New research about the impact of criminal records on women trying to exit prostitution

The charity nia has this week published I’m no criminal – a report that examines the impact of prostitution-specific criminal records on women seeking to exit prostitution.

The report shows that the constant disclosure of these criminal records has led to discrimination and harassment and entrenched them in prostitution and the criminal justice system through no fault of their own even as they tried to build a new life.

Speaking about the launch, Karen Ingala Smith, CEO of nia, said,

“We are proud to launch this report today and to stand with women seeking to challenge the blatant injustice of a discriminatory, flawed and failed policy which only traps women deeper in prostitution and offending however hard they may be trying to escape such exploitation.”

Christopher Stacey, Co-director of Unlock and who spoke at the launch in the House of Commons, said:

“Today’s report adds yet even more evidence to show that the government’s current DBS filtering system is broken and not fit for purpose. It is clearly disproportionate to have lifelong disclosure attached to convictions that women have received from when being involved in prostitution. We urge the government take immediate steps to reform the system and make sure that old, minor or irrelevant convictions and cautions are not disclosed on criminal record checks.”

nia will be leading a campaign to erase prostitution-specific criminal records.

We are supporting the nia campaign as part of our work to reform the DBS filtering system.

Follow on Twitter: #Imnocriminal