Decrim now world news digest for March 2025

Decriminalization Advocacy Day at New York State Capitol

USA, New York

March 4, 2025

Decriminalize Sex Work (DSW) joined 130 fellow advocates from New York for an impactful day at the New York State Capitol. DSW played a leading role in the organization of the day along with DecrimNY, the statewide coalition fighting for sex workers’ rights. Advocates from around the state arrived in Albany to educate legislators on the critical need to pass Cecilia’s Act for Rights in the Sex Trades (Cecilia’s Act), formerly known as the Stop Violence in the Sex Trades Act. The day included multiple meetings with legislators and a press conference.

Cecilia’s Act would destigmatize and decriminalize consensual adult sex work by amending the New York criminal law. It would also clear eligible sex work convictions from criminal records. These changes are crucial to promote safety in the sex trades, reduce trafficking, and decrease police harassment. Cecilia’s Act further promotes safety and economic growth by providing for criminal record relief (sealing, expungement) for offenses no longer criminalized. This would allow thousands of New Yorkers to move forward with their lives without the burden of a criminal conviction. Unlike other expungement laws, which require a certain waiting period before convictions are sealed, Cecilia’s Act would provide immediate relief.

On photo Decriminalize Sex Work Legal Director Melissa Broudo addresses the press on the Million Dollar Staircase during lobby day.

Source portal decriminalizesex.work

The review of the law governing sex work is “not worth the paper it’s written on”, the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland has said.

Ireland, Dublin

March 26, 2025

The group said State bodies have taken a “cowardly approach”, while the Government ignores the health and safety of a vulnerable population.

Spokesperson Linda Kavanagh said sex workers don’t believe they were listened to - and the long-awaited review was flawed from the start.

“[Sex workers] feel a huge amount of stigma in Ireland, violence has increased, they’re forced to work alone, to work illegally, so there’s a huge amount of isolation within the community,” she said.

“We have been pushing for this review for seven years, and now when it comes out, it is just so disappointing that sex workers have not been listened to about the reality of their lives.”

In a press release discussing this review, the Sex Workers Alliance Ireland (SWAI) said that “no weight” has been given to the voices of currently active sex workers in this review and “there is scant evidence” that sex workers were properly engaged in this process.

“From the initial survey to this final report, the review has taken the stance that the law is in and of itself a positive thing. “SWAI fundamentally disagrees with this position and is supported by extensive evidence that sex workers are harmed by these laws.”

SWAI have also raised concerns about an increase in Garda surveillance of sex workers.

Amnesty Ireland described the review as a “missed opportunity”.

It called on the Minister to “respect the actual evidence and decriminalise the consensual exchange of sexual services between adults”.

Stephen Bowen, Executive Director of Amnesty International Ireland, said the law in Ireland “forces sex workers to live in a violent system and facilitates their abuse and exploitation, and increases stigma”.

He said the 2017 Act was progressed “despite evidence from other countries that a sex buyer criminalisation approach forces sex workers to take more risks with clients as they avoid the police, putting their lives and safety in jeopardy”.

“Criminalising those who buy sex is no solution,” said Bowen, “and to continue to pretend otherwise is a dereliction of the Government’s duty.”

He called for full decriminalisation and the removal of third party offences “not involving abuse, coercion or exploitation”.

“This will allow Garda resources to be directed at real violence, not surveilling and harassing sex workers.” 

Sources portals newstalk.com, thejournal.ie

Reform Group Urges Decriminalization of Sex Work, Citing Public Health, Safety, and Human Rights

USA, Washington, DC

March 28, 2025

A growing chorus of prosecutors is calling for a bold reimagining of how the criminal legal system treats sex work. In a new issue brief and accompanying model policy released this week, Fair and Just Prosecution (FJP), a national network of reform-minded elected prosecutors, argues that the continued criminalization of consensual sex work undermines public safety, increases the vulnerability of marginalized communities, and diverts critical resources away from addressing real threats like violence and trafficking.

“Every day, sex workers across the country face violence, exploitation, and a lack of basic human rights—all exacerbated by the laws meant to ‘protect’ them,” said Amy Fettig, Acting Co-Executive Director of FJP. “By adopting policies that focus on promoting public health and public safety, we can better protect vulnerable individuals from violence, reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases, and ensure that limited law enforcement resources are directed toward protecting the public from people who pose a genuine threat.”

The report, titled Decriminalizing Sex Work: Key Principles and Policy Recommendations for Prosecutors, presents an evidence-based blueprint for how local prosecutors can shift away from punitive approaches and embrace a public health and human rights framework. Central to the brief’s argument is the distinction between consensual sex work and sex trafficking—two phenomena that are often conflated in public and legal discourse.

“Criminalizing consensual sex work only drives sex workers away from seeking help from law enforcement, exacerbates their vulnerabilities, and undermines trust in our criminal legal system,” the brief explains. “It does nothing to deter actual trafficking, and in fact, makes it harder to detect and prosecute it.”

Source portal davisvanguard.org

Sex workers, allies speak out as details of brothel scandal emerge

USA, Boston

March 28, 2025

Greater Boston sex workers and their allies are raising questions about the handling of the local brothel ring case now making its way through the court system and urging lawmakers to consider legislation that would, among other things, remove penalties for the buying and selling of sex. 

“We are hopeful that this can be a time to raise awareness among legislators around sex workers’ needs,” said Jessica Van Meir, co-founder of the Boston Sex Workers and Allies Collective, or BSWAC.

Van Meir said she and the group fear that public attention on the brothel case will lead to poorly formed bills from lawmakers facing pressure to increase penalties on people who purchase sex.

“Often, the way that the laws are written right now endanger sex workers because they can’t remove the context in which they found out that information,” said Rep. Higgins, a former rape crisis counselor and co-chair of the Massachusetts Caucus of Women Legislators’ task force on sexual violence. “We want to make sure that anyone who experiences a crime or sees a crime is able to be able to report that to law enforcement without fear of being detained themselves.”

BSWAC’s advocacy raises questions about the legal status and the social stigmatization of the purchase and sale of sex and highlights what they say is an often-missed distinction between consensual sex workers and those who are trafficked or coerced.

In its Thursday statement, the group called for public testimony from the sex workers at the center of the brothel ring case and warned against the assumption that each person found working in a brothel does so as a result of trafficking.

“These women’s voices have so far been absent from the details provided to the public, making it difficult to ascertain whether this was a case of sex trafficking or of consensual sex work,” the coalition said in its statement, adding that victims might be feeling pressure to testify to being trafficked in order to avoid prosecution or deportation. 

Source portal wgbh.org