Decriminalization Advocates Fill NY Capitol

Decriminalize Sex Work (DSW) staffers joined more than 100 advocates at the NY State Capitol in Albany to advocate for passage of The Stop Violence in the Sex Trades Act (SVSTA) (S4396/A7175), which would decriminalize consensual adult sex work. Advocates met with a number of legislators and held a press conference which included SVSTA Assembly Sponsor Phara Souffrant Forrest and Dr. Angela Jones, a sociology professor at The State University of New York.

The SVSTA would not only increase public health and safety by decriminalizing consensual adult sex work; it would provide post-conviction relief through automatic sealing provisions, addressing the consequences of criminal convictions, such as economic insecurity, deportation, and housing instability. Importantly, the SVSTA would uphold all felony anti-trafficking statutes, holding traffickers accountable, and bolstering the state’s anti-trafficking efforts. It is the only bill pending in the NY Legislature that would reduce trafficking through an evidence-based human rights approach, aiming to restore dignity, agency, and bodily autonomy while preventing violence.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women, and other groups recommend the full decriminalization of consensual adult sex work in order to fight human trafficking worldwide. Meanwhile, the SVSTA has the support of groups like Make the Road New York, New Pride Agenda, the New York Civil Liberties Union, and many more organizations that work to support sex workers, massage workers, and human trafficking survivors through policies rooted in data and evidence.

The passage of SVSTA would be an enormous step forward in combating trafficking and promoting human rights more broadly. The decriminalization of sex work is crucial to the health and safety of sex workers, human-trafficking survivors, and entire communities.