Mayor Bill de Blasio on March 16 said he no longer wants the NYPD to arrest sex workers for engaging in sex work and he called on the State Legislature to take action to decriminalize sex work, but he is remaining vague about his specific position on the issue at large.
“If you’re talking about sex work alone, of course I don’t want to see arrests for that anymore,” the mayor said during a press conference.
De Blasio kicked off his presser on March 16 by expressing his desire to “end the criminalization of sex workers” and combat sex trafficking, saying “sex workers are often those who are subjugated, who are victims of trafficking, who are people who think they have no other choice.” The mayor said his administration is creating a task force to address the “health and safety needs” of sex workers and said the NYPD would be developing “new approaches” to target sex traffickers rather than sex workers.
