stories of being unable to get trans-competent care in DC and experiencing stigma and discrimination from providers at health facilities.

“Basically getting your bloodwork done to test your levels of estrogen in your blood, just checking your blood out, making sure your liver is not being overwhelmed by every medication.”

“As well as I think another thing as for transgender women, we suffer from and we get the same thing by us taking hormones we take. We have the risk of catching breast cancer and things like that, so I think that we need to be more allowing to speak of and help you with keeping up with whether or not you have things of that nature.”

“Because that’s a part of treatment, I have to go through mental health first before they approve me for all my surgeries. The letter is showing you want to be a woman, they can’t approve you for surgery, you got to go through mental health first.”

“I was told by them that they couldn’t take me. Because of me being transgender they didn’t have everything, and the capability to fit my needs…. That’s just the stigma of being transgender.”

“I can say is, why I love DC more is that they are more transgender friendly. We go to prison, we have the right to go with women now. We got to treatment, we have the right to go with women. Unless you take your wig off, but now DC is only where transgender can be in the prison with women without sex changes. DC is the only. Almost all transgenders move to D.C., they are almost the only ones that have free hormones right now.”

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 20

“On the stroll, they are so nasty. They call you boy, they call you [male name]. There used to be an officer that would snatch the girls’ wigs off, and he used to ride down the stroll and if a date would try to pull up to you, he would be like you know that’s a boy. His name is [male name].”

“Okay like me, some officers would try us because your ID says such and such, or your ID says F, they still try us, for real what is your real name. You don’t have the right to ask me my real name. That is my name. A lot of officers try in their mind they can’t take you anymore. So when I give them my ID, I say “here ya go”, and they say “so what you got down there?” And I say “what you mean what I got down there”, “you wanna see it?”. That’s harassment.”

“The way the computer systems are set up is that when you first get locked up, you get locked up under your boy name. They call you by that even if you have a whole name change, even if your ID says female, even if you have breast implants, even if you have a full surgery. They will still be like [male name].”

In addition, many transgender sex workers

reported being subjected to profiling, i.e., police

targeting them as suspected sex workers merely

for being transgender and for being on the street

at night rather than on the basis of any observed

illegal activity. Participants recount that there is

often the assumption based on appearance, being

known to officers as a sex worker, or being in an

area associated with sex work that individuals are

sex workers, and this is particularly the case for

transgender women of color.

“So it’s just not even being able to walk down, you’re talking about harassment you know. It’s automatically being seen as, you know as everyone said at the table, like we’re the problem.”

“He stopped her, and she got smart. She like why you stopped us. We are not prostituting. We are not doing

anything.”

“I see the police, it was one day recently that they had the white trucks out and the police was like, me and another transgender were standing on [street name deleted]. Another car come zooming up really slowly, and it was the police in the car like five of them. So of course, I ran down the street because I remembered the white truck coming that day to lock the girls up, so I’m thinking five police in the car they are about to lock both us up.”

Still not all participants had negative

interactions with police. One explanation for

this is that some sex workers managed to avoid

encounters with police as a result of luck and

circumstances. One circumstance that made it

more likely for sex workers to encounter police

is working on the street.

“I’ve never had an encounter with the police. I didn’t say I was never going to. I have never had a police encounter.”

“I ain’t never had no problem with the police because I wasn’t outside. I never had no problem. It depends on where you’re doing that.”

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 21

“Working out of a hotel or your home also makes a difference. Where you do this, you have to be strategic.”

Violence and Abuse from Police

Fifteen percent of participants reported being

the victim of physical or sexual abuse at the

hands of the police in the past two years. One

participant described the use of excessive force

by an MPD officer. While this incident did not

occur in the past two years, it is illustrative of

the type of abuse to which sex workers continue

to be subjected.

“I remember there was a policeman years ago that used to constantly harass the girls. Yes, Officer [name deleted], he wore the glasses. And I remember they shut [deleted] street down so we had to go elsewhere over…. I remember he had pulled over, slammed me on the hood of his trunk and took my wig off, took my – I had water balloons titties – took them out threw them on the ground, they splashed, took everything out of my purse. I watched my makeup slide off the hood of the car and break. My MAC compact broke up. And it just I felt just so, so bad. I remember crying and it was raining and I was standing there in the rain and everything.”

Participants recounted various instances

of police sexual misconduct toward them or

other sex workers. In many instances, the

victims of misconduct are transgender women

of color, suggesting that some police officers

may target this subgroup of sex workers who

are particularly vulnerable. One transgender

participant recalled being extorted into having

sex with a police officer under the threat of

prostitution charges.

“I got harassed by the police. He made me try to suck his dick for free or he was going to lock me up on [deleted] Avenue.”

Regardless of whether there was extortion or

other forms of coercion, sexual encounters

between police officers and sex workers are

inappropriate, yet participants noted that they

have clients who are police officers. Many

participants viewed this as a double standard

because sex workers are criminalized while police

officers break the law and face no consequences.

“I dated a police officer because too, as a client.”

“I had one pull up on me in a squad car, and he was like let me take you out. I just never trusted him because I thought he was going to lock me up.”

“At the end of the day, police we date them too. Government officials, we date them too. People who make these laws aren’t even following the laws, so why should we?”

Fifteen percent of sex worker participants reported being the victim of physical or sexual abuse at the hands of the police in the past two years.

In many instances, the victims of misconduct are transgender women of color, suggesting that some police officers may target this subgroup of sex workers who are particularly vulnerable.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 22

“I think that it’s a double standard because the girls are clearly saying that they date these governmental officials. It’s a double standard.”

Additionally, participants called out sting

operations as another double standard. As

a part of sting operations, police officers go

undercover to arrest people involved in sex

work. Undercover officers offer money for sex

and sometimes push the boundary between

their police work and criminal activity. One

participant elaborated as follows:

“To me, that doesn’t make no sense. They are getting paid to get high, they are getting paid to have sex, they are getting paid to do all this stuff undercover.”

Several participants mentioned police officers

having sex with them during sting operations.

Questions about the fairness and legitimacy

of sting operations suggests that this tactic

undermines trust in police.

Lack of Trust in Law Enforcement

Community participants reported that they

lacked trust in law enforcement. Notably,

participants were unwilling to call the police

when they were victims of crime because they

feared arrest, worried about being harassed, or

just did not think the police would do anything.

“I don’t like the police, so I don’t call them.”

“You can’t call police about stuff because they are going to work you at the end.”

“Sometimes things have happened to me, like this right here—my head was busted. Nothing was done

about it. It gets to the point that I don’t trust the police. It’s trauma.”

“Nothing ever happens. I feel like they’re treating us like a joke.”

One participant discussed feeling that the police

do not care about sex workers. As a result, the

participant said that they did not trust the police

and did not want to call the police for help.

“There’s no consequences been done for any type of harassment we go through. The shopping center, church, on the streets, there’s no type of consequences being done for any of it. It really is crazy and showing us that police don’t care. And that makes us not want to go to the police at all. And not want even call the police. And with that we take things into our own hands. What am I going to do if I feel like I can’t trust the police and I have to do what I have to.”

Several participants voiced concerns

about how police misconduct is handled,

which may further undermine trust. One

participant mentioned that there was no

police accountability for mis-gendering

and discriminating against transgender sex

workers, and another participant shared this

sentiment by noting that a complaint against

police officers was generally ineffective.

Sex worker participants were unwilling to call the police when they were victims of crimes because they feared arrest, worried about being harassed, or just did not think the police would do anything.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 23

“When it comes to us calling and saying there was discriminating against us, calling us all some types of he’s and men, there’s nothing.”

“If there is a direct physical attack, but mentally, verbally they can say what they want for real, just like you can say what you want. I feel like there is no purpose in reporting that unless they put their hands on you.”

Need for Cultural Competency

Participants noted that a lot had improved in

DC in terms of police interactions, especially

compared to other jurisdictions, but participants

also wanted police officers to have more

sensitivity training. In discussing how DC has

improved, participants elaborated as follows:

“I can say DC is getting better. They have gotten better. They are not as homophobic as times goes on. Acceptance, the more you grow up, the more is accepting. As a young kid at 22, you an asshole. At 30, you are a better person. So I think it all goes on the maturity level of the police officer too.”

“This city’s tolerance has changed. In one point of time, there was no tolerance for prostitution. You got beat up, you got harassed, you got thrown in the back of the cop car, driven around for hours, missing money. And now the tolerance has changed and with the laws and things and people like you and groups like yours that are fighting for our rights as sex workers. It’s getting better, but it’s not all the way better yet.”

A major improvement within MPD was the

creation of the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit

(GLLU), also known as the LGBT Liaison Unit.

Participants spoke favorably of GLLU, which is

a team of dedicated officers that focuses on the

public safety needs of the gay, lesbian, bisexual,

transgender and their allied communities. One

participant discussed a positive experience with a

member of GLLU:

“And I told her and she had a whole conversation with me. And she said when I write this report, I am going to write why you’re out here because they don’t understand that you are out here to survive. They don’t understand that you don’t have a place to live, they don’t understand it’s hard to find a place to work. So I really it was compassion and she gave me her business card and said if you ever need someone to talk to, if you ever need help with a resident, or anything like that, here’s my card I’ll help you if you really want to get out of this situation. I will say that sometimes it’s good that you have those type of officers that are around compared to the regular officers that come and pick you up.”

A few participants reported that they had

never heard of GLLU. Others mentioned that

police officers only call GLLU or inform them

about GLLU when a case involves a potential

hate crime.

“A lot of stuff I am learning now about the GLLU unit, I didn’t know that. If I would have known that, I would have told the police get out of my face. I want to see these people. But they didn’t tell me that.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 24

I am going to piggyback off what this gentleman was saying, that he wasn’t informed that there was a GLLU unit, that there is the GLLU unit that is more sensitive to LGBT. And I definitely agree to what he saying.

And the basis of when they do address those particular situations is more on the basis of if it was a hate crime. That’s more when the GLLU unit is called. If it’s not and they don’t feel as though it is a hate crime, then they really don’t contact them.”

Various participants noted a practice among

some police officers of not contacting GLLU

until officers have all the information from

their investigation. In some instances when

participants would make a request for GLLU, the

request would be ignored, or officers would tell

them that GLLU will slow the process down as a

way of discouraging the request.

“I told them can I get GLLU. So the whole time they were talking to me for like a half-hour they were trying to get GLLU there but they couldn’t get in contact with them. So they were trying to speed up the process and ignore my requests for GLLU.”

“And so then I was like I want the GLLU unit. When you say the GLLU unit, the first thing they say is well if you get the GLLU unit or Blue [sic] unit, whatever it is, that it’s going to slow you down the process of you getting out. They always throw that in your face because you asked for the gay and lesbian unit, they are basically like whatever we have written we are going to take our time to be sure we get it before we swap them over to their hands.”

While participants preferred having no

interaction with the police, those who knew

about GLLU always wanted to have that unit

present if they had to interact with the police.

Participants thought that GLLU was the most

appropriate unit to respond to issues related

to sex work. Additionally, one participant

recommended that MPD be stricter about

who it allows work in areas with high activity of

sex work because many officers have bias and

discriminate against transgender sex workers.

“My only thing that I feel like should change when it comes to known prostitution areas is the officers that they assign to these areas should be more strict with who they allow to work those areas because not all of those officers have our best interest at heart. Not all those officers want to see us out there or want to see us the next day. Sometimes things have happened to me, like this right here, my head was busted. Nothing was done about it. It gets to the point that I don’t trust the police. It’s trauma. I feel like there should be more stipulations of what officers they allow, they assign to the known prostitution areas. When you have something happen to you and the officer don’t want to touch you because you’re transgender, I feel like that’s the only thing that needs to be changed.”

Despite some improvements and the impact of

GLLU, participants said that there was a need

for more sensitivity training within MPD. One

participant noted that some police officers may

not take the existing training that they receive

seriously: “Every government employee of

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 25

the District of Columbia has taken sensitivity

training. Part of, they have to. Anybody, don’t

matter what agency you work in. [For] police

theirs is more extensive…. But some people

just might not take it seriously because it

doesn’t deal with them.” Other participants

elaborated as follows:

“There should be some type of sensitivity training. I don’t think a lot of cops have sensitivity training because I still see girls that are kind of hard, they still get harassed and still called sir and all of that.”

“And a lot of these police don’t have sensitivity training. I mean I am thankful for the whole GLLU unit, but I honestly believe that based on how society is changing as a whole, every member of the police department, everybody should have some form of sensitivity training.”

CONSEQUENCES OF ARREST AND INCARCERATION

Community participants discussed the

devastating impact of arrest and criminal

conviction on their lives, driving them into

deeper realms of poverty and vulnerability.

Most participants (85%) reported a history of

incarceration, i.e., they had spent time in jail

or prison for any reason or any amount of time

in their lifetimes. One participant explained,

“I’ve been arrested a total of five times. I’ve

been kind of fortunate. I’ve been a sex worker

for a long time.” Among participants with a

history of incarceration, the majority had been

incarcerated in the past two years. While a few

participants reported spending no more than a

night or two in jail, 41% of participants reported

spending a year or more in jail or prison during

their longest period of incarceration.

