Crackdowns on street workers
BBC News: Met needs to move away from criminalising sex workers, officers say after Levy failings
Daniel De Simone, Investigations correspondent and Amy Johnston, LondonThe Met needs to move away from criminalising women involved in street sex work in the wake of the Simon Levy case, officers have told the BBC.Levy, a convicted sex offender, was left to kill two women and rape another – all of whom were vulnerable and sometimes engaged in street […]
Bulletin: Sex workers defending their rights
Sex workers fighting for their rights: against rape and other violence, sexism, racism and financial discrimination and for housing, benefits and access to justice The English Collective of Prostitutes (ECP) is a sex workers’ collective campaigning to end criminalisation and for the rights and safety of sex workers. We provide practical help and assistance to […]
Metro: How a Met Police crackdown left sex workers fearing for their lives
Lauren Crosby MedlicottMaria has been tirelessly working the streets of Enfield as a sex worker on and off for seven years after escaping Romania to try and make a better life for her family back home. ‘Many women like me do this work because we have no other way to survive,’ Maria, 27, tells Metro. ‘Some of us have children. Many of us […]
Statement: The Impact of Operation Pisces and the police operation, Clear, Hold, Build, on Women’s Health and Safety in Enfield
Since October 2024, the Metropolitan Police Service has been running what it calls “Operation Pisces” in Enfield, alongside a Clear, Hold, Build policing approach. While presented as a response to serious crime and antisocial behaviour, women in the long-established red light area tell a very different story.We are basing what we say here directly on […]
Big Issue: Sex workers ‘trapped’ in prostitution by ‘unjust’ police cautions: ‘It stopped me from having a career’
Sex workers are being punished for doing what they need to in order to survive, campaigners argueLauren Crosby MedlicottNearly 50 years ago, when she was only 15, Sharon received her first prostitute’s caution while working the streets in Bristol.“My life on the streets started when I was 14,” Sharon, who asked for only her first […]
Central Bylines: From criminal to victim – prostitute’s cautions must go now
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper is being urged by campaigners to abolish ‘prostitute’s cautions’, which leave sex workers criminalised for life Campaigners from more than 100 organisations claim that prostitute’s cautions trap women in sex work, prevent them from leaving abusive and violent relationships, and push them further into poverty. While prostitution is not against the […]
Open Letter: To Home Secretary – Abolish “Prostitute’s Cautions”
SIGN ONLINE HERE Or email ecp@prostitutescollective.net to be added. Dear Home Secretary, We are writing to ask that you take action to abolish ‘prostitute’s cautions’ which trap women in sex work, prevent them from leaving abusive and violent relationships, and push them further into poverty. ‘Prostitute’s cautions’ are cautions that the police can give to […]
BBC Woman’s Hour: Prostitute’s Cautions
Campaigners are calling for an end to the “Prostitutes Caution”, saying it’s preventing women leaving sex work behind them. The caution stays on record for 100 years and there’s no appeal possible. A new report from the English Collective of Prostitutes says two thirds of women they surveyed who’d been given one found it hard […]
The Observer: Call for end to ‘draconian’ police cautions for sex workers that last until age of 100
A ‘prostitute’s caution’, unlike other cautions, does not require a person to admit an offence or agree to it Police in England and Wales should be banned from issuing a “draconian” caution that exclusively targets sex workers, both politicians and campaigners have said. A “prostitute’s caution”, unlike other police cautions, does not require a person […]