Manhattan District Attorney Ends Criminalization of Sex Trade Victims
According to reporting by the New York Times on Wednesday, Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. announced a change to the office’s enforcement of prostitution laws, effectively implementing key aspects of the Equality Model (Nordic Model) in the borough.
Vance asked a judge to dismiss over 900 open cases involving prostitution as well as over 5,000 cases of “loitering for the purposes of prostitution.”
The Decline-to-Prosecute policy, believed to be the first in New York state, says that the office “will no longer charge individuals with the offenses of Prostitution (P.L. § 230.00) and attempted or completed Unauthorized Practice of a Profession in the context of unlicensed massage (charged under PL § 110/E.D § 6512(1)).”
Under the new policy, the district attorney will continue to prosecute other crimes related to prostitution, such as buying sex, pimping, or sex trafficking.
The structure of the new policy is similar in many ways to the Equality Model/Nordic Model, which advocates for the end of criminalizing the victims of the sex trade while holding accountable the pimps and johns (sex buyers) responsible for the sexual exploitation of women. The Equality Model/Nordic Model also calls for governments to provide support and resources to those who want to exit the sex trade. Manhattan now offers these services to those arrested for prostitution on a voluntary basis (they were previously required by those charged with prostitution offenses).
Decriminalizing prostitution has become a hot-button issue in New York City during a tight and contentious mayoral race, with at least one candidate explicitly endorsing the Nordic Model. Andrew Yang, the front-runner in the race, announced in January that after previously supporting the Nordic Model during his 2020 presidential campaign, he now supports full decriminalization in New York City. Eric Adams on the other hand, Yang’s major opponent, has stated he does not support any decriminalization measures, including the Nordic Model.
The New York state legislature currently has two decriminalization bills being considered. A00849 (and its companion bill S03075) would fully decriminalize prostitution, including buying and pimping. S06040, titled the “Sex Trade Survivors Justice and Equality Act,” was introduced in March by State Senator Liz Krueger. This bill would implement the Nordic Model across the state.
The Equality Model/Nordic Model has been shown to decrease human trafficking, and recognizes the inherent exploitation of the sex trade.
WoLF applauds the latest move by the Manhattan district attorney’s office to end the cruel criminalization of victims of sexual exploitation.
At the same time, we hope the City will continue to fight back against the push from the left to normalize the sexual abuse of an entire class of women (and, often, children). Women are not products to be bought and sold. Policies that fully-legalize prostitution normalize sexual violence, fail to protect victims, and fail to hold pimps and punters accountable for their systematic exploitation of female people.
Learn more: Download and share our one-page fact sheet on the Equality Model