Basis for Arrest

Sex workers are commonly charged with

prostitution or solicitation when they are

arrested. In DC, it is unlawful for any person to

engage in prostitution or to solicit prostitution.

In the past two years, nearly a quarter of

participants reported that they had been arrested

while engaging in sex work, and three of those six

were arrested for prostitution. Other common

reasons for arrest while engaging in sex work

included drug crimes, failure to obey a police

officer, and disorderly conduct.

Participants discussed that MPD officers

regularly charge sex workers with drug-related

offenses, suggesting that, even if sex work

were no longer a crime, sex workers would still

be vulnerable to police profiling and targeted

for arrest. Whereas sex workers arrested for

prostitution or solicitation are likely to have their

case “no papered” (i.e., government declines to

file charges despite the arrest) and to spend just

a night in jail, this is less likely to occur for arrests

for drug crimes, and charges for possession or

distribution of a controlled substance can result

in longer periods of imprisonment.

“Now they try to do a buy and bust. Prostitution charges aren’t enough for them. They try to get us on drugs too. Now it is their ambition to keep you off the streets for a while. With

In the past two years, nearly a quarter of participants reported that they had been arrested while engaging in sex work.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 26

misdemeanors, they know that you will get no papered, or a citation, or you basically get released. They also know a lot of us are concurrent, we are self-medicating with different drugs. They are using us to buy and arrest us like we are big drug dealers. That’s the new plot, that the new catch.”

“I had a similar experience, that was possession to distribute a controlled substance. They had me charged with possession. No, they had me charged with distribution of

a controlled substance.”

Inside Jail and Prison

Participants who had been arrested recounted

negative experiences in jail or prison.

Participants reported terrible conditions such as

being placed in a freezing cell and being isolated.

“They put you in a freezing cell, and when you ask for a blanket, they tell you they don’t have any. And then they isolate you, and they say it’s for your safety. You’re sitting on the cold bench, they don’t care.”

This experience is consistent with reports

citing the DC Jail for inadequate standards

related to environmental conditions, including

room temperatures, sanitary conditions,

pests, broken fixtures, and inadequate

lighting.50 Beyond physical conditions of

confinement, participants also reported facing

mistreatment from jail staff. A transgender

participant explained that she was subjected

to a humiliating strip search during the booking

process and faced verbal harassment in jail.

“When I was there, the way that they stripped searched me was so

humiliating. They are saying, oh, does that wig come off? Do you have a tuck on? They just like stripped me down, and I felt so humiliated. And they were just kiki-ing back and worth [kiki means joking/chatting/ gossiping]”

Barriers to Health Care

Various community participants discussed

how arrest and confinement in jail or prison

impeded their ability to access health care

services. Participants particularly noted that they

faced barriers to medication, suggesting that

incarceration may lead to worse health outcomes.

“You ask for some medicine, they don’t have no medicine. They sit you back there and don’t check on you.”

“And mental health you know, they didn’t get my drugs. They didn’t get that together right, so I ended up

stop taking them in jail.”

“For me when I went to prison, by me taking a lot on the streets, when you go to prison, they take you off a lot of the medicine that the doctor put you on.”

Stress and Loss

The level of stress and strain that arrest and

incarceration produce negatively impacts economic

stability, health and wellbeing, and the potential

for future opportunities. Participants emphasized

the detrimental impact of being arrested for even

a short period of time. They often discussed the

impact of incarceration in terms of losing a lot

and taking them backward in their lives. Some

participants discussed returning to society after a

period of incarceration and having to start over.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 27

“When you get arrested, you do lose everything, you lose a lot. If you don’t lose everything, you lose most things. Police officers play a part in this. They are arresting you, they are taking from you. It can be something so simple like a sock. You lose a sock because they took it from you when they arrested you. That’s in general, when you get arrested, you take ten steps backward. When you get arrested, you’re not going forward. You go

backwards when you get arrested.”

“The impact of arrests is you lose everything…. Like but when I came home I lost everything—family, money, whatever clothes I had. I had to start all over.”

Financial Costs

Participants reported facing financial

consequences as a result of arrest and

incarceration. An immediate consequence of

arrest is losing out on the sex work job that they

arranged or planned to arrange. One participant

noted, “They locked me up. I lost the job, [and]

didn’t get out until 4 o’clock in the morning.”

Beyond that, participants discussed wide-ranging

consequences for their earning ability because

criminal conviction and incarceration have a

lasting impact on employment prospects and

income mobility. Participants relayed that upon

release from jail, they often do not have jobs

waiting for them. They described that finding

a stable job outside of sex work is even more

difficult with a criminal record.

“So, it was detrimental to me. It cost me quite a bit. It cost me my earning ability.”

“I just know coming to the point that I can reapply for a security license, with this frivolous ass felony, you have x-ed me out of making an amount or a particular amount that I am used to making.

Financial consequences associated with

navigating the criminal justice system were also

discussed. A significant cost that was mentioned

was money spent on attorney fees following

an arrest related to sex work. One participant

discussed court-related and other costs as follows:

“A lot times with myself or if I get arrested, you have to pay a lawyer. You have to prepare [for] being locked up. You got to pack your place up. There is a lot you got to do when you catch a charge whereas you do go backwards.”

Housing Consequences

Arrest and incarceration can also result in

housing loss or insecurity. Participants reported

significant barriers to stable housing after

release from jail or prison. When applying for

public or other housing opportunities, there

may be criminal background checks. Some

participants reported either being ineligible for

or denied housing because of their conviction

history as well as having limited housing options.

“From my experience, they gave me my voucher. I got my voucher in June. I didn’t know the impact now in Washington, DC of a criminal record because now they’re using the record, misdemeanors. They asked you when is the last time you’ve been arrested and violent charges the last seven years…. The impact of the arrest on filling out

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 28

for getting a simple apartment. My voucher is for … the market value rent for my voucher is $2,600. I can get somewhere real cute for $2,600, and every year it goes up. Yeah, the reason I can’t get where I want to get is because of my criminal record.”

“Now it’s harmful because I’m paying the piper cause I can’t get where I want to get, and I’m moving somewhat drug neighborhoods. Where I live now is a quiet block. It’s a quite block, but once I cross the street they pumping.”

Lack of Social Support

Given the multiple challenges faced by sex

workers due to arrests and incarceration, it is

not surprising that many sex workers rely to

their families and networks for support. Some

participants, however, noted that another

consequence after they leave jail or prison is a

lack of social support.

“The best thing that happened from being locked up was showing me who my family was—nobody. You feel what I saying. And someone said earlier, you’re good with me when I’m good, but when I’m fucked up, you ain’t really got nothing.”

“Financially I didn’t have nowhere to go. As far as my family, they weren’t giving me any money or anything like that.”

VIEWS ON REFORMING SEX WORK CRIMINAL LAWS

Participants unanimously supported reforming

sex work criminal laws in DC. There was a

consensus that the status quo of the current

criminalization model was unacceptable. The

criminalization model is common in the United

States and involves penalizing the buying and

selling of sex and all related economic activity, like

driving for, leasing to, accompanying, or otherwise

cooperating with sex workers. The harms to sex

workers from policing and incarceration were

a major reason that sex workers rejected this

model. In addition to these harms, which have

been discussed throughout this report, some

participants mentioned that criminalization is

ineffective at deterring participation in sex work.

One participant noted, “People are going to do

whatever they want anyway.” Another participant

emphasized that criminalization was a waste of

governmental resources.

“I feel like it is a waste of, not that I really care about, taxpayers’ money, but I’m just trying to say it’s a waste of the taxpayers’ money for even criminalizing prostitution and locking people up and having to feed them, and pulling all of these officers in, all with something I want to do with my body.”

Strong Support for Full Decriminalization

Discussion about alternatives to criminalization

centered around the following legal models: Full

Decriminalization, Partial Decriminalization, and

Legalization. These models are summarized

below. Participants reported a strong

preference for full decriminalization over either

partial decriminalization or legalization.

Sex worker participants reported significant barriers to stable housing after release from jail or prison.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 29

The primary reason that participants strongly

supported full decriminalization was that this

legal model recognized the agency of two adults

to consent to commercial sex. Participants

mentioned that neither sex workers nor their

clients should be penalized. Furthermore,

participants noted that it would be unfair

to penalize clients but not the sex workers.

Some participants also emphasized that full

decriminalization removed barriers to earning a

livelihood, whereas partial decriminalization was

viewed as continuing barriers to making money for

survival. In addition, one participant mentioned

full decriminalization as a way to reduce police

abuse and negate the need for undercover sting

operations in which police officers push the

boundary between their work and criminal activity.

“I am going to say both. I don’t think the trick should be penalized for picking me up. Then I won’t make money because you’ve scared him from coming back out.”

“I agree that it should be decriminalized on both ends because it is a mutual agreement between two people.”

“I think it’s supposed to be for both ways. If you’re doing it in a responsible way, then nobody [should be criminalized].”

“I don’t feel like police should have the right, and you see this is what used to really annoy me, if that what

gives them the right to able to use drugs to be able to do everything and break the law, just to lock you up…. I think that it should be decriminalized.”

While full decriminalization was the first choice for

the vast majority of participants, some participants

discussed other considerations that are important

to address. Important considerations include

concerns about addressing the spread of HIV and

other STIs in the context of sex work and concerns

about protecting minors from the sex trade, and

these considerations are relevant even if sex work

is decriminalized. Moreover, participants discussed

the fact that full decriminalization of sex work will

not solve all the problems that sex workers face.

Participants noted concerns that law enforcement

will find other ways to arrest and incarcerate sex

workers, such as through criminalization of drugs,

loitering, and other behaviors.

“It could be impactful, but there are other elements. Just by decriminalizing sex work, there are other things that go along with the sex work. And we have to remember America is a criminalizing country. They’re not going to do anything but find another way to get us.”

“It is the same as decriminalizing it and legalizing it. It’s reducing the penalties, but then y’all gonna find something else to pinpoint on us like loitering and taxes and evading all the other stuff.”

Differences of Opinion About Legalization of Sex Work

It is noteworthy that a few participants spoke

favorably about the benefits of the legalization

model. A perceived benefit was the prospect of

Sex worker participants reported a strong preference for full decriminalization of sex work.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 30

having designated places where sex work would

be permitted, which would mean sex workers

do not have to engage in street-based sex work

and could avoid associated harassment. One

participant explained, “I guess if it was legal

you wouldn’t have to walk the streets because

you would have a place to prostitute just like

in Nevada they don’t hang on the streets.

They have the Moonlight Bunny Ranch or the

Cat Ranch or whatever. They have an actual

location.” Similarly, two participants elaborated

on their desire to have legal protections for sex

workers, including laws that set payment rates

to prevent theft of services.

“I want a minimum and a maximum rate set. Minimum and maximum rate and for everyone to understand and abide by it.”

“I don’t have a problem with it being taxed, as long as it’s legalized and it’s protected. I want to be like a hairdresser. I mean like competition is what it is, but with it being legalized we can charge taxes. I can charge taxes for my work and a time limit. I will have protection for what I’m doing now. So, if you come in and you fuck me and you think you gonna walk without paying your bill, I can have your ass arrested for theft of services. These are the things I talk about need to be added in place when you decriminalize. We need protections as well.”

At the same time, other participants expressed

significant reservations about the legalization

model. In particular, they worried about the

creation of a tiered system of legal and illegal

sex work and had fears about discrimination

against sex workers living with HIV.

“Just because sex work is legal doesn’t mean if you are HIV positive, you can do the sex work. If you are not registered, you have a stroll that is in back of the legal stroll that is illegal. So, you still have the same illegal sex work.”

“It does go that way, but if you are HIV positive, it goes on your card. You are not supposed to be dating on that site. You are not supposed to be dating on the strip at all. So, they have a front strip which is legal, and right behind the front strip is the illegal back strip. And that’s where we tend to find a lot of the girls going instead of the front strip.”

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 31

ALTERNATIVES TO THE CRIMINALIZATION MODEL FOR SEX WORK

Full Decriminalization is the decriminalization of consensual commercial sexual exchange. Advocates argue that full decriminalization reduces stigma by treating sex work as work, increases safety by allowing sex workers to legally organize to set standards and cooperate with third parties for safety and transportation, whereas advocates against full decriminalization believe that decriminalization will lead to the proliferation of sex work and sex trafficking. New Zealand has implemented full decriminalization since 2003. Since implementing these reforms, New Zealand sex workers have reported increasing the use of social services, increasing use of condoms, and increased reporting of violence to law enforcement.

Partial Decriminalization, known also as the Nordic Model or Prohibition Model, decriminalizes selling sex, but criminalizes buying sex and economic cooperation of landlords, drivers and others. Jurisdictions that have implemented partial decriminalization include Sweden, France, Canada, Norway, and Ireland. Partial decriminalization attempts to end or suppress demand for sex work. While advocates argue that it has a protective effect for sex workers, a growing body of evidence from researchers in partial decriminalization jurisdictions indicates that sex workers report increased stigmatization, decreased access to health and social services, and increased vulnerability to violence from clients.

