Manhattan’s DA office has recently announced its landmark decision to stop prosecuting prostitution.
In the same way, they will also dismiss the hundreds of cases that are currently clogging up the entire system, confirmed by local media outlets. The breakthrough decision was actually announced today by the District Attorney who is Cyrus Vance Jr.
He boldly explained how his office has taken a major step towards altering criminal reform and the entire way that the area’s justice system defines as well as looks at the profession of sex workers.
While such sex work has always been seen and portrayed in a negative way when considering the mainstream, some liberal attitudes feel the time has come for change and hence they feel it is necessary to make progress by normalizing the act as a more socially acceptable profession.
However, Vance Jr did boldly mention how illegality serves nobody.
In the statement released by the DA, he spoke about how the past 10 years have taught many of us that going at prostitution with a criminal prosecution doesn’t make any of us safer.point 324 |
In addition, he proclaimed how such acts actually go about achieving a more opposite result to that originally intended as it further marginalizes all vulnerable New York citizens.point 153 | 1
Hence, Vance Jr appeared in court recently through virtual means. Here, he asked the judge to dismiss the 914 open cases that were all against the acts of prostitution as well as unlicensed massage. Moreover, this is in addition to the mighty 5080 cases that revolved around targeting all sex workers who loitered around with the sole intention of engaging in sex.
This new move comes after the state’s repeal of the famous ‘Walking While Trans’ statute. This is the one that actually appeared to specifically target all Black trans women. It also gave police officers full authority to arrest anyone who they thought was engaged in the act of selling sex.
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