A collective of women who have exited prostitution are challenging the length of time the UK retains the criminal records of women prosecuted for street prostitution. As it stands, the current situation surely keeps women trapped in prostitution.
The collective is called HOPE, standing for
History of Prostitution Expunged.
extract from crowd justice
We were made to sell sex on the streets by pimps when we were still teenagers and would be regularly arrested by the police for soliciting and loitering.
We have all exited prostitution, some of us over thirty years ago, but we are still regarded as criminals because our record of convictions is retained by the state until we are 100 years old.
I was just 15 when I started to be exploited in prostitution and trafficked across a number of cities in England
I was badly beaten up by pimps and punters and arrested on the streets by the police. I became addicted to heroin aged 19 which helped me escape the horror I was living with. I eventually managed to come off heroin and get out of prostitution age 30. However, I continued to be held back and stigmatised as a result of my convictions for soliciting and loitering
I have done a lot of volunteering In Bristol with projects supporting women in prostitution and drug and mental health charities. I have never managed to get paid employment partly because of being required to disclose my criminal convictions and the stigma associated with this. I have started campaigning against the exploitation of women in prostitution after I became involved in the litigation challenging criminalisation of women. I have recently decided to waive my right to anonymity to help the campaign by speaking out publicly.
We are speaking out on behalf of thousands of women who have had to live with the criminalisation of our abuse and exploitation, most of whom are too fearful to speak out.
This campaign is about getting our criminal records for street prostitution offences (soliciting and loitering) wiped from the system.
We are launching this campaign to coincide with the lodging of an application to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR), challenging the UK’s laws in relation to criminalisation of women in prostitution and the retention of those criminal records for 100 years.
The women leading this campaign are also applicants and witnesses in this EHRC case.
[We] speak for thousands other women similarly impacted, including:
"My convictions happened over 30 years ago. I have worked hard to move on from my past and start a new life. I was the victim, the men who paid me for sex were never arrested, they have been allowed to carry on with their lives. I am still being criminalised and am being prevented from moving on with my life" Julie G
"When I have had to disclose my criminal convictions, it makes me deeply depressed and I feel like going to bed and hiding. How do you explain that you were raped for a period of 20 years? I feel I am being punished for the past and always will be, but I don't believe I am a risk to anyone. I just want to be free" Angela