Legalization describes government regulation of sex work. Nevada is an example of jurisdiction with a legalization regime. In Nevada, sex work is allowed only in licensed brothels, with registered sex workers who must receive periodic STI testing. While advocates for legalization believe that regulating commercial sex is necessary for public health and to protect vulnerable people from exploitation, legalization creates a tiered system of legal and illegal sex work and often continues to marginalize and criminalize most sex work, especially among sex work involving transgender women of color and people living with HIV.

Sources: (1) Reference Brief, Laws and Policies Affecting Sex Work, Open Society Foundations, (July 7, 2013), https://www. opensocietyfoundations.org/sites/default/files/sex-work-laws-policies-20120713.pdf. (2) Susanne Dodille and Petra Östergren, The Swedish Sex Purchase Act: Claimed Success and Documented Effects. (Paper) DECRIMINALIZING PROSTITUTION AND BEYOND: PRACTICAL EXPERIENCES AND CHALLENGES, THE HAGUE, pg 4 (March 3, 2011), http://www.petraostergren.com/upl/files/54259.pdf. (3) André Picard, Canada’s new prostitution laws may not make sex work safer: research, THE GLOBE AND MAIL, (July 26, 2018), https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-canadas-new-prostitution-laws-may-not- make-sex-work-safer-research/. (4) Lucy Platt, et al., Associations between sex work laws and sex workers’ health: A systematic review and meta- analysis of quantitative and qualitative studies, PLOS MEDICINE, (December 11, 2018), https://journals.plos. org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.1002680.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 32

Results from Institutional Stakeholder Interviews

There was a substantial amount of agreement in

the perceptions of the institutional stakeholders

and the experiences recounted by the

community participants.

MOTIVATIONS FOR INDIVIDUALS ENGAGING IN SEX WORK

Access to Housing

Institutional stakeholders repeatedly discussed

that people engage in sex work to access

housing. The most common example discussed

was paying rent through sex work due to

the rising housing costs in DC. Institutional

stakeholders expressed an understanding that

sex work means survival for many sex workers.

“These are the people that maybe have sex with the landlord once a month for a break on the rent or are trying to put some more food on their table in addition to a couple of full time jobs they already have. I mean, the cost of living is a serious question in the city.”

– David Grosso, At-Large Council Member,

Council of the District of Columbia

“They’re not out there … because they want to be out there, many of them. They are out there because they have to be out there. This is their way to have a roof over their head, to have food in their mouths, to find health care. It’s the only way.”

– Brett Parson, Former Manager of Special Liaison Branch, Metropolitan Police Department

Institutional stakeholders described

that access to housing is a primary

motivator for engaging in sex work

and criminalization of sex work erects

barriers to housing. Housing is a

primary social determinant of health,

and housing insecurity interferes with

access to medical care by reducing

ability to administer medications

regularly and store medications safely.

“[H]omelessness caused my client to grow more ill and lose a dangerous amount of weight. He experienced wasting on the street and didn’t take his medication because it upset his stomach and he didn’t have regular access to a bathroom. Even when people have access to treatment, if they don’t have a safe place to store medication or don’t have access to bathrooms, that’s a significant barrier to health, and I’m sure a lot of people engaged in survival sex work face those same challenges.”

– Nassim Moshiree, Policy Director,

ACLU of DC

Socioeconomic Factors

Institutional stakeholders believed that

socioeconomic factors like poverty and

education were factors in participating in sex

work. In particular, stakeholders believed that

failures of social programs influenced people to

engage in sex work. Sex work allowed people to

provide support for themselves that the District

government did not provide.

“[T]his has been too much influenced by cultural factors that are… in effect, sort of criminalizing social class status. Because you

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SUMMARY OF INSTITUTIONAL STAKEHOLDER RESULTS

The data portray that DC’s prostitution laws create a landscape that pushes vulnerable people to the margins. The following emerged from the interviews with institutional stakeholders who served sex workers in the District:

1. Structural forces create instability: Institutional stakeholders understood that participation in survival sex work is driven, in part, by the lack of available alternatives. They expressed that survival sex work arises at the intersection of human need and the anti-trans bias (transphobia) transgender women experience. Lack of access to employment and increasing cost of living in the District contribute to a lack of stable housing. Housing instability creates an ecosystem of insecurity in every area of life.

2. Uncertainty propagates fear: Institutional stakeholders identified that, despite MPD’s prioritization of crimes of violence and their commitment to culturally competent police services, there is a lack of confidence in law enforcement. DC’s overlapping jurisdictions contribute to confusion about the legal rights of individuals who are subjected to stops by officers, uniformed and undercover. Stakeholders report that sex workers are less likely to engage in health care services due to distrust, frustrating preventive care and public health efforts. Stakeholders who provide victims services have developed tactics for engaging with MPD while preserving their client’s safety.

3. Arrests erase progress: Institutional stakeholders expressed, based on data on MPD practices, that arrests by the human trafficking unit were largely ineffectual at combating human trafficking. Stakeholders said that arrests are ineffective at ending sex work. Stakeholders found incarceration and arrest destabilize the lives of sex workers and disrupt progress toward education and economic achievements. Incarceration interrupts health care, including gender- affirming care and HIV prevention and treatment plans, harming physical and behavioral health.

4. Law creates vulnerability: Stakeholders expressed that the law perpetuated stigma against sex workers and those profiled as sex workers. They also recounted that MPD officers have perpetrated acts of violence against sex workers, and that such practices contribute to a culture of impunity and violence toward sex workers. This contributes to illness and injury, fear and anxiety, and vulnerability to human trafficking.

5. Consensus on Reform: No stakeholders supported DC’s current laws criminalizing sex work. Stakeholders were all in favor of reducing criminal penalties for engaging in sex work. Stakeholders report that while vacatur statutes and diversion programs can be helpful for some, the program requirements and legal standards undermine the agency of sex workers. Most stakeholders support total decriminalization of sex work on the basis that it would increase trust in social services, increase safety, and increase engagement in health care.

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are low income or have no income or the other rest of the system has failed you, such as the child welfare system – I used to work in child welfare – or the child protective system that failed you or the fact that your family upbringing was an unsafe one, that your educational system failed you, that all these other parts of our society and that your only choice is to do this activity is not – therefore then that gives – that should entitle you to an illegal status. That just seems – can I say ‘ass-backward’?”

– Michael Kharfen, Senior Deputy Director

of HAHSTA, DC Dept. of Health

THE POLICE AND CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM

Institutional stakeholders identified law

enforcement, i.e. the police, the courts,

and prisons and jails, as a key mechanism

of criminalization’s effect on the health and

safety of sex workers. As discussed below,

law enforcement treatment of sex workers is

influenced by District laws, as well as the official

MPD policy priorities and the individual discretion

of police and prosecutors. Training

Generally, institutional stakeholders both inside

and outside the MPD believed that the MPD

received more training for gender sensitivity then

other police departments in the United States.

Stakeholders said that police received training

in LGBTQ cultural competency and were familiar

with the Gay and Lesbian Liaison Unit and other

specialized units of the MPD, like the human

trafficking unit. No one was aware of racial bias

trainings for MPD officers.

“[I]t was one of the original departments that started its own LGBT unit, and it still maintains it. And the, I think the hallmark of that program right now is that regular street officers, that are not, that have never been associated with LGBT issues, are now assigned there on rotating basis, so that they can get exposed to that.”

– Michael Tobin, Executive Director, DC

Office of Police Complaints

“[T]he city and then the police department put out an entire internal and external policy on dealing with people regarding gender identity, gender expression, right? I mean, so again, I put us ahead of the game worldwide, much less nationwide. So we have that. Then we have our internal policies on dealing with transgender individuals”

– Brett Parson, Former Manager of Special

Liaison Branch, Metropolitan Police

Department

“[Y]ou can’t just leave it up to MPD to do the training for themselves, it’s all internal. You almost need to make sure that someone from outside comes in and does the training.”

– Stacie Reimer, Former Executive Director,

Amara Legal

Priorities

Arrests resulting from prostitution-related crimes

were not seen as a priority by police. Police

stakeholders said that MPD prioritizes crimes

related to human trafficking and over the past

decade have been deprioritizing non-violent

crimes. Enforcement of prostitution laws in the

District is initiated primarily by neighborhood

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 35

complaints of nuisances related to the presence of

sex work, e.g. used condoms on the street.

“[O]fficers over the last probably seven, eight, nine years have seen us kind of shift some of our resources to more violent crimes, and a de- emphasis on the larger prostitution operations that we used to do.”

– Brett Parson, Former Manager of Special

Liaison Branch, Metropolitan Police

Department

“Officers who are on beats that have a visible problem of commercial street sex work are obviously responding to complaints from the community and public safety issues and nuisance complaints. So they have to enforce those laws. But they also spend an awful lot of time responding to protecting those individuals who were engaging in those activities who become victims of crime. And so we find ourselves in kind of a balancing act of moving back and forth between, “you need to get off this corner, people are complaining” and “Oh my God, are you OK? What can I do to help you?”

- Brett Parson, Former Manager of Special

Liaison Branch, Metropolitan Police

Department

Discretion

Institutional stakeholders reported that

enforcement of District prostitution laws was

discretionary based on individual officer experience

and training. Discretion in policing resulted in

different attitudes toward police, depending on the

experience and relationship with specific officers or

police precincts. Discretion in law enforcement was

seen as positive by police stakeholders. Others

cited differential enforcement and deviation from

police department protocols and policies as a

barrier to trust.

“[D]ifferent units, like I said, are doing different things…. I only work with police that I’m comfortable with and I know they push it. So, I call the ones that we work with, so it would be a different answer for me. It’s always going to be right, because I’m going to make sure it’s right and I already made that connection.”

– Tina Frundt, Founder, Courtney’s House

“There is also vast amount of judgment and discretion provided to police officers, which is necessary in our society. We can’t arrest our way out of any problem. Right?”

– Brett Parson, Former Manager of Special

Liaison Branch, Metropolitan Police

Department

“It’s because they’ve had direct experiences with police interactions over decades and decades that have taught them that they can’t trust the police. And this is true, I think in the sex work industry too. There’s just a long time in the eighties when the sex work industry was predominantly along 14th, Logan circle area and stuff. There were raids all the time that were very violent. They were patty wagons chasing people down. It was a very violent time, the whole city was violent. We haven’t healed from that time.”

– David Grosso, At-Large Council Member,

Council of the District of Columbia

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Accountability

Institutional stakeholders had different

understandings of police accountability methods

and different views on the efficacy of police

accountability mechanisms. The Office of Police

Complaints (OPC) described the District’s efforts

to improve police accountability. The OPC is

administratively independent from the MPD

and receives and assesses complaints against

the MPD and submits its recommendations

to the MPD. The MPD has discretion in

responding to recommendations from the

OPC. The OPC expressed that the office has

made efforts to make submitting complaints

accessible for community members by allowing

complaints to be submitted by phone, email,

fax, social media, in-person, or through internet

forms. Complainants can submit information

anonymously, but this was seen to limit the ability

of the OPC to respond effectually.

“We’ve long had an Office of Police Complaints in the District, as an independent organization. But it was just recently – since 2017 – that all citizen complaints are falling under their jurisdiction for investigation. If there is a criminal allegation as part of a complaint, it will also be investigated by MPD. But if it’s allegations that an officer was harassing someone – they keep coming around or they’re mis- gendering them or things like that – OPC will handle it.”

– Kelly O’Meara, Executive Director,

Strategic Change Division, Metropolitan

Police Department

“Whenever anyone believes that they’ve been the victim of misconduct or whenever someone

believes they are a witness to police misconduct, they can file a complaint in the District and they can do it by one of many different ways. They can go to any District station, they can pick up the phone and call us or the police department. They can come to our office at 14th and I street, and they can Google it and when they Google “police complaints” or “police misconduct Washington DC” they’ll come up with the Office of Police Complaints, our website, and you can file a complaint right through our website in an online filing system. They can file a complaint through Facebook, through our Facebook page. They can notify us through Twitter. They can do it by fax. They can do it by email and if they’re not comfortable with any of those things, they can go to one of our 15 or 16 community partners throughout the District, and they can go to that community partner, community group, and start the complaint process with them.”

– Michael Tobin, Executive Director, DC

Office of Police Complaints

Complaints

Other institutional stakeholders were unsure

how to make a complaint of police misconduct.

Most stakeholders were unsure of how police

complaints were processed, and some expressed

the belief that reports by sex workers and

homeless residents are often not viewed as

credible. Barriers to police accountability

include the discretion MPD has in acting

on recommendations from the OPC, public

awareness of how to make complaints about

police conduct, and how complaints are handled.

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The OPC reported an increase in the number

of complaints received by their office but were

unable to ascribe the increase to a specific cause.

