DSW Advocates Testify on Crucial Bills in RI

Decriminalize Sex Work (DSW) staff members are busier than ever. Within the span of just a few weeks, staff members testified at three different hearings in front of the Rhode Island House Judiciary Committee. Ensuring that legislators have the most compelling, accurate evidence to support laws that would decrease trafficking and increase public health and safety has never been more important.

DSW advocates testified in support of the following proposed legislation:

Immunity Legislation

H7165 | S2441

This bill provides immunity from arrest and prosecution for commercial sexual activity to victims or witnesses reporting a crime to law enforcement or seeking healthcare services related to a crime. It would encourage victims and witnesses of crime to come forward, aid law enforcement, and receive needed medical care, without fearing the many harms of a prostitution conviction. If passed, this would be one of the most comprehensive and protective bills of its kind.

Court Cost Reform

H7452 | S2225

This bill removes extra fines that are assessed only to people convicted of commercial sexual activity. Those extra fines create a purposeless financial burden for those facing commercial sexual activity charges, which already carry penalties ranging from $250-$1000 or more for subsequent offenses. The bill also repeals Rhode Island’s loitering for prostitution law. Loitering for prostitution laws have been repealed in New York, California, and Seattle, Washington, citing evidence that these statutes are disproportionately enforced against communities of color and transgender people. There have only been two loitering arrests in the past 15 years.

HIV Decriminalization

H7219 | S2442

This bill repeals a law that makes HIV testing mandatory for anyone arrested for commercial sexual activity, regardless of whether they consent to testing. Testing would instead be voluntary, and all services provided under the existing law would stay in place. This modernization of Rhode Island’s HIV testing protocol is in line with CDC and WHO recommendations and would reduce stigmatization of both sex work and HIV.

Bans Against Police Sexual Violence

H7833 | S2651

This bill would make it a crime for law enforcement officers to engage in sexual penetration with people in custody or otherwise under law enforcement supervision. Rhode Island is currently only one of five states in the country that has no law of this kind on the books.