legal

Ballot Pamphlet Summary- San Francisco 2008

"Enforcement of Laws Related to Prostitution and Sex Workers"

THE WAY IT IS NOW:
State and local laws prohibit prostitutionⁱ. State and federal laws prohibit human trafficking for prostitutionⁱ or forced labor. Criminal laws also prohibit crimes such as battery, extortion and
rape, regardless of the victim's status as a prostitute or sex worker.

In 1994, the Board of Supervisors established a Task Force on Prostitution (Task Force) to examine prostitutionⁱ in the City and to recommend social and legal reforms. In 1996 the Task Force released a report recommending that:
• City departments stop enforcing and prosecuting prostitutionⁱ crimes;
• City departments instead focus on neighborhood complaints about quality of life infractions;
• The City redirect funds from prosecution and incarceration to providing services and alternatives for those involved in prostitutionⁱ.

Dear Friends,

Sex Workers Outreach Project-USA and the US PROStitutes Collective are asking for your help in opposing provisions in House Bill HR 3887 passed in the US House of Representatives on December 4, 2007 and now before the US Senate.

HR 3887 is part of a campaign to use justifiable concern about trafficking to promote a moralistic and dangerous crusade against prostitutionⁱ – a crusade we are determined to stop.