Policing Prostitution

Abstract

During the 1970s and 1980s, a number of vice squads emerged in different locations in England and Wales to respond to the growing public concern about street prostitution. They adopted an essentially enforcement approach which was aimed predominantly at female prostitutes. During the 1990s, however, the nature of police intervention has changed, as they have become increasingly involved in developing multi-agency responses to prostitution. There has also been a significant growth in the last decade of specialist agencies designed to support street prostitutes. This development has produced a changing regulatory framework in which the nature of prostitution and the conception of the female prostitute have been subject to re-examination. In this article, developments in the policing of prostitution over the last decade are reviewed and emerging trends in the regulation of prostitution are identified.

Saving Fallen Women Now? Critical Perspectives on Engagement and Support Orders and their Policy of Forced Welfarism

“…Those in favour considered the orders to be an essential part of a reform package that would successfully eradicate prostitution. They were perceived to be evidence of a 'renewed welfarism' in this area (Matthews, 2005). Others, however, have raised concerns.…”

Revisiting the red light district: Still neglected, immoral and marginal?

“…In Preston, a 'managed zone' allows sex workers to work at designated times without fear of arrest so long as they follow certain codes of behaviour. Likewise, in Northampton those working at night in some industrial areas are not prosecuted for solicitation (Bellis et al, 2007;Matthews, 2005). In Manchester, male and female sex workers access support around sexual health, drug-use, police liaison and wellbeing from outreach workers who patrol the unofficial 'tolerance zones'.…”

“…Despite the Home Office's stated policy, the police seem to tolerate street prostitution in British cities so long as it takes place away from residential or prime commercial sites (Matthews, 2005), implying a moral geography in which sex work is considered as a potential contaminant and source of property blight, properly located away from 'family' areas (Hubbard, 1999). At the same time as street work has been decentralising, licensing and planning policy in the UK has mirrored that noted in Amsterdam and Paris (above) by seeking a more equal balance between residential, business and off-street sex commerce within traditional city centre red light districts, encouraging better-managed and more upscale venues and generally reducing the density of sex establishments (see Hubbard, 2004, on the regulation of sex work in London's West End).…”

“…This interpretation largely holds true, with the police and authorities appearing relatively unconcerned about the sex being sold in the massage parlours and saunas that can now be found in nearly every UK suburban high street (Matthews, 2005). One widely publicised report by Eaves Housing suggested that there were as many as 730 flats and massage parlours in London, and 164 escort agencies, with prostitution occurring in every London borough and an average of 19 premises per borough (Dickson, 2004).…”

Time, space, and the authorisation of sex premises in London and Sydney

“…The dominant process by which this has been achieved has been the deployment of criminal laws, and their enforcement by police (Ashworth et al, 1988;Scoular, 2010). Whilst this has received significant scholarly attention (Matthews, 2005), less attention has been devoted to the role of municipal law in regulating the presence of commercial sex in the city. However, an emerging body of work has begun to highlight how formal urban planning is emerging as an important mechanism for governing commercial sexual exchange within contemporary western cities, most notably, in the large US literature on the zoning of commercial sexual venues (e.g.…”