Abstract
Over the past two decades in the UK, there has been a considerable mainstreaming of hate crime discourse both within legal and policy circles that has stemmed in part from a number of crisis incidents (Chakraborti and Garland 2009). In particular, the report of the inquiry into the murder of the Black teenager Stephen Lawrence in 1993 and deficiencies in the subsequent police investigation went some considerable way to establishing how the police should perceive racist incidents and influenced the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 that introduced aggravated sentencing tariffs for those crimes that were influenced by the victim’s membership or presumed membership of a racial or religious group. Furthermore, the development of hate crime discourse in the UK has been heavily influenced by research within the subfield of victimology which established that crimes motivated by a victim’s particular identity often have severe psychological consequences for their feeling of self-worth and sense of ontological security (Walklate 2007a).
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Notes
- 1.
In this chapter, we use the terms ‘sexual commerce’ and ‘sex worker’ in preference to ‘prostitute’ and ‘prostitution’ since arguably the former are less stigmatising than the latter. However, where we refer directly to legislative developments or official policy we use the latter terminology.
- 2.
We do not subscribe to the neo-abolitionist line common among a section of the radical feminist movement (e.g. see Ekberg 2004; Immigrant Council of Ireland 2009; Ruhama 2012, 2013) that introducing mechanisms to ensure sex worker safety facilitates violence against women or that creating safe zones for street-sellers (e.g. as in Liverpool and Manchester) is tantamount to establishing ‘legalised rape camps’ (cited in Kinnell 2011: 5). Hilary Kinnell, who has written at length on the violence and abuse experienced by sex workers (see Kinnell 2008), describes the current strand of neo-abolitionist feminist thinking as what she terms a ‘perversion of feminism’. As she suggests: ‘I never imagined that feminists of any persuasion would initiate, embrace or endorse policies towards sex work that actively endanger sex workers health and safety, increase their criminalisation, or define them as incapable of making their own judgements about their best interests’ (Kinnell 2011: 1).
- 3.
In theory, sex workers in Northern Ireland may also use National Ugly Mugs to report incidents. However, at the time of writing, National Ugly Mugs was not particularly popular in Northern Ireland and in any case National Ugly Mugs does not have a relationship with the Police Service of Northern Ireland, which is essential if the police are to follow through with reported incidents.
- 4.
National Ugly Mugs now receives funding from each of the 43 police forces in England and Wales.
- 5.
UglyMugs.ie also operates an Android app whereby sex workers may receive notifications directly on their mobile telephones.
- 6.
See National Ugly Mugs for a sample of the online reporting form that sex workers complete: http://www.uknswp.org/wp-content/uploads/uknswpUglyMugsGuideV1.pdf
- 7.
22 September 2009 to 31 August 2015.
- 8.
In general, transphobic slurs are not commonly recorded, which is in part a reflection of the relatively low numbers of trans sex workers in Ireland compared to some other jurisdictions. For example, during the reporting period September 2009–September 2014, 88 crime incidents against trans sex workers were recorded by UglyMugs.ie.
- 9.
This campaign has been considered quite problematic by the feminist commentator, lawyer and blogger Wendy Lyon. See ‘The Irish Trades Union movement throws sex workers under a bus’. Available: https://feministire.com/2012/09/09/the-irish-trade-union-movement-throws-sex-workers-under-a-bus-2/ (Accessed 27th April, 2016). Lyon points out in her blog that it is unclear whether individual trades unions across Ireland have ever been balloted in their endorsement of TORL. One of us (Ellison) telephoned the Northern Irish regional branch of the Irish Congress of Trades Unions (ICTU) to ask whether such a ballot ever took place but the person from ICTU simply put down the telephone.
- 10.
See the online diary of Irish sex worker Laura Lee – Laura’s Diary. Available: http://lauraslifeandthoughts.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/how-do-you-solve-problem-like-ruhama.html (Accessed 27th April, 2016).
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Ellison, G., Smith, L. (2017). Hate Crime Legislation and Violence Against Sex Workers in Ireland: Lessons in Policy and Practice. In: Haynes, A., Schweppe, J., Taylor, S. (eds) Critical Perspectives on Hate Crime. Palgrave Hate Studies. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-137-52667-0_10
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