Ritchie

PROVIDENCE — Civil libertarians, social workers and advocates for women’s rights are calling for state lawmakers to vote down a bill pending in the General Assembly to criminalize prostitution in Rhode Island.

The bill — approved last month by the House of Representatives and awaiting a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee — would outlaw prostitution, regardless of where it occurs.

Rhode Island is the only state in the country to decriminalize prostitution. The only exception is Nevada, where certain counties have legalized prostitution, meaning it is regulated by the government

The current state law, enacted in 1980 to get prostitutes off the streets, outlaws solicitation but contains no prohibition against the act of sex-for-money. The police and prosecutors have lobbied for years to change that, saying that the statute has proved ineffective in prosecuting prostitution in brothels.

But opponents of the effort say there is nothing to be gained — and much to lose — by criminalizing prostitution.

At a State House news conference Wednesday, opponents of a bill introduced by Rep. Joanne M. Giannini, D-Providence (H-5044), along with a companion bill (S-596) introduced by Sen. Paul V. Jabour, D-Providence, included representatives of the Rhode Island Affiliate of the American Civil Liberties Union, Direct Action for Rights and Equality, Amos House, the Rhode Island National Association of Social Workers and the Rhode Island chapter of the National Organization of Women.

“We urge Rhode Island to go forward, not backwards, in the fight against human trafficking,” Andrea Ritchie, director of the Sex Workers Project of the Urban Justice Center in New York City, said. If Rhode Island wants to “eradicate prostitution,” she said, the way to do that is to address the underlying causes, which include sexual abuse, drug addiction and economic hardship. To make sex-for-money a crime, she said, would only hinder efforts to root out sex-trafficking by making victims less likely to come forward because they fear prosecution.

Some of the same advocates who oppose criminalizing prostitution are supporting a separate bill introduced by Sen. Rhoda E. Perry, D-Providence, to stiffen penalties for sexual trafficking of minors. The sex-trafficking bill (S-605) is scheduled for a hearing Thursday by the Senate Judiciary Committee, in Room 313, at about 4:45 p.m. The bill sets minimum prison sentences and fines, which would be higher if the victim is younger than 14.

A study released earlier this year by the Sex Workers Project included interviews with 46 people, including immigrant sex workers and other trafficking victims. Many of the women were fearful and distrustful of the police and social-service workers because of the raids, the study found.

“The [prostitution] bill erroneously assumes that arresting women who sell sex will somehow lead to more prosecutions for human trafficking,” Ann Jordan, director of the Program on Human Trafficking and Forced Labor at American University in Washington, D.C., wrote in a June 5 letter to the Senate Judiciary Committee. “This is not an effective strategy for identifying victims or encouraging their cooperation with law enforcement.”

Josephine Martell, chairwoman of the Rhode Island chapter of NOW, said at the news conference that “these women need rehabilitation, not imprisonment and penalties.” Martell said the state “can save $440,000 a year by not incarcerating prostitutes.”

As of March 31, only 12 of the 186 women –– or 6.5 percent –– of the female prisoners at the Adult Correctional Institutions were awaiting trial or had been sentenced on prostitution-related charges, according to the state Department of Corrections.

Statewide, arrests for prostitution have fallen sharply — down 50 percent, on average, from 2000 through 2004 compared with the previous four years, according to FBI statistics. (More recent comparable data was not available.)

“I don’t think the state should criminalize any consensual sexual activity between adults,” Ritchie, of the Sex Workers Project, said in response to a reporter’s question.

But she also does not favor legalizing prostitution. In certain counties in Nevada where prostitution is legal, she said, the way it’s regulated is often “punitive,” with the prostitutes forced to undergo gynecological examinations and not allowed to leave the brothel at night. Nor does she advocate for decriminalizing prostitution. “We don’t take a position on it,” she said.

Rep. Joanne M. Giannini, D-Providence, who sponsored a prostitution bill in the House, responded to critics in a statement which read, in part: “If we really care about the women who are the victims of prostitution and human trafficking, we need to shut down the industry. This bill gives the police the tool they need go after the perpetrators, and it provides immunity to the women who are its victims.” Her bill includes an exemption from prosecution for women who were “forced” into prostitution.

“Opponents of this bill say they want to protect women,” she continued, “but keeping the status quo is not going to help victims at all.”

Correction: An earlier version of this story did not explain that Giannini originally introduced the bill and that the Senate bill is a companion bill.

larditi@projo.com