A Review of the Criminalisation of the Payment for Sexual Services in Northern Ireland

Abstract

The report is undoubtedly more relevant in policy terms because of their input. Thanks also to the support workers from the Belfast Commercial Sex Workers Service who provided information on the on-street sector in Belfast and to the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland and UglyMugs.ie who provided advice on the project as well as assisting in the distribution of the questionnaire and dealing with queries from sex workers about it. Special thanks also to Uglymugs.ie for providing data in relation to violence and abuse directed towards sex workers. Professor Robin Hickey from the School of Law at Queen's provided time for Graham Ellison to undertake the research. Thanks to Colette Farrell and Susan Burton from the School of Law who administered the financial aspects of the grant and to Richard Summerville who designed the cover graphic. The Information Compliance Unit at Queen's was also extremely helpful in advising us of issues in relation to data protection under GDPR.

Not collateral damage: Trends in violence and hate crimes experienced by sex workers in the Republic of Ireland

“…Physical assaults and sexual violence were reported at lower levels, but still at higher rates than the general population. Ellison et al (2019) carried out an online survey of n ¼ 199 sex workers working in NI, none of whom identified as street sex workers, reflecting the Northern Irish sex work population which is 'almost exclusively based online ' (p. 38). They found that amongst those respondents who said they had been victimised while doing sex work in NI, the most common offence categories in order of prevalence were abusive or threatening phone calls/messages (73.3% of sex workers in their survey reported receiving these in the previous 12 months), in-person threatening or abusive behaviour (50.6% said they had experienced such in the previous 1 months), assault, robbery and rape/sexual assault.…”

“…For indoor workers who previously would not go to buyers' homes or other outcall locations, they are now under increased pressure to do so to avoid detection by the police or eviction from their own homes (Amnesty International, 2016). Ellison et al (2019) funded by Northern Ireland Department of Justice reviewed the impact of law to criminalise purchasing sexual services which came into law in 2015. Reviewing research studies which have looked at the impact of sex purchase legislation on risk and victimisation, they accepted as a general point that such law increases violence and abuse.…”

“…They point out that samples in these studies have consisted of more street sex workers, a sector that global research suggests is more dangerous, there is less evidence to assess the impacts on indoor sex work, a sector which as we have seen whilst not free from victimisation, research finds lower levels of violent crime. Ellison et al (2019) reviewing the impact of law criminalising purchasing which came into force in NI in 2015 specifically considered whether violence and abuse towards sex workers had increased in NI after the law had been implemented. That review is of particular interest to those concerned about violence and abuse amongst sex workers in Ireland because, as in NI, sex work is mainly internetbased indoor sex work.…”

“…They also describe how in relation to wider misogynistic violence against women 'sex workers are often seen as easy targets in so far as they are targeted by men with particularly misogynistic tendencies' (p. 182) not due to any 'innate characteristics of the sex worker, rather it is sex workers situational and their stigmatised image which exposes them to certain kinds of risk' (p. 182). Ellison et al (2019) in considering violence and abuse towards sex workers in NI, as part of a review of the impact of law criminalising purchasing sexual services, described how criminal and other behaviours towards sex workers 'can reflect both bias motivation that defines the victim as a legitimate target (hostility towards a perceived social group) and also as an easy target insofar as sex workers can be seen as inherently vulnerable ' (p. 153). This framing of the victimisation of sex workers within conceptualisations of hate crime is relevant to our purposes because it makes visible the targeted hostility and intimidation sex workers experience across a range of crime types, anti-social behaviour and nuisance.…”

“…Recognising a disproportionate level of victimisation is important but equally to characterise all commercial sex encounters as involving victimisation is not accurate. Ellison et al (2019), assessing the law criminalising purchasing sexual services in Northern Ireland (NI), carried out an online survey of n ¼ 199 sex workers; 51% (n ¼ 75) said that they had never been the victim of a crime while doing sex work in NI, compared to 49% (n ¼ 72) who said they had been the victim of a crime, i.e. slightly more reported never being a victim of crime.…”