Manhattan District Attorney Ends Prosecution for Prostitution

“Over the past decade, we have learned from people with lived experience and our own experience on the ground: criminal prosecution of prostitution does not make us any safer, and all too often we achieve the opposite result by further marginalizing vulnerable New Yorkers,” says Mr. Vance, a Democrat, said in a statement. He called things a relic of another New York.

The move to dismiss the cases comes after New York state lawmakers revoked a statute earlier this year that criminalizes hanging around for prostitution. “For too long, transgender people have been unfairly targeted and disproportionately monitored for innocent, lawful behavior based solely on their appearance,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said after signing the bill in February.

The measure was largely passed along party lines. Lawmakers who supported the repeal of the law known as the “walking while trans” ban said it led to discriminatory policing against transgender women. At the time, some state republicans said the bill would hinder enforcement efforts and make it more difficult to prevent prostitution.

After Mr. Cuomo signed the legislation, judges in other boroughs dismissed similar cases at the request of prosecutors. In March, prosecutors in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx asked judges to dismiss hundreds of prostitution-related cases. Other New York City prosecutors have not announced a policy to stop the prosecution of prostitution.

Mr. Vance’s new policy comes at a time when US prosecutors are rethinking their approach to prostitution cases. In prostitution cases in Brooklyn, prosecutors provide services to defendants and dismiss the cases, usually before appearing in court, a spokesman for the district attorney’s office said. In March, prosecutor Eric Gonzalez said people with outstanding warrants – like the old prostitution-related warrants that his office fired – are more likely to be driven underground and less likely to report abuse or other crimes.

Abigail Swenstein, a staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society’s Exploitation Intervention Project that works with sex workers, said the Manhattan district attorney’s office had turned down most prostitution cases in recent years, but usually only when a suspect appeared in court and was referred. to services such as counseling. Under the new policy, those arrested do not have to appear in court.

Ms. Swenstein said that while the policy does not prevent New York police from making arrests, she hoped officers would choose not to make arrests, knowing that prosecutors would not press charges.

“It remains to be seen what the NYPD will do in the future,” she added. Police did not respond to a request for comment.

New York City Representative Mike Reilly, a Republican who opposed state law, said Manhattan’s new prostitution policy set a dangerous precedent. “It’s against law and order,” said Mr. Reilly, who once worked as a police officer in a unit that enforced prostitution laws.

Mr. Reilly said he knew several unlicensed massage parlors in his Staten Island district. “If you don’t hold these people responsible for these illegal activities, it will only lead to more serious crimes,” he said. “Now they will do it without any cover of darkness.”

Write to Corinne Ramey at [email protected]