ISSUE 5 2008 - Sweet & Maxwell

Crim. L.R. Public Nuisance Injunctions Against On-Street 365
Similarly, ASBOs have been denounced as an inappropriate solution to tackle
on-street sex work in red light areas because the orders have the potential to lead to
displacement. 87 However, another important point to make when considering the
potential impact of the PNI is that contemporary crime prevention and community
safety work consists of several tiers of multi-agency partnerships which implement
a variety of multi-agency strategies, and, therefore, to what extent does the PNI
make a useful contribution within the current policy approach
A vexing problem for many commentators is that orders and injunctions are
liable to remove sex workers (both those subject to orders and injunctions and
those who seek to avoid them) out of the reach of front-line services, offering
on-going practical, material and emotional support. 88 Indeed, while Birmingham
City Council had issued warnings to the women targeted (a prerequisite of the
PNI) and invited sex workers to avoid legal proceedings via voluntary referral to
appropriate agencies, 89 one in four were found to have breached the PNI, 90 and if
the Council is right about the numbers of women working the area being reduced
from 50 to less than five, then many were likely to have displaced themselves.
However, while arguments such as displacement and interference with welfarebased
work have been brought to the attention of the Home Office, 91 the current
government strategy 92 and guidance from the Association of Chief Police Officers 93
is to continue to issue ASBOs and other exclusionary orders against persistent
sex workers but link them to mechanisms of support. The shortcomings of this
approach with regard to the ability of the ASBO to work in tandem with inclusive
initiatives have been debated in detail elsewhere. 94 However, it is important to
point out that in just the same way that inclusive projects have first to exist locally
if ASBOs are to be linked to them, the same is true regarding PNIs. Significant
funding is needed to implement and maintain sex worker services and expensive sex
worker initiatives will not always attract the allocation of precious local resources
within the moral community. Thus, while the current approach in England and
Wales is to encourage local Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships and
Community Safety Partnerships to provide services that are tailored to meet the
needs of sex workers, this will be easier said than done. In many areas, partnerships
will lack the funds and possibly the will to set up the kinds of service provision
recommended by Hester and Westmarland (drop-in centres, counselling, outreach,
87 H. Wright and T. Sagar, ‘‘Out of Sight, Out of Mind’’ (2000) 150 N.L.J. 1792. Jones
and Sagar, ‘‘Crime and Disorder Act 1998’’ [2001] Crim. L.R. 873.
88 M. Hester and N. Westmarland, Tackling Street Prostitution: Towards A Holistic Approach,
Home Office Research Study 279 (2004); T. Sagar, ‘‘Tackling On-Street Sex Work: Anti-
Social Behaviour Orders, Sex Workers and Inclusive Inter-Agency Strategies’’ (2007) 7
Criminology and Criminal Justice 153.
89 Birmingham City Council, Legal Services Briefing Note, Crime and Disorder: Anti-Social
Behaviour (January 2003), para.4.9.
90 Birmingham City Council, Legal Services Briefing Note, Crime and Disorder, Anti-Social
Behaviour 2002/2004, para.4.12.
91 Hester and Westmarland, Tackling Street Prostitution (2004).
92 Home Office, The Development of a Coordinated Strategy on Prostitution, Partial Regulatory
Impact Assessment (2004).
93 T. Brian, T. Davis and A. Phillips, Policing Prostitution: ACPO’s Policy Strategy and
Operational Guidelines for Dealing with Exploitation and Abuse through Prostitution, (ACPO,
2004).
94 Sagar, ‘‘Tackling On-Street Sex Work’’ (2007) 7 Criminology and Criminal Justice 153.
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