CRIME

Bill calls for study decriminalizing sex work

Aim is to protect victims of human trafficking

Elizabeth Dinan edinan@seacoastonline.com
State Rep. Kate Murray

CONCORD - Four female state representatives have sponsored a bill that proposes establishing a committee to study decriminalizing "sex work." 

House Bill 287 calls for a committee of three state representatives and three members of the state Senate to study "the positive and negative results of decriminalizing sex work, decriminalizing the selling of sex and decriminalizing both the buying and selling of sex work, including the effects of rape and sexual assault, rates of sexually transmitted infections, costs to the police and court systems, number of arrests for prostitution, effects in future earnings potential to men and woman with arrest records or conviction records, and demographics on race, gender identity, and socioeconomic status of arrested individuals compared to the general population."

One of the bill's sponsors, State Rep. Kate Murray, a New Castle Democrat, said the bill is "not about legalizing prostitution and I have no interest in legalizing prostitution."

"To my mind, this is about establishing a committee to study how we deal with victims of human trafficking with the goal of protecting the victim," she said. "This is about establishing a committee to simply study the issue.  A number of states are wrestling with this issue and this is an opportunity to look at how they are dealing with it."

Text of the bill states that the committee would study reports about sex work and human trafficking by Amnesty International, the World Health Organization, the International Labour Organization, the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women, the Global Network of Sex Work Projects, the Global Commission on HIV and the Law, Human Rights Watch, the Open Society Foundation and Anti-Slavery International. The bill notes the committee would also student "positive and negative changes to laws" in the state of Nevada and Rhode Island.

Prostitution is legal in Nevada. In Rhode Island, the law was changed in 2009 prohibiting prostitution.

The New Hampshire bill states the proposed committee would also study prostitution laws in Germany, Great Britain and New Zealand where it is legal.  

Rep. Carol McGuire, an Epsom Republican, co-sponsored the bill for the New Hampshire study and also co-sponsored a bill, that died last session, which sought to decriminalize prostitution without a study. 

"I learned enough to be convinced that considering prostitution a crime is a large part of the reason it leads to abuse of women," she said. "Since it's the 'oldest profession,' I don't believe we'll eliminate it, and therefore ought to make it safe for the people involved."

Murray said her primary concern "remains the protection of the victims of human trafficking, to be sure that they are treated as victims and not as criminals."

She said the Seacoast area gets "drive-through" sex trafficking, because of its proximity to Interstate 95, while many "don't realize it happens here." She said the end goal of the proposed legislation, in her opinion, is to protect girls and women who are victims of sex trafficking and forced into prostitution.

"It's protection for the women and girls," said Murray, while noting some runaway girls turn to prostitution as a means of survival.

Those girls, she said, are "without a social network to protect them."

Others, Murray said, are forced into prostitution by people who control them by providing and/or withholding drugs, like heroin. Others, she said, are forced into "sex work" through "fear and intimidation." 

In December 2015, a Massachusetts man pleaded guilty to three counts of human trafficking, for prostituting women in Portsmouth, marking the first time anyone was convicted for the charge in this county, Rockingham County Attorney Pat Conway said at the time. Frantzer Fleurimond, 28, of Mattapan pleaded guilty to three felony counts of the state human trafficking law, also titled "Interference with Freedom," which makes it a felony to "compel a person against his or her will" to perform a service or labor, including commercial sex, by force, threat, confinement, abuse, or withholding drugs, food, or a passport.

Police said Fleurimond forced women into prostitution at local motels by controlling their access to heroin. 

Murray said victims in those kinds of situations should not be criminalized. In that instance, they were not. 

"How could you possibly prosecute these women?" she asked. "This is sexual slavery. They're not the criminals, the traffickers are the criminals."

Asked to address the possibility that decriminalizing prostitution could lead to more of it, Murray said, "I am sure part of the committee's work would be to address the problem of unintended consequences."

"My interest with regards to this study involves the treatment of victims of human sex trafficking, often girls and boys as young as 11. I dare say that legalizing prostitution is not the answer, nor is it the crux of a possible committee, but a conversation should be taking place regarding how to recognize and treat victims."

The bill also notes a study committee would take testimony from sex workers who would be asked to discuss "how the decriminalization of sex work would make their lives better." 

Also sponsoring the bill are Democratic state representatives Elizabeth Edwards and Amanda Bouldin, both sponsors of last session's decriminalization bill. The proposed legislation has been referred to the Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee and is scheduled for a hearing on Jan. 18. Murray said she intends to speak as an advocate of the study at that time. 

If the bill is adopted and the study committee is formed, a report with findings and recommendations for proposed legislation would be presented to the speaker of the House, the Senate president, the House and Senate clerks and the governor before Nov. 1. 

Amanda Grady Sexton, Director of Public Affairs for the New Hampshire Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, said her organization has a suggestion.

"The drug epidemic in New Hampshire is bringing with it a dramatic increase in prostitution, human trafficking and sexual assault," she said. "The state of New Hampshire provides no general fund dollars for support services for victims of human trafficking or victims sexual assault. Before ever studying the decriminalization of prostitution, we urge the Legislature to study the lack of funding for those who are devastated by the effects of sex crimes in New Hampshire."

The Federal Bureau of Investigations urges anyone with information about human trafficking to call the National Human Trafficking Resource Center at (888) 373-7888.