Diversion from Justice is national in scope and offers an initial taxonomy and justice-informed evaluation framework for PDPs across the United States, while Un-Meetable Promises is a deep-dive investigation into the policies and practices of NYC’s Human Trafficking Intervention Courts. Key themes of the reports include: the problems that arise from the conflation of all sex sector activities with a reductive and inaccurate “trafficking” narrative; the mismatch between services provided through PDPs and the actual desires and structural needs of people who sell sex; and the dangers of embedding social services within a coercive and compromised criminal justice system. Un-meetable Promises notes that UMSSW Professor Corey Shdaimah’s “research on prostitution “diversion” programs across the U.S. suggests that while they are often less harmful than traditional criminal justice processes, their ability to facilitate access to concrete material resources (housing assistance, educational and vocational training, etc.) is often limited for a range of theoretical and practical reasons, highlighting the importance of investing in ‘opportunity structures outside of the courts and beyond the individual.’” Recommendations in both reports are geared towards promoting health, rights, and justice for those involved in sex work and other communities impacted by these criminal justice processes. Diversion from Justice: A Rights-Based Analysis of Local “Prostitution Diversion Programs” and their Impacts on People in the Sex Sector in the United States can be accessed at:
law.yale.edu/system/files/area/center/ghjp/documents/diversion_from_justice_pdp_report_ghjp_2018.pdf Un-Meetable Promises: Rhetoric and Reality in New York City’s Human Trafficking Intervention Courts at:
law.yale.edu/system/files/area/center/ghjp/documents/un-meetable_promises_htic_report_ghjp_2018.pdf