“[T]he consensus is nationally, [internationally] even, is that complaint-based systems, regardless of whether it’s police or health care or traffic conditions, they privilege certain people, and they privilege folks that already feel access and feel empowered to speak. And so, if you’re from a marginalized community, you’re not going to do that as much most likely. … [I]t ought to be more about not waiting for those complaints to come in, but going out and auditing the agency, the body, the community, whatever it is, and investigating into their practices and actively recruiting people to find out what is going on.”

– Darby Hickey, Former Legislative

Advisor, Council of the District of Columbia

“Is there a process? I believe there is. Is it an adequate and culturally sensitive process? No. Is it victim- blaming? Yes. Is it something that is encouraging and taking away the burden from the people reporting abuse? No.”

– Activist and educator

Overlapping Jurisdictions

The presence of multiple uniformed police forces

in DC contribute to confusion for DC residents

when interacting with the police. This confusion

contributes to violence when civilians are unable

to determine if an arresting officer has the

authority to detain them or deport them, or if

they are being subjected to police misconduct or

someone impersonating a police officer.

“[E]lements that lead to better public safety for all, and that includes … differentiating between the police units, enforcement units, and immigration, customs enforcement for example, so people feel confident that when they… reach enforcement they won’t be detained themselves and subsequently deported.”

– Activist and educator

Negative Encounters with Police

Institutional stakeholders reported that

criminalization of sex work had a largely negative

impact on police encounters with sex workers.

Stakeholders report that police officers have

harassed and extorted sex workers, including

coercing them to perform sex work under threat

of arrest. Service providers interviewed report

that there have been reductions in instances

of police harassing community health workers

conducting outreach to sex workers.

“We’ve also gotten several complaints either from our clients… that law enforcement officers are sexually assaulting people or sort of like trading, not arrest for sexual favors.”

– Yvette Butler, Former Director of Policy

and Strategic Partnerships, Amara Legal

“[W]e used to get tons of reports for when I was at Different Avenues, and then when I was [out] real early talking with HIPS peer health workers [in] the HIPS van, and peer health workers at Different Avenues who were walking around on foot getting stopped by police and being messed with, you know, and being

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 38

told, “What are you doing?” and “Why are you here? Why are you talking to those people?”… “You can’t be out here. I might arrest you.” Right? I think that’s gotten a lot better”

– Darby Hickey, Former Legislative Advisor,

Council of the District of Columbia

Fighting Human Trafficking

Institutional stakeholders expressed that

prostitution enforcement is an ineffective

method of enforcing human trafficking laws

because they fail to assist in apprehending high-

level traffickers, due to fear of traffickers and

lack of trust in law enforcement. Stakeholders

expressed that police are not supposed to be

targeting sex workers and their clients in human

trafficking stings.

“[T]he Human Trafficking Unit, who is supposed to be viewing everybody and not charging anyone involved in prostitution – like, figuring it out and connecting those to services – isn’t doing the job that the unit is supposed to be doing.”

– Tina Frundt, Founder, Courtney’s House

“With the sting operations that I’ve seen they’re not really arresting the people that are the traffickers. If there’s a trafficker in the situation, he typically doesn’t get arrested just because he’s not there. He’s across the street or miles away. They’re arresting everyone and then they’re saying you need to testify against somebody in order to get your charges dropped. Of course, that’s a really dangerous thing to do and they don’t want to testify. So they’ll

just then move forward on these low level misdemeanor charges. There’s no effort to get the kind of the masterminds behind it.”

– Stacie Reimer, Former Executive Director,

Amara Legal

A few stakeholders were particularly concerned

about the sexual exploitation of minors and

children. They expressed that approaches to

trafficking interventions and victims’ services

that relied on arrest could be counterproductive,

noting traffickers may use the threat of police

involvement to coerce and control their victims.

“[I]n some cases, it can be paternalistic and unnecessary involving young people in the court system. That kind of reemphasizes the whole criminal/offender narrative, which we’re trying to move away from. That’s one of the things traffickers tell youth, “If you go forward and try to get help, they’re just going to treat you like a criminal.”

- Yasmin Vafa, Executive Director,

Rights4Girls

Particular harms to immigrants

Stakeholders report that a criminal record of

prostitution-related offenses is particularly

harmful for immigrants because federal

immigration law creates bars for immigrants

with criminal convictions for prostitution-related

offenses. In an immigration court, participation

in diversion programs, nolo contendere pleas,

probation, and court-ordered rehabilitation

programs are all considered convictions and

potentially bar future immigration relief. Further,

stakeholders expressed that expungement

or sealing the criminal records of sex workers

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and trafficking victims are ineffective in the

immigration context because immigration

authorities can access sealed and expunged

criminal records, and immigration documents

require disclosure of participation in sex work,

whether legal or illegal, performed in the 10

years prior to the application for change in

immigration status.

“[I]f people are afraid of law enforcement bringing charges against them because, well, and particularly for immigrants because it will affect their potential immigration status, they’re very reluctant to come forward and report trafficking situations. Oftentimes if their traffickers are afraid that they are going to report, a lot of traffickers threaten to contact either law enforcement or ICE to keep people in a trafficking situation as well, as kind of a power and control method. The threat of deportation is very common in trafficking, domestic violence, in situations like that.”

– Denise Hunter, Senior Staff Attorney,

Whitman-Walker Legal Services

Fear of Deportation and Other Adverse Immigration Outcomes

The impact of criminalization on immigrant sex

workers is over their whole lives. Institutional

stakeholders expressed that arrest,

incarceration, and prosecution for immigrant sex

workers implicates the risk of being deported

and sent back to a dangerous situation in their

country of origin. They elaborated that the

fear of deportation creates a vulnerability that

means immigrants are especially susceptible

to coercion, the negative health effects from

underutilization of health care services,

increased fear and anxiety when interacting with

any government entity, and additional barriers

in housing, education, and employment when

compared to their non-immigrant counterparts.

“[F]or the most part there’s a reluctance among immigrants to – so, they’re kind of two-fold. One is that clients are reluctant if they are the victims of crime, for example, are reluctant to report. So, if they’re the subject of violence, are reluctant to report those crimes, so if, especially… if it occurred during the process of an encounter of exchanging sex for an exchange of goods. So, they are reluctant to come forward and report to law enforcement for the fear of being criminalized themselves for engaging in that practice. And then as a secondary, particularly with immigrants are in general very concerned about any cooperation with ICE, Immigration, Customs, and Enforcement, between law enforcement if they are – particularly if they’re undocumented, and even if they have a more temporary status that can put – any kind of arrest history can put someone who is not a US citizen in jeopardy.”

– Denise Hunter, Senior Staff Attorney,

Whitman-Walker Legal Services

Impact of Arrest and Incarceration

Institutional stakeholders generally expressed

that the effects of arrest and incarceration

were traumatizing to sex workers and people

profiled as sex workers. The stakeholders

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expressed that arrest, incarceration, and

prosecution resulting in a criminal record has

a negative impact on access to housing and

employment, increasing vulnerability to violence

and increasing barriers to transition into other

employment. These barriers act to further

entrench sex workers into cycles of poverty and

underground economies.

Exclusion and Discrimination

Criminal records from repeated arrests due to

sex work can exclude people from accessing

public housing or housing assistance programs,

and employment or employment programs.

Institutional stakeholders articulate that

employers discriminate based on criminal records

and that spending time in legal proceedings or

incarcerated is a barrier to employment.

“I think people are oftentimes engaging with law enforcement, developing a record and therefore experiencing farther difficulties in getting a job despite the fact that it’s really hard to get a job and be employed when you are transgender, when you’re transgender and black, when you’re transgender and undocumented. … I do think that there needs to be a more critical understanding of the sociological elements that lead to … vicious cycles of engagement with the sex industry, and that’s absent.”

– Activist and educator

Destabilizing Trauma

Incarceration resulting from arrest and

prosecution interrupts the development of

stability in employment that can lead to higher

incomes. Incarceration and arrest are seen

as traumatizing and harmful events that delay

needed medical care and interrupt pathways

to independence. Incarceration and arrest are

particularly traumatizing for young gay, bisexual,

and transgender people.

“The offense of prostitution is a misdemeanor, but people often get charged multiple times which can lead to stacked charges and increased penalties, leading to lengthy periods of incarceration. Women are the fastest growing population in our prison system. A lot of people think of misdemeanor charges and arrests as slaps on the wrist, but they don’t realize that when someone gets arrested for prostitution and for other low-level offenses, they get caught in a cycle of criminalization that prevents them from accessing health care, employment, housing. Sex workers are stigmatized for engaging in sex work, but the system also leaves them without the tools to move beyond survival sex work. And the criminal justice costs go up as a result. This is money that could be redirected to actually improve the lives of those engaged in sex work.”

– Nassim Moshiree, Policy Director,

ACLU of DC

“It’s time and money plus stigma plus emotional distress plus a criminal record, and it may not even change behavior.”

– Stacie Reimer, Former Executive Director,

Amara Legal

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Interruptions in Care

Institutional stakeholders also identified

that incarceration interrupts medical care, a

particular bad result for gender-affirming care.

Stakeholders identified that criminalization

negatively impacted health due to exposure

to violence while incarcerated and disruptions

in medical care from time spent incarcerated.

Incarceration and arrest were major barriers

to engagement and retention in medical and

behavioral health care.

“[O]ne of the concerns is especially for trans-identified clients, they’re very afraid of law enforcement because they don’t want to be put in populations where, they don’t want to be put into detention facilities where they’re going to be put in based on their sex assigned at birth, which is a big problem which leads to further criminalization, people agreeing to plea bargains that they ordinarily wouldn’t because they’re in a detention circumstance where they feel unsafe. I’ve seen that a lot with my trans immigrant clients where I would never recommend them taking a plea bargain because it affects their immigration status, but they end up doing it out of fear for themselves and for their safety.”

– Denise Hunter, Senior Staff Attorney,

Whitman-Walker Legal Services

HEALTH

Institutional stakeholders revealed that

criminalization of sex work negatively affected

the health and wellbeing of sex workers and

people profiled as sex workers through exposure

to danger and violence, propagating stigmatizing

messages, and interrupting medical care,

including gender-affirming care and HIV care and

prevention.

Danger and Violence

The state imprimatur of criminality creates

stigma and a culture of impunity and violence

toward sex workers and people profiled as sex

workers. Institutional stakeholders report that

criminalization increases the danger that sex

workers and the Black and Brown gay, bisexual,

and transgender communities profiled as sex

workers will face violence. They identify that

sex workers experience violence from clients

and from community members, including law

enforcement.

“[S]o much of the violence that does happen… is precisely because sex work is illegal. That’s why it happens, because there is a perception, this goes back to the stigma and the criminalization, that, “Oh, they’re just whores. I can do whatever I want to them, and no one’s going to care.”

– Darby Hickey, Former Legislative

Advisor, Council of the District of Columbia

“And by the way they are not reporting it that it was a John. They’re not reporting that they were out there. “Hey officer, detective, I just want to be honest. I was out here last night and this guy came up for one of my services and then pulled the gun on me and took my cash.” What we get is she’s going to the hospital, the emergency room calls us because she’s clearly been the victim of an assault. We got there while I was walking home from work and some guys just

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 42

randomly walk, but then we pull footage of the video when she was out there for two hours walking in circles and so we put two and two together, but they aren’t reporting to us in many, many instances the circumstances surrounding why they were victimized or what they were engaging in at the time because they’re afraid that we’re going to investigate them and that’s a hard message to send to them, but it gets to the US attorney offices. So we catch the guy, you don’t think of defense attorney is going to go after? So now do I sponsor her as a witness? Now we have moral turpitude issues, and they could go after her credibility. It’s all part of that horrible thing that our society has created.”

– Brett Parson, Former Manager of Special

Liaison Branch, Metropolitan Police

Department

Stigma

Criminalization is known to reduce the ability

of sex workers to effectively report crimes of

violence for fear of arrest by law enforcement.

Stakeholders expressed that criminalization

contributes to internalized and external feelings

of stigma and perceptions that sex work is an

inherently dangerous profession, causing people

to blame sex workers for violence perpetrated

against them.

“[I]t’s a real challenge for people in the sex trade to be able to report any instances of violence. One of the things that I think just culturally we see is that people in prostitution and the sex trade are still largely seen as outside of the category of

those who experience violence. Some of the comments made in the context of the Me Too movement about how powerful men should have just solicited women in the sex trade instead of soliciting their employees at work are a good example of demonstrating how as a society, we still see people in the sex trade as outside of the realm of “everyone else” and as a category of people who we expect to be raped and harassed.”

– Yasmin Vafa, Executive Director,

Rights4Girls

Barriers to medical care

Criminalization of sex work limits access to

health care for sex workers by creating an

environment of stigma and fear. Institutional

stakeholders perceived that fear of entering

DC government buildings for fear of potential

negative interactions with law enforcement

reduced access to public services and benefits.

“One story that sticks out involved the person examining them putting on two sets of gloves. And just feeling like that was a judgment and not wanting to come back to even get the results of their tests.”

