“Decriminalization: survival of and justice for sex work”

Deception. Drugs. Economic Hardships. Affirmation of sexual identity. SURVIVAL. Those reasons, to name a few, are why many women enter and are often forced to remain in sex work. For many people, sex work is not a choice made freely, but a response to limited resource support and restricted job prospects due to systematic neglect. So, what does survival mean within the world of sex work? For many sex workers, survival is not just merely for economic gain, but a daily negotiation for security amongst violence.

In a study conducted with 250 women in Baltimore City, Maryland, 21% of women who entered the sex work industry at the age of eighteen reported being threatened, tricked, and traded into the work. Many of those women have since considered these behaviors to be the ‘norm,’ believing there is no viable way out. The study also found that 73% of the female participants began working in the sex industry for access to and affordability of drugs, while 36% cited the need for basic necessities of food and housing, and in general, to support their families. Additionally, some transgender and minority women push themselves into the sex work industry due to the desire to affirm and express their sexual identity. Further hardships and difficulties are faced by transgender women due to gender employment discrimination, and they find that sex work is the only means of employment they can readily obtain.

Sex work is a multi-billion-dollar industry encompassing a wide range of services from pornography to stripping to street sex work to escort services. Yet behind its economic scale lies a stark reality for many: a constant navigation of exposure to harm and violence. Sex workers face an extremely high prevalence of sexual and physical violence from clients, intimate partners, and even law enforcement. These types of victimization relationships increase contact with sexually transmitted infections, higher homicide rates, and reported rates of anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Rather than protecting individuals, the criminalization of sex work directly exacerbates these harms by punishing those who fall victim to these issues.

Some current state laws illustrate how criminalization operates across the country. For example, in California, “an individual who solicits, or who agrees to engage in, or who engages in, an act of prostitution with the intent to receive compensation . . .” is found guilty of disorderly conduct. Cal Disorderly Conduct Code § 647 (West 2026). In Texas, a person is found guilty of prostitution if “the person knowingly offers or agrees to receive a fee from another to engage in sexual conduct.” Tex. Prostitution Code Ann. § 43.02 (West 2023). These crimes are punishable by fines and incarceration; penalties that further entrench sex workers in cycles of poverty, criminal records, and vulnerabilities.

For individuals who enter sex work as a means of survival, criminalization creates an additional threat: the constant risk of arrest. As better explained, sex workers fear the consequences of arrest and therefore attempt to avoid police detection. As a result, they often carry out their work in isolated areas where their visibility is slim to none, creating less access to help and thus increasing the risk of violence. Additionally, many state officials have shut down online forums that allowed sex workers to conduct informal “background checks” on clients, removing an important safety measure and further increasing the risk of violence.

This is why the decriminalization of sex work needs to be acknowledged more thoroughly throughout the United States. Many prosecutorial offices have taken steps to decriminalize sex work, including Baltimore, Maryland, Maine, and New York. Rather than focusing its resources on prosecuting, Baltimore has become dedicated to working with local nonprofits to provide services to sex workers suffering from mental illness, homelessness, and drug addiction. Maine has worked to change the negative stigmatization around the sex work industry, helping illustrate how many females are actually victimized within the industry. New York has created the “Cecilia’s Act” to remove criminal penalties for sex work.

Prosecutors are arguably one of the most influential actors in our criminal justice system. They chose whether to bring charges, advocate for specific sentences, and help shape the priorities of law enforcement officers. Encouraging many prosecutorial offices to support the decriminalization of sex work will create a positive movement of change, especially in a time when prosecutorial reform is highly politicized. It is a prosecutors duty to uphold justice and safety in our communities, and in order to be able to properly do that prosecutors shall look to adopting better policies towards the decriminalization of sex work to “better protect vulnerable individuals, improve health outcomes, and ensure that our limited law enforcement resources are directed toward addressing truly harmful crimes.” Prosecutors are not only just lawyers, but also advocates for both the justice system and for the community they serve. Embracing this role to its fullest potential includes supporting the decriminalization of sex work that would advance justice and promote the safety and survival of individuals within the sex work industry.

Edited by: Angelina Limonta