ACS and LSRJ Present: Prostitution Diversion Courts: Responding to Sex Work Through the Criminal Justice System
Join us for a discussion about prostitution diversion programs—specialty courts that seek to provide rehabilitative rather than punitive responses to individuals arrested for sex work-related charges. How do these programs work? What are the implications of ‘treating’ sex workers through the criminal justice system? Do prostitution diversion courts improve lives or inflict new harms?
Panelists include Kate D’Adamo of the Sex Workers Project, Judge Poust-Lopez of the Human Trafficking Intervention Court in the Bronx, and Zoe Root, formerly the dedicated HTIC attorney for the Bronx Defenders. Moderated by Professor Ali Miller.
For a primer on how prostitution diversion plays out in New York City, see this report from the Red Umbrella Project. If you have time, you may also want to skim Allegra McLeod’s 2012 article on decarceration courts, which contextualizes the ascendance of these programs in light of broader trends in criminal justice reform.