– Yasmin Vafa, Executive Director,

Rights4Girls

“I think that the current criminalization farther perpetrates stigmas that lead to people’s self- worth and self-esteem to decrease. That leads to people’s apprehension in reaching social workers and different health programs due to concerns around being demonized and subsequently put in contact

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 43

with enforcement bodies and personnel that will criminalize them for, in their attempts to monitor their health”

– Activist and educator Gender-affirming care

Criminalization was generally seen to impede

gender-affirming care for transgender sex

workers. Institutional stakeholders expressed

that transgender people can defer seeking

services if they anticipate experiences of stigma.

One stakeholder expressed that the policies at

the DC Jail around access to gender-affirming

care have improved due to the advocacy of

LGBTQ and transgender-focused groups.

“They can be reluctant to access health services because of what they perceived their – the level of care that they will receive and not being in a very affirming, competent environment. So, they will defer, or they will utilize resources that are maybe limited in their capacity to provide those, or in some cases, as I’ve heard anecdotally, persons who aren’t really competent to provide those services. As I’ve heard in terms of anecdotes of person[s] going to others for hormone injections, for instance, that might not be done as – as informed as possible.”

– Michael Kharfen, Senior Deputy Director

of HAHSTA, DC Dept. of Health

“You can get hormones. We got really good policies passed on that about a decade ago that D.C. Trans Coalition, Different Avenues, HIPS, GLAA, everybody involved.”

– Darby Hickey, Former Legislative Advisor,

Council of the District of Columbia

HIV and STIs

Criminalization limits access to care, treatment,

and prevention of HIV and other sexually

transmitted infections (STIs). Institutional

stakeholders report that criminalization makes

sex workers less likely to disclose their sex

work to their providers out of fear of stigma and

discrimination, resulting in poorer preventive

medical care. Stakeholders did not identify

any barriers to accessing condoms for the

prevention of HIV and other STIs.

“I think it’s hard to have a relationship with a primary care provider, which is what we all really should be doing this - doing preventative care - because if you’re afraid that if you tell your primary care provider, it’s just this constant fear that it’s going to get out, that you’re doing this and that it’s illegal.”

– David Grosso, At-Large Council Member,

Council of the District of Columbia

“Something that is very important is to make public health particularly preventive health care accessible to our communities.”

– Activist and Educator

Condoms

MPD stakeholders and others with legal training

communicated that carrying condoms is not

sufficient cause for an arrest but can be used

as evidence of sex work in court. The legal

distinction between “cause for arrest” and “used

as evidence” contributes to continued confusion

and may act as a barrier to public health efforts

to stop the spread of HIV and other STIs.

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“[A] few years back I was involved in conversations with MPD around issues of condoms and possession of condoms and whether or not that can be considered ‘evidence of commercial sex work’ of which we argued as vigorously as possible to our colleagues in government that this is actually a public health intervention that we’re doing in that we’re providing those condoms. And then if you’re taking that and using that as evidence for law enforcement, that’s sort of counter- indicative of what our strategy is.”

– Michael Kharfen, Senior Deputy Director

of HAHSTA, DC Dept. of Health

Public Health

Institutional stakeholders communicated the

belief that under a criminalization regime, sex

workers are treated as vectors of disease rather

than people, and that effective public health

efforts can engage sex workers as partners in

prevention.

“Sex workers are part of the solution to maintain a safe environment. And the way to go about this should be about ensuring that there are public health concerns addressed, and the people are having access to ongoing and adequate testing, and that there are enough economic opportunities that are actually reaching those who need it the most. So, they can make the best, informed decisions about themselves, their health, their lives, and their families, and by extension, communities.”

– Activist and educator

Access to PrEP

Low rates of PrEP use among community

participants indicate that sex workers find it difficult

to effectively engage with available PrEP programs.

Institutional stakeholders reported that same-day

initiation programs for antiretroviral theory and

PrEP for the treatment and prevention of HIV are

available to the uninsured, undocumented, and

homeless populations through public programs.

Access to insurance was not identified as a barrier

in Washington, DC. Some stakeholders articulated

that public and private programs lack resources

for supportive services, like peer health workers,

community support groups, and transportation

assistance that help retain people in care.

“I think that’s universal, is a failure to understand how human rights and empowerment and fighting stigma of specific communities that are hit super-hard by bad health outcomes, particularly HIV and STDs, how critical those kinds of interventions are, and how there is not funding for them. There’s funding much more for the bio- medical approach which is fine. It’s important, and we need funding for that, for sure. But I remember we used to do like awesome like support group sessions, and, peer training, and peer advocacy, and peer education and, passing out condoms, but it was also about building networks.”

– Darby Hickey, Former Legislative

Advisor, Council of the District of Columbia

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ONLINE-BASED SEX WORK

District laws and federal laws work together to

criminalize online sex work. Most institutional

stakeholders indicated that online sex work is

safer and more lucrative than street-based sex

work. Online sex work allows for negotiation

of terms of sexual exchange, location,

duration, sexual acts, and price. Institutional

stakeholders reported that FOSTA/SESTA

has decreased the ability of sex workers to

communicate with clients online, pushing them

into street-based sex work. FOSTA/SESTA

decreased income for sex workers because sex

workers can make more from online sex work

than street-based sex work. Street-based sex

work was perceived to be more dangerous than

online work because it increases exposure to

violence and arrest.

“If it were to be shut down, I think it gives them less control their own business and less control over the ways that they can get clients. I think anytime you have less control over something that can be a safety issue.”

– Stacie Reimer, Former Executive Director,

Amara Legal

POLICY AND LEGAL REFORM

Institutional stakeholders presented a variety

of attitudes toward reforming criminal laws

and policies around sex work. Stakeholders

expressed views of policy reform around vacatur

statutes, diversion programs, and reform

of criminal laws. Generally, the institutional

stakeholders’ viewpoints on criminal law reform

can be characterized as falling into two camps:

those supportive of partial decriminalization

and those supportive of full decriminalization.

Institutional stakeholders were careful that

their policy proposals were effective for the

most marginalized communities; to that effect,

no one supported a legalization regime with

government regulation of sex workers.

Vacatur Statutes

Stakeholders expressed that vacatur statutes

were potentially useful for victims of trafficking.

DC’s vacatur statute permits victims of

trafficking to vacate convictions for crimes

committed while under duress and potentially to

expunge the related offenses from their record.51

However, stakeholders understand that

vacatur statutes have complex evidentiary and

procedural barriers to expungement which make

them difficult for many sex workers to access.

“People really love to categorize other people and there’s a lot of compassion and concern for someone if they identify as a victim of trafficking versus if they identify as a sex worker, they don’t really have any legal remedies to things like a criminal record that might have been wrongful. So, the vacatur statute is great and I’m really glad that we’re probably going to have it, [but] there’s a portion of the population that it’s not going to help at all.”

– Stacie Reimer, Former Executive

Director, Amara Legal

Vacatur statutes were understood to not be

useful for immigrant sex workers, whose criminal

records are accessible by the Department of

Homeland Security. Institutional stakeholders

expressed that expungement and vacating

criminal records from prostitution and solicitation

removed barriers to housing and employment

and could be helpful for some people.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 46

“[I]t helps you for everything, right? Getting a job, getting an apartment. That’s one of the barriers to even getting an apartment right now, if you have a record.”

– Tina Frundt, Founder, Courtney’s House

Diversion Programs

Institutional stakeholders expressed that

diversion programs were a kind of recognition that

imprisonment is not an appropriate reaction to

consensual commercial sexual exchange. Diversion

programs were understood to vary widely, but

central features include community service, court

appearances, and probationary periods with

heightened consequences for re-arrest.

“We’re giving them all of these requirements that they may or may not be able to meet, especially if they continue in sex work. They don’t have a way to continue in sex work and have this diversion agreement in place because if they get arrested again then the whole thing falls apart. Then the third thing that I think is a real concern is that you’re connecting the receipt of services to being arrested.”

– Stacie Reimer, Former Executive Director,

Amara Legal

Stakeholders understand that the effectiveness

of diversion programs varies widely between

programs. Some expressed that diversion

programs should be voluntary and should

not require an arrest or law enforcement

involvement to participate.

“Some of the diversion programs... are surprisingly good and have good outcomes and are non- punitive in

their approach. But others kind of as you signaled, do more harm or do what we call net widening. They just basically pull more people into the system for a longer period of time, unnecessarily.”

– Yasmin Vafa, Executive Director,

Rights4Girls

“It’s up to the District and we could do our own diversion program, but it’s really important that it not be a system in which you are penalized by being threatened with jail time if you don’t participate in the services or complete goals of the program. Any diversion program must involve voluntary participation or I think it doesn’t work.”

– Nassim Moshiree, Policy Director,

ACLU of DC

Partial Decriminalization

Institutional stakeholders seeking partial

decriminalization (decriminalization of the sale

of sex, but maintaining criminalization of buyers)

state that sex work is performed by marginalized

communities and suggest that partially

decriminalizing sex has a protective effect

on marginalized communities. Stakeholders

advocating for partial decriminalization

articulate a belief that criminalizing buyers

empowers sex workers to report abuse from

buyers. These stakeholders are more likely

to openly equate sex trafficking and sex work,

believing that all sex work is the result of

coercion. They also advocate for maintaining

criminalization of third parties, claiming that

third-party benefactors of sex workers are

coercing sex workers through emotional and

physical violence and manipulation.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 47

“From our perspective, a lot of the dynamics in the sex trade mirror other forms of gender-based violence. It’s an industry that’s predicated on racial, gender, and income inequality that has a very problematic historical legacy rooted in colonization and slavery and is fueled predominately by white powerful men of means.”

– Yasmin Vafa, Executive Director,

Rights4Girls

There is a desire stated by proponents of partial

decriminalization for regulation or monitoring

of sex workers to ensure that minors and

trafficked persons are not involved. Proponents

of partial decriminalization express a view

of sex work as socially undesirable and are

concerned that full decriminalization sends a

message of acceptability that will proliferate

professional sex workers and the sex tourism

industry. Additionally, these stakeholders

expressed fears include fear of corporatization

of sex work whereby managers control the

services and prices that sex workers charge,

fear that decriminalization leads to more human

trafficking, and fear that legitimizing sex work

removes the incentive of governments to

provide social services.

“Full decriminalization, which includes decriminalizing acts of pimping, pandering, sex-buying and brothel keeping...proliferates the sex trade and makes it vulnerable to corporate interests and corporate influence.”

– Yasmin Vafa, Executive Director, Rights4Girls

“[I]f this is an adult person who’s never bought a child and all they do is buy adults who don’t have a controller, I can’t really say nothing. But we need a way to monitor these things.”

– Tina Frundt, Founder, Courtney’s

House

Full Decriminalization

Full decriminalization was favored by other

institutional stakeholders. A common reason

for support of full decriminalization was the

belief that laws criminalizing sex work have a

discriminatory impact on Black communities.

Proponents of full decriminalization state that

current criminal laws are sources of violence

for sex workers and communities of gay and

bisexual men and transgender women profiled

as sex workers.

“[L]et’s be nonjudgmental and accepting. …[Y]ou know, criminalization hurts people. And I don’t know if this is more like, a Black community argument, but there’s too much. There are too many police and too much criminalization and too many people have records and this is a racist system”

– Darby Hickey, Former Legislative Advisor, Council of the District of Columbia

Stakeholders who advocate for full

decriminalization believe that removing

criminality will improve the ability of sex

workers to operate safely through increased

access to public services and the ability to work

together without fear of arrest. Advocates for

full decriminalization state that if sex work was

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 48

decriminalized, sex workers would be able to

organize themselves and look out for each other.

They argue that if sex work was not a crime, sex

workers would be more likely to call the police in

the event of violence.

“We strongly believe that if sex work were decriminalized, it would actually make it safer for sex workers to come forward and report incidents of trafficking or other serious crimes to police. Sex workers are on the front lines and often best positioned to identify that someone is being subject to abuse and not there of their own volition, and they could report this to police if they didn’t have to fear arrest.”

– Nassim Moshiree, Policy Director, ACLU of DC

Diverse stakeholders commented on or

participated in the conflation of sex trafficking with

sex work. Stakeholders were more likely to conflate

sex work and human trafficking if they believed that

no person would voluntarily engage in sex work.

“Trafficking and sex work are often conflated, and everything gets wrapped up and labeled as trafficking. And so someone who is engaged in consensual sex work for any variety of reasons – because they simply want to, because they find it empowering, or because they need to pay rent – gets caught up in anti-trafficking efforts.”

– Nassim Moshiree, Policy Director, ACLU of DC

Effects of Decriminalization

Stakeholders generally believed that

decriminalization would make sex workers

more likely to report incidences of violence

to the police, would increase trust between

sex workers and police, and would assist anti-

trafficking efforts by allowing sex workers

to safely identify when someone is being

coerced. Stakeholders expressed the belief

that decriminalization would increase access to

the District’s supportive services and increase

retention and engagement in health care.

“I hope that it would bring them more safety. I hope that they would be able to call the police when they had a problem and that they could actually get some help. I think it would reduce stigma.”

