Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) 2002 gives courts the power to freeze bank accounts and seize savings and assets of people convicted for prostitution offences. The burden of proof is reversed so people have to prove that any money they have was not earned through “criminal activity”. Police and the Crown Prosecution Service keep a proportion (18% respectively) of any money and assets seized. Prosecutions for brothel-keeping and other prostitution charges have risen since POCA indicating that police profiteering is fuelling raids and arrests.
For an explanation of the prostitution laws and sex workers’ rights under them see Know Your Rights – A Guide for Sex Workers
The English Collective of Prostitutes says a ‘moral crusade’ is under way based on the mistaken belief that sex workers are all controlled by criminal gangsJamie DowardAn increasing number of prostitutes who work from home, often for safety reasons, are being prosecuted, according to the organisation that represents English sex workers.The English Collective of Prostitutes […]
Today in Luton Crown Court Claire Finch was found not guilty of a criminal charge of keeping a brothel. The jury, in line with public opinion, refused to criminalise Ms Finch for working together with friends from her own home for safety. This malicious prosecution was motivated by a moral crusade and financial incentives for the police. Since Proceeds […]
In January 2010, a Thai woman was charged with trafficking and brothel-keeping. She worked in a flat with other women where she organised the advertising and paid the rent. She and her husband had given a lift in their car to a sex worker they had known for years, from one town to another in […]
By the English Collective of Prostitutes Co-ordinators of the SAFETY FIRST COALITIONHouse of Lords, second reading Wednesday 3 June.Using flawed trafficking statistics as justification, the measures target anyone involved in prostitution whether or not there is force or coercion. They would drive prostitution further underground and sex workers into even more danger. In the present recession, and […]