Vulnerability and involvement in drug use and ... - Sex Work Europe

● It recommends identifying children at risk for involvement in prostitution. Almost all
of the most vulnerable children are already in contact with services. More could be
done via the care system and the criminal justice system to prevent their involvement
at an early age. Vulnerable children need support to ensure they are secure l y
housed, socially included and have access to services on the basis of need.
● It recommends pursuing and prosecuting the child abusers who pay to have sex
with children. In the current climate where public opinion against paedophiles is
s t rong, children abused through prostitution are not accorded the same pro t e c t i o n
as other children. Indeed, the victims are often still blamed. Police re s o u rces should
be diverted from prosecuting adults for sex work related offences towards pursuing
those seeking paid sex with children. Potential abusers seeking child pro s t i t u t e s
might be targeted in an information campaign reminding them that until the age of
eighteen, under Safeguarding Children Involved in Prostitution (Dept. of Health,
2000), young people involved in prostitution are to be treated as victims of abuse.
Police may also find ready allies amongst adult sex workers in their work to
identify both potential abusers and child prostitutes. Agencies intending to identify
young people at risk of entering prostitution should follow the working practices of
N o t t i n g h a m s h i re anti-vice squad and Nottinghamshire Social services. These
agencies work in partnership with voluntary agencies in the city to identify
vulnerable young people who may be at risk of entering prostitution. The anti-vice
squad also have a successful prosecution rate for those living off immoral earnings.
● It recommends that future re s e a rch investigates the feasibility of a licensing system
for sex work premises to regulate this business and encourage adult sex workers to
work indoors. This recommendation follows those previously made in Home Off i c e
PSR re p o rt 134. That re p o rt stated that these must be regulated and well managed.
These are harm reduction interventions with the following aims.
● They prevent children becoming involved in prostitution.
● They massively reduce a currently unregulated, criminogenic industry’s potential
to exploit children, illegal and trafficked migrants and individuals who are
dependent on drugs.
● They b reak connections between drug use and sex work occasioned by their
s h a red geographic and illicit market areas. The potential harm that can be
caused by areas with entwined drug and outdoor sex markets was highlighted in
PSR Paper 118.
● They increase the appeal of indoor sex work premises for both adult sex workers
and their clients and thereby reducing the relative appeal of outdoor sex markets.
‘Trapping’ and ‘exiting’
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