– Stacie Reimer, Former Executive Director, Amara Legal

Comparing Perspectives

There was a substantial amount of agreement

between community participants in the focus

groups and the institutional stakeholders who

participated in the interviews.

MOTIVATIONS OF SEX WORKERS

Both data sets captured that participation in

sex work is primarily motivated by earning a

livelihood and accessing housing and food.

These motivations are understood to arise from

socioeconomic circumstances, like poverty, which

create situations of economic necessity where

participation in sex work is a pathway to self-

sufficiency and survival. Community participants

and institutional stakeholders agreed that criminal

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 49

penalties were unsuccessful at stopping or

deterring people from engaging in sex work.

SEX WORK VERSUS TRAFFICKING

All community participants and most institutional

stakeholders distinguished between sex work

and human trafficking. The gay and bisexual

men and transgender women sex workers in

focus groups remarked on their agency when

participating in sex work. Most stakeholders

agreed that enforcement of the District’s

prostitution and solicitation laws was ineffective

in the fight against human trafficking, in particular

the fight against the sexual exploitation of

minors. The few stakeholders who believed

that criminalizing sex work helped fight human

trafficking were particularly concerned with the

sexual exploitation of minors. When speaking

about adults, these stakeholders expressed that

the economic circumstances for sex workers were

so intense as to be coercive, removing meaningful

capacity for choice in those situations. Because

homelessness and access to necessities of daily

living like food and clothes are primary motivators

for participation in sex work, increasing access

to social programs may decrease the economic

necessity for participation in sex work.

NEED FOR SOCIAL SERVICES

Community participants and institutional

stakeholders noted that a lack of sufficient

funding for social programs and widespread

employment discrimination created the economic

circumstances that disproportionately impact

Black transgender women and gay and bisexual

men. Both groups agreed that additional resources

to provide housing support, employment programs,

and medical and supportive services would improve

the health and wellbeing of sex workers. Notably,

both groups agreed that access to insurance

was not a major barrier to medical services in the

District. This result indicates that District policies

to improve health care access are successful at

reaching the District’s communities of sex workers.

LAWS CREATE BARRIERS

Both groups agreed that criminalization of sex

work created barriers to housing, employment,

and health. These barriers arise from legal

mechanisms, such as policies that bar people

with criminal records from housing assistance

or federal grant programs, and through less

direct psychosocial mechanisms like stigma,

which contributes to the vulnerability of sex

workers to violence and discrimination. The law

created social stigma related to criminality that

has normalized violence toward sex workers and

those stereotyped as sex workers. The law was

also seen to propagate stigmatizing messages

that are internalized by sex workers. Internalized

stigmas created a sense of anticipatory

discrimination in sex workers, discouraging them

from reporting crimes when they were victimized

and discouraging them from communicating with

their health care providers.

SUPPORT FOR LEGAL REFORMS

All community participants and institutional

stakeholders believed that the current laws

needed to be reformed. Most supported the

decriminalization of consensual commercial

sexual exchange, with some desiring additional

requirements and conditions on employment,

but stopping short of a governmental

legalization regime. In particular, there was

strong support for the full decriminalization

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 50

of sex work. Some supported the partial

decriminalization of sex work, believing that

criminalizing the buying of sex is needed to

continue to give the law enforcement officers

authority to investigate potential sexual

exploitation and human trafficking.

CONCERNS ABOUT LEGALIZATION

Nearly all community participants and

institutional stakeholders voiced concerns

about creating a regulatory and legalization

regime in the District. There was widespread

agreement that legalization would result in

continued marginalization of immigrants,

people living with HIV, and transgender women

of color. There was a sense that legalization

resulted in the promulgation of commercialized

and corporatized structures of sex work, an

outcome which was not favored by community

participants nor institutional stakeholders. All

of the stakeholders and community participants

sought to reduce sources of violence and

coercion for sex workers, including potentially

coercive and exploitative legal employment.

LIMITATIONS OF VACATUR AND DIVERSION

While not every institutional stakeholder and

community participant discussed the subject

of vacatur statutes and diversion programs,

there was generally agreement that these

interventions had limited applicability for most

sex workers due their complex procedural

requirements and high evidentiary burdens.

In particular, vacatur statutes and diversion

programs were perceived as requiring people to

stop engaging in sex work without establishing

supports for housing and employment training

that would facilitate leaving the sex trade.

DISTRUST OF THE MPD

There was agreement between community

participants and institutional stakeholders that

current MPD practices and policies undermine

trust and create barriers to community safety.

Discrimination, harassment, and violence against

sex workers by MPD officers were viewed as

severely detrimental to building trust with law

enforcement, in particular a barrier to fighting

trafficking. Community participants felt that it

is hypocritical of MPD officers who are clients

of sex workers to enforce laws criminalizing

sex work. MPD accountability processes,

mediated by the OPC, were perceived to be

an improvement over previous practices, but

a lack of transparency around how complaints

are handled contributed to feelings of mistrust.

Notably, both MPD stakeholders and sex workers

agreed that criminalization of sex work is barrier

to MPD’s handling of reports of violence against

sex workers—both in reporting these crimes and

prosecuting them.

CULTURAL COMPETENCY TRAINING

There was agreement between the community

participants and institutional stakeholders

that MPD officers should receive additional

training on the LGBTQ community as well as

on race and systemic racism. The Gay and

Lesbian Liaison Unit (GLLU) was understood to

be a leader in the nation in advancing cultural

competency of law enforcement officers, but

levels of cultural competency varied among MPD

officers. Community participants expressed that

they liked that all members of the GLLU have

expertise in LGBTQ cultural competency, while

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 51

institutional stakeholders from the MPD implied

that including non-specialized officers in the

GLLU was a strength of the program.

Recommendations

Based on the research findings, we recommend

the following to remove barriers to health and

wellbeing for transgender women and sex

workers in the District of Columbia.

REFORMS THAT WE RECOMMEND

We recommend that the DC Council:

1. Reform the criminal code of the District of Columbia to eliminate criminal penalties for consensual commercial sexual exchange between adults.

Criminalization causes arrest and incarceration,

vulnerability to state and non-state sponsored

violence, homelessness, lack of employment,

and barriers to health care. Criminalization also

contributes to stigma, discrimination, and early

death for sex workers and those stereotyped as

sex workers. Decriminalization of consensual

commercial sexual exchange between adults

removes a driver of racial inequalities in arrest

and incarceration, is a cost-effective method of

reducing crime and improving community health,

and recognizes the inherent dignity of individuals

to control their own body and the conditions of

their existence.

2. Increase access to affordable housing.

Increased resources for supportive housing and

prioritizing populations of transgender women of

color would remove or alleviate barriers to access-

ing housing and address a primary motivation for

participation in sex work.

3. Increase resources for job training and employment programs.

Increased resources focused on providing pop-

ulations of greatest need, identified here as sex

workers and transgender women of color, with

skills-building programming, secondary educa-

tion, apprenticeships, and employment readiness

programs will ameliorate a gap in access to other

employment for sex workers.

4. Increase efforts to address discrimination against LGBTQ people.

Our research identifies discrimination against

transgender people as a primary driver of survival

sex work. Additional resources to help fight dis-

crimination in employment, education, and other

areas will increase access to careers and gainful

employment for LGBTQ people and help improve

the health and wellbeing of people engaged in com-

mercial sexual exchange.

REFORMS THAT WE DO NOT RECOMMEND

Partial Decriminalization of Sex Work

We do not recommend partial decriminalization

or decriminalizing only selling sexual

services and maintaining criminal penalties

for buying sexual services and third-party

participation. Our research indicates that

partial decriminalization does not reduce

experiences of violence for sex workers or

allow them to access law enforcement. Partial

decriminalization maintains existing stigma on

sex workers by seeking to eradicate sex work,

and consequently fails to address the identified

harms of stigma on sex workers and those

stereotyped as sex workers.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 52

Legalization of Sex Work

We do not recommend legalization of sex

work or the regulation of commercial sexual

exchange, often through mandated licensing and

screening and limitations on where and under

what circumstances consensual commercial

sexual exchange may be conducted. We do

not recommend legalization because it fails

to ameliorate the marginalization sex workers

experience. In particular, transgender women

of color and people living with HIV are likely to

continue to be marginalized under legalization

due to not being able to access legal venues for

sex work.

Additional information on the emergent

effects of decriminalization may support

some governmental regulation of commercial

sexual services, but these should be created in

consultation and agreement with the District

of Columbia’s communities of sex workers.

Voluntary, accessible, and culturally competent

health care services are more effective than

mandated screening requirements and

compliant with international standards for

realizing the human right to health.

Vacatur Statutes

We do not recommend vacatur statutes as a

potential solution for the harms arising from

criminalization of consensual commercial sexual

exchange. Existing vacatur or sealing statutes

allow for some people to expunge or seal their

criminal records. However, these statutes

have complex procedural requirements, high

evidentiary standards, and limited applicability

to many potential beneficiaries, in particular

immigrant sex workers. Because of the high

evidentiary standards, vacatur statutes are

most useful for extreme cases of human

trafficking where traffickers clearly coerced their

victims into committing criminal acts.

RESEARCH LIMITATIONS

Applicability

The application of this research is limited by the

timing of our research, conducted during 2017,

and our sampling and interview methods. This

research is unable to speak to the effects of the

reform efforts initiated in 2020, but does reflect

the enforcement practices and policies of the

MPD through 2020. While our description and

explanation of the effects of criminalization on

the health and wellbeing of sex workers may be

generalizable within DC and to other jurisdictions,

the results and recommendations of our report

are limited in applicability to Washington, DC’s

local governance. Our legal analysis is limited

to the local ordinances regarding solicitation,

prostitution, and brothel-keeping.

Our research focuses on communities of Black

sex workers, with a focus on Black transgender

women as a group that experiences overlapping

marginalization based on their intersecting

identities. This focus is a strength of the

research, as policies which address the most

marginalized groups are likely to address

conditions that create vulnerability for all groups.

It is reasonable to conclude that the sex

worker’s experiences with criminalization

and enforcement in Washington, DC are

generalizable to a wider population of sex

workers in the United States. The present

findings align with previous DC-based research

in the Move Along Report52 , the DC Trans

Needs Assessment53 , and the research

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 53

conducted by the United Nations54 , Amnesty

International55 , and Human Rights Watch56 in

other jurisdictions.

Our qualitative analysis engages with the

harms from criminalization as understood by

sex workers. Our report uses interviews by

institutional stakeholders to highlight how

criminalization produces the effects that sex

workers experience. Research published in

medical journals on health outcomes in other

jurisdictions serves to provide additional evidence

of the connection between the health outcomes

and structural factors.57

Our analysis regarding the impact of FOSTA-

SESTA on the health and wellbeing of sex

workers is likely generalizable, but additional

research on the national impact is necessary to

identify outcomes with epidemiological rigor.

Sampling

Nearly all focus group community participants

were Black, and most were transgender

women. We used convenience sampling to find

participants. Transgender women of color report

high levels of survey fatigue as a population. This

feeling of being research specimens rather than

research participants may suppress responses

and decrease the pool of potential participants

or cause non-random self-selection of survey

naïve participants who may have different

experiences with law enforcement. However, the

characteristics of our sample contribute to the

strengths of this research because they match

the demographic breakdown of street-based

sex workers who are disproportionately affected

by the two epidemics of HIV and hate crimes in

the District of Columbia.58 Additional research

could expand the pool of potential participants

to determine if our findings are anomalous. We

did not recruit and sample Latinx sex workers

in this research. The focus group participants

were all English-speaking and none were recent

immigrants, potentially limiting the application

of our research to address the concerns of DC’s

communities of immigrants and English-language

learners. Our interview data provide a number of

ways in which the legal status of immigrant sex

workers creates barriers to health and wellbeing;

however, future research would benefit from

collecting information on the lived experiences of

immigrant and non-English speaking sex workers.

Future Research

This project is a cross-sectional sampling of

current and former sex workers. A longitudinal

study would be able to observe the potential

consequences of legal changes to identify

causal relationships with more accuracy. This

research strengthens our understanding of the

material processes of criminalization’s effects.

Additional research specific to Washington,

DC would strengthen the theoretical bridge

between law and its effects. For example,

quantitative analysis of policing practices and

policies, analysis of prosecutions, trials, and

incarceration, and an analysis of medical and

legal outcomes and effects on marginalized

transgender communities.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 54

Appendix A: Community Participant Survey Data

RELEVANT CHARACTERISTICS OF PARTICIPANTS WERE:

Age. Participants ranged from age 20 to age 55, with a majority in their 20s and 30s.

Race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity. Almost all participants identified as Black

and almost none identified as Latinx. 67 percent identified as transgender women; 30% identified

as cisgender men; two participants identified as non-binary; and one participant as a cisgender

woman. All of the cisgender men identified as gay or bisexual; the transgender and non-binary

individuals identified as a range of sexual orientations.

