Manhattan Will Drop Charges for Prostitution and Unlicensed Massage but Continue Prosecuting Prostitution Patrons
Manhattan will dismiss thousands of prostitution and unlicensed massage cases, District Attorney Cy Vance, Jr. announced on Wednesday. Going forward,
reason.com
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.
Manhattan to stop prosecuting prostitution
District attorney Cyrus Vance Jr says prosecuting sex workers is ‘relic of a different New York’
www.independent.co.uk
It was suggested to me this post would get more attention in the Bill C-36 forum so I am reposting.
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.
