To the Editor:
Repealing the New York State loitering law mentioned in “Push to End Penalties for Oldest Profession” (news article, June 1) is a no-brainer decision and one that does not even require wrestling with the larger question posed by the full decriminalization of sex work.
As lawyers at the Bronx Defenders, we see how the loitering law acts as an invitation to the police to abuse and target our clients for simply “walking while female” in certain neighborhoods. We have represented women who were arrested while walking to meet friends at a bar, waiting outside a store or walking home with diapers for a child. The law has led to discriminatory enforcement and the targeting of women from marginalized groups that are at high risk for sex trafficking and other exploitation.
Women who are charged under the loitering law are arrested, torn from their lives, handcuffed and thrown into a police car. They spend at least one night in jail. They sleep on metal benches and are forced by necessity to use an open toilet in their cell. Even after they are released, the stigma of these arrests follows them, affecting employment, child custody and immigration status.
The Bronx Defenders supports the decriminalization of sex work. Repealing the loitering law, however, is not decriminalization. It is a common-sense reform that would put an end to these unconstitutional, humiliating and destabilizing arrests.
Avery McNeil
Breanne Chappell
Bronx
Source: Read Full Article
Home » Analysis & Comment » Opinion | Repeal the New York Loitering Law
Opinion | Repeal the New York Loitering Law
To the Editor:
Repealing the New York State loitering law mentioned in “Push to End Penalties for Oldest Profession” (news article, June 1) is a no-brainer decision and one that does not even require wrestling with the larger question posed by the full decriminalization of sex work.
As lawyers at the Bronx Defenders, we see how the loitering law acts as an invitation to the police to abuse and target our clients for simply “walking while female” in certain neighborhoods. We have represented women who were arrested while walking to meet friends at a bar, waiting outside a store or walking home with diapers for a child. The law has led to discriminatory enforcement and the targeting of women from marginalized groups that are at high risk for sex trafficking and other exploitation.
Women who are charged under the loitering law are arrested, torn from their lives, handcuffed and thrown into a police car. They spend at least one night in jail. They sleep on metal benches and are forced by necessity to use an open toilet in their cell. Even after they are released, the stigma of these arrests follows them, affecting employment, child custody and immigration status.
The Bronx Defenders supports the decriminalization of sex work. Repealing the loitering law, however, is not decriminalization. It is a common-sense reform that would put an end to these unconstitutional, humiliating and destabilizing arrests.
Avery McNeil
Breanne Chappell
Bronx
Source: Read Full Article