Income and housing. 37 percent of participants were homeless at the time of the survey; 70% had

experienced unstable housing in the previous two years. 57 percent reported annual incomes of

less than $6,000 at the time of the survey; only 7% reported annual incomes of $30,000 or more.

Amount of commercial sex work. 52 percent of participants reported that all or most of their

income came from sex work, and another 26% reported that sex work accounted for one-half or

more of their income. 15 percent reported that sex work accounted for less than one-quarter of

their income. 59 percent engaged in sex work more than once a week; another 11% reported sex

work about once a week; 30 % reported that they engaged in sex work less often.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 55

Health insurance self-reported health; HIV status and use of PrEP; STI testing. Almost all of the

participants reported that they had health insurance, mostly through Medicaid. Few reported that they

had been unable to get health care they thought they needed; 74% rated their own health as “Good” or

better. 59 percent had been diagnosed as HIV-positive. Most of the rest had tested HIV-negative within

the past year. All of the HIV-negative individuals reported that they had heard about PrEP, but most of

them had not used it. Two participants reported that they had PrEP prescriptions, but one said that they

were not taking the drug and the other said they only used it after a sexual accident, such as a broken

or slipped condom (which essentially means they were not adherent). Most participants said they had

been tested for other STIs within the past year; 63% had been diagnosed with one or more STIs at

some point in time. 67 percent of participants said that when last tested for HIV or other STIs, they had

disclosed to the tester or doctor that they had engaged in sex work.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 56

Appendix B: Institutional Stakeholder Interview Participants

NAME TITLE/ORGANIZATION Yvette Butler Former Director of Policy and Strategic Partnerships, Amara Legal

Stacie Reimer Former Executive Director, Amara Legal

Denise Hunter Senior Staff Attorney, Whitman Walker Health

Yasmin Vafa Executive Director, Rights4Girls

Brett Parson Former Manager, Special Liaison Branch (oversees LGBTLU); Lieutenant, MPD

Kelly O’Meara Executive Director, Strategic Change Division

Michael Kharfen Senior Deputy Director of HIV/AIDS, Hepatitis, STD, and TB Administration (HAHSTA), DC Department of Health

David Grosso Chairperson of the Committee on Education, At Large Councilmember, Council of the District of Columbia

Darby Hickey Former Senior Legislative Advisor for CM Grosso

Nassim Moshiree Policy Director, ACLU of DC

Tina Frundt Founder of Courtney’s House

Anonymous Activist and educator

Michael Tobin Office of Police Complaints, Executive Director

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 57

Appendix C: DC’s History of Sex Work Policing

Historically, the policy approach to sex work

has changed in response to community action

and emerging public health evidence. For

example, in the 1800s, due to the presence

of standing armies and the rapid increase in

District population during and after the Civil

War, the number of sex workers increased

rapidly.59 At that time, authorities believed

that sex workers helped contain disease and

were a necessary outlet for excess male sexual

energy. Consequently, sex work was confined to

several red-light districts adjacent to centers of

commerce and government. 60

When public opinion changed in the late 1800s

and early 1900s, sex work was described as

morally wrong and degrading to the cohesion of

families.61 Early in the 20th century, Congress

sought to abolish sex work and passed laws to

“define and prohibit” “pandering…and provide

for the punishment thereof” (1910) and to “enjoin

and abate houses of lewdness, assignation and

prostitution” (1914) in the District.62,63 In 1935,

Congress criminalized solicitation for prostitution

in District.64

In 1989, counter to the policy of the MPD, District

police removed sex workers from downtown

street corners and marched them toward the

Virginia state line via the 14th Street Bridge.65

During the 1990s, the “broken window” theory—

which argues that policing low-level offenses can

prevent more serious crimes, was popular,66 and

the DC Council passed a number of measures

restricting freedom of movement and expanding

the ability of police to stop, search, and arrest

people suspected of sex work.

67

In 1998, the DC Council passed a 90-day bill

criminalizing people for wearing revealing clothing

and for repeatedly engaging in conversation

with passersby for the purpose of prostitution.68

Street signs were erected in the late 1990s

prohibiting right turns between 9pm and 5am

at certain intersections in an effort to keep

clients from circling blocks where sex workers

gathered.69

In response to these restrictions on their

freedom of movement in DC and increasing

violence, in 2005, sex workers and communities

of transgender people organized the Alliance

for a Safe and Diverse DC.70 In 2006, the DC

Council enacted omnibus crime legislation which,

among other provisions, sought to suppress

sex work in DC. 71 The laws enacted include

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 58

provisions declaring indoor sex work a nuisance,

impounding vehicles used in furtherance of a

prostitution-related offense, and empowering the

police chief to create “prostitution free zones”

(PFZ). A PFZ could be declared over city blocks,

and police could order anyone suspected of being

a sex worker to “move along.” Due to concerns

about constitutionality, prostitution free zones

were repealed by the DC Council in 2014.72

Traffic restrictions, nuisance laws, and vehicle

impounding are still in effect.

Organizing efforts and community-based

research conducted by the Alliance for a Safe and

Diverse DC in 2007 and 2008 were successful in

challenging MPD policies and securing positive

statements of support from city government

employees, elected officials, and other LGBTQ

and human rights organizations.73

In July 2012, Human Rights Watch published

a report on police, including MPD officers,

using the presence of condoms as evidence of

sex work.74 The MPD responded with a public

education campaign, publishing and distributing

cards to officers and sex workers clarifying that

carrying condoms is not an arrestable offense.75

The MPD noted, however, that while condoms

alone are not sufficient evidence of sex work,

condoms may still be used as “supplementary

evidence in some cases and will continue to be

collected at the scene.”76 This distinction may

continue to cause confusion and have negative

effects on public health.

Throughout the summer of 2015, the

Human Trafficking and Narcotics Units of

MPD conducted prostitution enforcement

operations.77 These enforcement operations

resulted in over 200 arrests for solicitation and

prostitution.78

In an effort to move away from “broken window

policing,” in 2016, the DC Council passed the

Neighborhood Engagement Achieves Results

Act, or the NEAR Act.79 The NEAR Act asserts

a public health approach to crime, seeking

to interrupt violence through investments in

community resources and seeking to improve

MPD relationships with surveys and data on

policing. In 2019, a Working Group was convened

by the Mayor to explore potential diversion

programs for sex workers.80 In 2019, after court-

ordered compliance with the NEAR Act’s reporting

requirements on all police stops, the data revealed

significant racial disparities in policing practices.81

The data showed that MPD stopped Black people

in excess of their demographic make-up by 14%-

39%, depending on the outcome and type of

police encounter. 82

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 59

Endnotes

1 Laws in the United States use the term “prostitution”, which has connotations of criminality and immorality. Many people who sell sexual services prefer the term “sex work” and find the term “prostitution” demeaning and stigmatizing, which contributes to their exclusion from health, legal, and social services. Throughout the report, we use the term “sex work” but we occasionally use the term “prostitution” when refer to DC law or other state or federal laws.

2 Move Along: Policing Sex Work in Washington, D.C., alliance FOr a saFe & diverse dc, WashinGtOn, d.c. 1, 21 (2008), https://dctranscoalition.files.wordpress.com/2010/05/ movealongreport.pdf; d.c. cOde § 2-1401.01 (2020).

3 Elijah A. Edelman et al., Access Denied: Washington, DC Trans Needs Assessment Report, dc trans cOal. (2015), https://dctranscoalition.files.wordpress.com/2015/11/dctc-access-denied- final.pdf.

4 Throughout this report, we use sex worker as an umbrella term to refer to individuals working “in all aspects of the sex trades, indoor or street-based, legal and criminalized, and [it] can include people who trade sex for money as well as safety, drugs, hormones, survival needs like food, shelter, or clothing, or immigration status or documentation.” Policing Sex Work, INCITE! (July 12, 2018), https://incite-national.org/policing-sex-work/#sthash.FJvFHpdK.dpuf.

5 Footer KHA, Silberzahn BE, Tormohlen KN, Sherman SG. Policing practices as a structural determinant of HIV among sex workers: a systematic review of empirical findings. J Int AIDS Soc. 2016;19(Suppl 3):20883.

6 Marya Annette McQuirter, African Americans in Washington, DC: 1800-1975, a brieF histOry OF aFrican americans in WashinGtOn, dc, (Reprinted with permission in Washington: Cultural Tourism DC, 2003), https://www.culturaltourismdc.org/portal/a-brief-history-of-african-americans- in-washington-dc. See also Peter Bonds, Stonewall on the Potomac: Gay political activism in Washington, DC, 1961-1973, James madisOn university, Thesis, (2016).

7 Michael Miller, In 2018, they all became victims of a record-setting year of hatred in D.C., Wash. pOst (Aug. 21, 2019), https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/local/dc-hate- crimes/.

8 HIV Basic Statistics, centers FOr disease cOntrOl and preventiOn, https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/ basics/statistics.html (last reviewed July 1, 2020).

9 Edelman et al., supra note 3.

10 Edelman et al., supra note 3.

11 Jae M. Sevelius, et al., HIV Testing and PrEP Use in a National Probability Sample of Sexually Active Transgender People in the United States, 84 J. acquired immune deFiciency syndrOme 437 (2020).

12 Addressing Anti-Transgender Violence, hum. rts. campaiGn, trans peOple OF cOlOr cOal. (2015), https://assets2.hrc.org/files/assets/resources/HRC-AntiTransgenderViolence-0519.pdf.

13 Kate Shannon et al., Global epidemiology of HIV among female sex workers: influence of structural determinants, 385 the lancet 55 (2015).

14 Brad Sears & Christy Mallory, Documented Evidence of Employment Discrimination & Its Effects on LGBT People, Williams inst. (2011), https://williamsinstitute.law.ucla.edu/wp-content/ uploads/Effects-LGBT-Employ-Discrim-Jul-2011.pdf.

15 Teresa Rainey et al., qualified and transgender, OFF. hum. rts. (Nov. 2015), https://ohr. dc.gov/sites/default/files/dc/sites/ohr/publication/attachments/QualifiedAndTransgender_ FullReport_1.pdf.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 60

16 UN Human Rights Council, Human rights in the response to HIV, 1 May 2019, A/HRC/41/27, available at https://undocs.org/A/HRC/41/27 [accessed 14 Oct. 2020].

17 Amnesty International Policy on State Obligations to Respect, Protect and Fulfill the Human Rights of Sex Workers, amnesty int’l (May 26, 2016), https://www.amnesty.org/en/documents/ pol30/4062/2016/en/.

18 Response to UN Women’s consultation on sex work, GlObal alliance aGainst traFFic in WOmen (Oct. 16, 2016), https://www.gaatw.org/events-and-news/68-gaatw-news/857-response-to-un- women-s-consultation-on-sex-work.

19 Human Trafficking and Sex Workers Rights, FreedOm netWOrk usa (Apr. 2015), https:// freedomnetworkusa.org/app/uploads/2018/07/HT-and-Sex-Workers-Rights.pdf.

20 Neela Ghoshal, Stop Criminalizing Sex Work in DC, hum. rts. Watch (July 11, 2019), https:// www.hrw.org/news/2019/07/11/stop-criminalizing-sex-work-dc.

21 Response to UN Women’s consultation on sex work, supra note 18.

22 Prevention and treatment of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections for sex workers in low- and middle-income countries, World Health Org. (WHO Dept. of HIV/AIDS eds., 2012), https:// www.who.int/hiv/pub/guidelines/sex_worker/en/.

23 Fast-Track and human rights, unaids (May 27, 2017), https://www.unaids.org/en/ resources/documents/2017/fast-track-human-rights.

24 UN Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, 27 April 2010, A/ HRC/14/20, available at https://www.refworld.org/docid/4c076fb72.html [accessed 14 Oct. 2020].

25 Agenda for zero discrimination in health care, UNAIDS (Feb. 17, 2017), https://www.unaids. org/sites/default/files/media_asset/Agenda-zero-discrimination-health care_en.pdf.

26 M4BL Policy Platform, End the war on Black women, mOvement FOr black lives, https://m4bl. org/policy-platforms/end-the-war-black-women/ (last visited Oct. 12, 2020).

27 Ashley Nellis, The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in State Prisons, the sentencinG prOJect (June 14, 2016), https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/color-of- justice-racial-and-ethnic-disparity-in-state-prisons/; see also Ilan H. Meyer et al., Incarceration Rates and Traits of Sexual Minorities in the United States: National Inmate Survey, 2011–2012, 107 am. J. public health (2017), http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/10.2105/AJPH.2016.303576.

28 Response to UN Women’s consultation on sex work, supra note 18.

29 Kate Shannon et al., supra note 13; see also Sushena Reza-Paul, et al. Sex worker-led structural interventions in India: a case study on addressing violence in HIV prevention through the Ashodaya Samithi collective in Mysore the indian J. OF medical research vol. 135,1 (2012): 98-106. doi:10.4103/0971-5916.93431.

30 Melissa Ditmore, Sex Work, Trafficking and HIV: How Development is Compromising Sex Workers’ Human Rights, in develOpment With a bOdy: sexuality, human riGhts & develOpment 54–66 (Andrea Cornwall et al., eds. 2008).

