Manhattan(NYC) DA announces policy to stop prosecution of sex workers but not clients

[tmmsmyth]

Manhattan to Stop Prosecuting Prostitution, Part of Nationwide Shift (Published 2021)

The district attorney, Cyrus R. Vance Jr., moved to dismiss thousands of cases dating back decades, amid a growing movement to change the criminal justice system’s approach to prostitution.

www.nytimes.com

Prostitution Will No Longer Be Prosecuted In Manhattan, DA Says

Manhattan will stop prosecuting prostitution and unlicensed massage, District Attorney Cyrus Vance said, a victory for sex work advocates.

patch.com

Obviously these changes are far short of what myself and many others would like to see but I have to note that New York City has long been one of the most hostile places to sex work in the entire Western World so in any change in policy in my opinion is a good one.

A couple of question from my perspective going forward are what does this do to agencies that have been viscously prosecuted in the past like Emperor's Club VIP and how do the New York City Police Department(which is institutionally very anti sex work) and the US Federal Law Enforcement authorities based in NYC(like Homeland Security Investigations) respond to this policy shift. Of course on the surface the changes in NYC look a lot like post Bill C-36 in Canada but Canada had a far different view of sex work long before Bill C-36. Time will tell how this plays out in NYC.

 

[mandrill]

Coalition Statement Against the Equality Model in NYC — SWOP Brooklyn

Authored by: SWOP Brooklyn We at SWOP Brooklyn release this statement today as a group of sex workers of many backgrounds; we are migrant workers, we are trans workers, disabled workers, BIPOC workers, we are single parents, we are multi-generational sex workers. Some of us are survivors of coerci

www.swopbrooklyn.org

 

[y2kmark]

Sound a little like Canada. Certainly a step forward...

 

[Valcazar]

Move to "nordic" is better than it was but it still isn't good.

 

[mandrill]

Move to "nordic" is better than it was but it still isn't good.

It's a halfway step. And ON has proven that once prostitution is accepted as a legitimate activity - and not a shameful and disgusting crime - the Nordic Model is so fucking stupid and illogical that it gets successfully attacked soon afterwards.