Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz is asking courts to dismiss up to 700 prostitution cases where arrests may have been veiled behind “vague” loitering laws which often target women of color and trans folks.
This news comes a month after Albany legislators successfully repealed Penal Law 240.37, legitimizing the efforts of the district attorneys to ease the punishment against sex workers and could possibly appeal to criminal justice reformers who pushed in the 2019 election for decriminalization.