31 Robert Y. Thornton, Organized Crime in the Field of Prostitution, 46 J. crim. l. and criminOlOGy 775 (1956), https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent. cgi?article=4440&context=jclc.

32 Kimberly Hehlman-Orozco & William D. Snyder, Legalizing prostitution could end sex-trafficking investigations, the hill (Mar. 19, 2019), https://thehill.com/opinion/criminal- justice/434272-legalizing-prostitution-could-end-sex-trafficking-investigations.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 61

33 Jonah Newman & Nikki Baim, Prostitution-loitering law likely to target women of color for arrest, chicaGO repOrter (July 24, 2018), https://www.chicagoreporter.com/prostitution-loitering- ordinance-likely-to-target-women-of-color-for-arrest/.

34 d.c. cOde § 22-2701.

35 Hedgpeth & Hermann, infra note 78.

36 Joshua Kaplan, Police Reports Raise Questions about MPD’s Tactics During Undercover Prostitution Stings, Wash. city paper (Oct. 18, 2019), https://washingtoncitypaper.com/ article/178010/police-reports-raise-questions-about-mpds-tactics-during-undercover- prostitution-stings/.

37 Keith Alexander, Off-duty D.C. police officer convicted of assault with a deadly weapon, Wash. pOst (Oct. 26, 2012), https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/off-duty-dc-police- officer-convicted-of-assault-with-a-deadly-weapon/2012/10/26/de37f176-1fa1-11e2-ba31- 3083ca97c314_story.html; see also Keith Alexander & Paul Duggan, D.C. police officer indicted on sexually assaulting three women since ’06, Wash. pOst (July 14, 2011), https://www.washingtonpost. com/local/dc-police-officer-indicted-on-sexually-assaulting-three-women-since-06/2011/07/14/ gIQAFBC6EI_story.html; Marina Marraco, Transgender prostitutes who accused cops in sex scandal meet with US prosecutors, FOX 5 DC (Nov. 20, 2018), https://www.fox5dc.com/news/transgender- prostitutes-who-accused-cops-in-sex-scandal-meet-with-us-prosecutors.

38 Community Safety and Health Amendment Act of 2019, Pub. L. No. B23-0318 (D.C. 2019), http://lims.dccouncil.us/Legislation/B23-0318.

39 Comprehensive Policing and Justice Reform Amendment Act of 2020 (Introduced July 31, 2020) (https://lims.dccouncil.us/Legislation/B23-0882).

40 Paul Wagner, DC police chief tells officers the city council has “completely abandoned” them, FOX 5 DC (June 13, 2020), https://www.fox5dc.com/news/dc-police-chief-tells-officers-the-city- council-has-completely-abandoned-them (stating “They forgot about our 20 years of reform, and they insulted us by insinuating that we were in an emergency need of reform.”).

41 Keith Alexander, D.C. police union seeks court injunction to stop release of body- worn camera footage, officers’ identity following fatal interactions, Wash. pOst (Aug. 10, 2020), https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/public-safety/dc-police-union-seeks-court- injunction-to-stop-release-of-body-worn-camera-footage-officers-identity-following-fatal- interactions/2020/08/10/deb8785a-db28-11ea-8051-d5f887d73381_story.html.

42 “Congress has power over transportation ‘among the several states;’ that the power is complete in itself, and that Congress, as an incident to it, may adopt not only means necessary but convenient to its exercise, and the means may have the quality of police regulations.” Hoke v. U S, 227 U.S. 308 (1913). See also Committee on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States, Confronting Commercial Sexual Exploitation and Sex Trafficking of Minors in the United States, inst. med. (2013), https://www.nap.edu/read/18358/chapter/7#145.

43 Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2003, Public Law 108-193, 117 Stat. 2875; see also Elizabeth Kaigh, Whores and Other Sex Slaves: Why the Equation of Prostitution with Sex Trafficking in the William Wilberforce Reauthorization Act of 2008 Promotes Gender Discrimination, 12 SchOlar 139, 150 (2009) at 149 (citing “The inherent problem with the statute is the definition of sex trafficking, which does not require coercion to distinguish it from common prostitution”).

44 H.R.1865 - Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017, Public Law 115- 164, 132 Stat. 1253 (codified at 47 U.S.C. 230(e)) (Approved Apr. 11, 2018), https://www.congress.gov/ bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1865/text.

Improving Laws and Policies to Protect Sex Workers and Promote Health and Wellbeing | 62

45 About FOSTA, craiGslist, https://www.craigslist.org/about/FOSTA (last visited Oct. 12, 2020); see also Samantha Cole, Sex Workers Say Porn on Google Drive is Suddenly Disappearing, vice (Mar. 21, 2018), https://www.vice.com/en/article/9kgwnp/porn-on-google-drive-error; Samantha Cole, Furry Dating Site Shuts Down Because of FOSTA, vice (Apr. 2, 2018), https://www. vice.com/en/article/8xk8m4/furry-dating-site-pounced-is-down-fosta-sesta.

46 Danielle Blunt, Ariel Wolf & Naomi Lauren, Erased: The Impact of FOSTA-SESTA, hackinG// hustlinG 1, 20, https://hackinghustling.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/01/HackingHustling- Erased.pdf (last visited Oct. 11, 2020).

47 As of Oct. 19, the Senate has placed EARN IT Act of 2020 on the legislative calendar. See S.3398 - EARN IT Act of 2020 Congress.gov, (Oct. 19, 2020) https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th- congress/senate-bill/3398/all-actions.

48 Eliminating Abusive and Rampant Neglect of Interactive Technologies Act of 2020, S. 3398 116th Cong. (2d Sess. 2020).

49 Hannah Quay-de la Vallee & Mana Azarmi, The New EARN IT Act Still Threatens Encryption and Child Exploitation Prosecutions, center FOr demOcracy and technOlOGy (August 25, 2020), https://cdt.org/insights/the-new-earn-it-act-still-threatens-encryption-and-child-exploitation- prosecutions/.https://cdt.org/insights/the-new-earn-it-act-still-threatens-encryption-and-child- exploitation-prosecutions/.

50 Ed Pound et al., Poor Conditions Persist at Aging D.C. Jail; New Facility Needed to Mitigate Risks, OFF. d.c. auditOr (Feb. 28, 2019), http://dcauditor.org/report/poor-conditions-persist-at- aging-d-c-jail-new-facility-needed-to-mitigate-risks/.

51 D.C. Law 22 §§ 279, 515 (Enacted April 5, 2019).

52 Move Along: Policing Sex Work in Washington, supra note 2.

53 Edelman et al., supra note 3.

54 UN Human Rights Council, supra note 16.

55 Amnesty International Policy on State Obligations to Respect, Protect and Fulfill the Human Rights of Sex Workers, supra note 17.

56 Neela Ghoshal, supra note 20.

57 Kate Shannon et al., supra note 13.

58 Michael Miller, In 2018, they all became victims of a record-setting year of hatred in D.C., Wash. pOst (Aug. 21, 2019), https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2019/local/dc-hate- crimes/. See also Edelman et al., supra note 3 and HIV Basic Statistics, centers FOr disease cOntrOl and preventiOn, https://www.cdc.gov/hiv/basics/statistics.html (last reviewed July 1, 2020).

59 Matt Blitz, Meet the Madam on the Mall, smithsOnianmaG.cOm (Feb. 20, 2015), https://www. smithsonianmag.com/history/meet-madam-mall-180954371/?all; see also Claudia Swain, The Oldest Profession in Washington, bOundary stOnes (June 3, 2015), https://boundarystones.weta. org/2015/06/03/oldest-profession-washington.

60 Within sight of the White House: Section of Washington, D.C., known as “Hooker’s Division,” which contains 50 saloons and 109 bawdy-houses--list of 61 places where liquor is sold with government sic but without city licenses. [Map] library OF cOnGress, (Accessed July 2020), https:// www.loc.gov/item/87694066/.

61 Jacqueline Shelton, Evil Becomes Her: Prostitution’s Transition from Necessary to Social Evil in 19th Century America, elec. theses and dissertatiOns (2013), https://dc.etsu.edu/etd/1172/; see also George P. Dale, Moral Prophylaxis: Prostitutes and Prostitution (Continued), 12 am. J. nursinG 1, 22-26 (1911).

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62 Title 22, DC Code, Ch. 27 § 22-2705, An Act In relation to pandering, to define and prohibit the same and to provide for the punishment thereof, (Approved June 25, 1910, last codified October 9, 2020) (Federal law incorporated into DC Code).

63 Title 22 DC Code Ch. 27 § 22-2713, An Act To enjoin and abate houses of lewdness, assignation, and prostitution; to declare the same to be nuisances; to enjoin the person or persons who conduct or maintain the same and the owner or agent of any building used for such purposes; and to assess a tax against the person maintaining said nuisance and against the building and owner thereof, (Approved February 7, 1914, last codified October 9, 2020) (Federal law incorporated into DC Code).

64 An Act for the Suppression of Prostitution in the District of Columbia, Pub. L. No. 276, 74th Cong. § 546 (1935), https://www.loc.gov/law/help/statutes-at-large/74th-congress/session-1/ c74s1ch546.pdf.

65 Bill Dedman & Jeffrey Goldberg, March Clears Out Prostitution Zone; D.C. Police Criticized After Ordering Women to Walk to Va. Line, Wash. pOst (July 26, 1989).

66 Sarah Childress, Frontline: The Problem with “Broken Windows” Policing, pub. brOad. serv. (June 28, 2016), https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/the-problem-with-broken-windows- policing/ (referencing a theory that argues that policing low-level offenses can prevent more serious crimes).

67 Image courtesy of Stephen Jaffe.

68 Street Solicitation for Prostitution Emergency Act of 1998, Pub. L. No. B12-719 (D.C. 1998), http://lims.dccouncil.us/Download/6282/B12-0719-INTRODUCTION.pdf; see also Maria Elena Fernandez, D.C. Poised to Run Out Prostitutes, WASH. POST (July 12, 1998), https://www. washingtonpost.com/archive/local/1998/07/12/dc-poised-to-run-out-prostitutes/25989434- 35c5-4830-ad57-8c6dbb673afd/.

69 See supra note 2, at 10; see also Ron Shaffer, Good News for the I-66 Crowd, WASH. POST (Nov. 26, 1992), https://search-proquest-com.dclibrary.idm.oclc.org/ docview/140749450?accountid=46320.

70 See supra note 2; see also d.c. cOde § 2-1401.01.

71 Omnibus Public Safety Amendment Act of 2006, DC Law 16-306 (Effective April 24, 2007) https://code.dccouncil.us/dc/council/laws/16-306.html.

72 Repeal of Prostitution Free Zones Amendment Act of 2014: Hearing on Bill 20-760 Before the Comm. of the Judiciary and Pub. Safety, Council of the District of Columbia (July 17, 2014), http:// lims.dccouncil.us/Download/31535/B20-0760-HearingRecord1.pdf.

73 Agenda: 2008 An election-year guide to local GLBT issues in Washington, D.C., Glaa (July 2, 2008), http://glaa.org/archive/2008/agenda2008.shtml#partII.

74 Megan McLemore, Sex Workers at Risk: Condoms as Evidence of Prostitution in Four US Cities, HUM. RTS. WATCH 1 (July 2012), https://www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/reports/ us0712ForUpload_1.pdf.

75 Advocacy Coalition Supports MPD Clarification of Condom Policy, dc trans cOal. (Mar. 11, 2013), https://dctranscoalition.wordpress.com/2013/03/11/advocacy-coalition-supports-mpd- clarification-of-condom-policy/.

76 See McLemore, supra note 65, at 42.

77 Additional Arrests Made in Solicitation of Prostitution Operation, metrO. pOlice dep’t (Aug. 28, 2015), https://mpdc.dc.gov/release/additional-arrests-made-solicitation-prostitution- operation-14.

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78 Dana Hedgpeth & Peter Hermann, Prostitution sting: Police Arrest 30 men in Northwest D.C. crackdown, Wash. pOst (July 21, 2015), https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/crime/thirty-men- in-dc-charged-with-soliciting-prostitutes/2015/07/21/a14c092a-2f9b-11e5-8f36-18d1d501920d_ story.html.

79 NEAR Act, saFer strOnGer dc, https://saferstronger.dc.gov/page/near-act-safer-stronger- dc (last visited Oct. 9, 2020).

80 Mayor Bowser Launches New Initiatives to Reduce Prostitution, Illegal Dumping Along Eastern Avenue, OFF. OF the mayOr (Apr. 10, 2019), https://mayor.dc.gov/release/mayor-bowser- launches-new-initiatives-reduce-prostitution-illegal-dumping-along-eastern.

81 Martin Austermuhle, D.C. Police Release Long-Delayed Stop-And-Frisk Data, Showing Racial Disparities In Stops, WamU (Sept. 10, 2019), https://wamu.org/story/19/09/10/d-c-police-release- long-delayed-stop-and-frisk-data-showing-racial-disparities-in-stops/.

82 Id.