Violence and Sex Work in Britain Book

Acknowledgements xi

Sex worker or prostitute? xiii

Introduction xv

1 Peter Sutcliffe: a long shadow 1

Sutcliffe's victims 3

The Byford Report 7

Policing of prostitution during the Sutcliffe investigation 9

Deluded visionary, sexual sadist or archetypal misogynist? 14

Sutcliffe as punter: bad or bogus? 17

Feminism in the Sutcliffe era 18

2 What is violence against sex workers? 27

Is sex work 'in and of itself violence against women'? 27

Redefining violence in the sex industry 30

3 Inclusions and exclusions 33

Which sex workers? 33

Pimping and sexual exploitation of children 33

Trafficking 34

Ethnicity 35

Violence by sex workers 35

Trans and male sex workers 36

4 Prevention, Ugly Mugs and the role of outreach projects 38

Preventing violence 38

Reporting and recording violence against sex workers 39

The Ugly Mug system 40

What Ugly Mugs can tell us 41

The role of outreach projects 43

Crimestoppers 46

5 Who attacks sex workers? 49

Pimps, partners, families and acquaintances 50

Police 53

Robbers and muggers 55

Community violence 55

Clients: the good, the bad and the bogus 56

Resisting the client role 59

The 'client disguise' 62

The 'non-client excuse' 63

Other predators 64

6 Street sex work: the context of violence 66

Legal framework 66

Playing the numbers game 67

Drug use 68

Safety, policing and violence on the street 69

Effects of zero tolerance on sex workers' safety strategies 77

7 Street violence: individual and community aggression 81

The London Ugly Mugs List 81

Location of street attacks 82

Reporting of violence to the police 83

Types of street attack 84

Not paying forsex 85

People in the vicinity 86

Community violence 88

Cleaning the streets 90

8 The cleansing of Balsall Heath 93

Balsall Heath: the background 94

Events between 1994 and 1996 98

The Balsall Heath effect 106

The aftermath: 1998-2007 106

9 Indoor sex work: policy and policing 110

10 Violence and indoor sex work 116

The London Ugly Mugs List, September 2000 to April 2005 117

Style of indoor work in London 118

Excluding suspect persons: singles and groups 119

Types of attack or other incident 121

Robbery, theft and other property crime 122

Sexual assaults and violations 125

Lone sex workers 127

Other violence and other incidents 128

Repeat attackers 128

Reporting to the police 129

Ethnicity and nationality of attackers 131

Sexual attacks and ethnicity 134

Summary 135

11 Attackers: court cases 137

Regional distribution of cases and working method of victims 138

Identity of attackers 140

Non-clients 140

'Clients' 141

Age and ethnicity of suspects 144

Group attacks 146

Offences 146

Multiple victims and serial offenders 148

Outcome of court cases 149

12 Motives for violence 150

Hostile attitudes 151

Provocation 156

Homicide and non-fatal violence 157

13 Murder of sex workers 159

'And then the silly girl went and got herself murdered' 159

Perceptions of sex workers' risk of murder 160

Sources of information 162

Defining victims as sex workers 164

Missing presumed dead 164

Gender 166

Age at death 167

Geographical distribution of homicides 168

Ethnicity and nationality 168

Drug use 169

Other risk factors 170

Working method 172

Ethnicity and working method 173

Working when attacked? 174

Where homicide took place 177

Summary 178

14 Killers and suspects 180

Relationship of victims to suspects 180

Cause of death 182

Gender, ethnicity and age of suspects 183

Group homicides 186

Alcohol and drug use by suspects 186

'Client suspects' 186

Non-client suspects 197

Outcomes of homicide investigations and judicial proceedings 202

15 Multiple killers 209

Suspects charged with both sex worker and non-sex worker homicides 211

Offenders convicted of homicide for a second time 214

Multiple sex worker homicides 214

16 Steve Wright: a passing nightmare? 228

Unanswered questions 228

Possible motives 230

Unheard voices 237

Policing and vulnerability 239

17 Explanations and excuses 244

18 Shutting the stable door 251

Failure to prosecute 252

Bail 253

Charges brought 254

Attitudes to sex workers 255

Sentencing 256

Monitoring of offenders after release 258

19 Promoting violence 261

Last word 264

References 266

Index 274