A coordinated prostitution strategy?

In response to a review of prostitution legislation (the first for 50 years) the Home Office published A Coordinated Prostitution Strategy in January 2006, setting out the government's proposals for a strategy focusing predominantly on: prevention of involvement; fostering routes out; and protecting communities from street-based sex markets. Prostitution is defined as ‘commercial sexual exploitation’ and the strategy seeks to address this issue by: tackling demand via ‘disrupting the market’ and ‘deterring punters’; ensuring justice, by strengthening and enforcing the law against those who exploit and abuse women, young people and children; and tolerating off-street prostitution where two to three women are working together in the interests of their safety. To ensure that the strategy is actioned, there is a focus upon partnerships, the coordination of welfarist policing, and enforcement of the law to divert, deter and rehabilitate those women who do not choose to exit as the most ‘responsible’ option (see Phoenix and Oerton (2005) and Scoular and O’Neill (2007) for a full discussion of responsibilisation to exit).

In the previous consultation document, Paying the Price, the [then] Home Secretary, David Blunkett, located the issues of prostitution in the context of wider policy making and the promotion of civic renewal and community safety (Home Office,2004: 4). This chapter explores the strategy and discusses its implications for ‘community safety’ within the broader context of New Labour governance and the potential seeds of transformative possibilities and radical democratic praxis contained within New Labour's approach.

There are a number of potentially positive outcomes in the strategy documented under ‘action for government’ and ‘action for partnerships’: a focus on strengthening approaches to child exploitation by ensuring a holistic approach that includes work with schools; including ‘communities’ through consultation processes like community conferencing; expanding court diversion and reforming the soliciting law; expanding the Ugly Mugs scheme through Crime Stoppers; recruiting police liaison officers; and developing action planning on trafficking. And, importantly, a number of critiques are emerging that seek to foster dialogue and hope to impact upon national policy making, including the shape that the strategy takes in action.