Sex Work and Hate Crime

This book provides an enthralling narrative of a hate crime approach to the treatment of violence committed against sex workers. The book is an original contribution to the literature on violence and sex work and should be a go-to for those studying and working in this area.

Gillian Abel, University of Otago

This book is an account of an extraordinary body of work spread over many years. It speaks to those of us committed to carving out law, policy and practice, which can impact positively on the rights and safety of sex workers. It is, undoubtedly, a significant step forward, providing a much needed analysis for so many of us working in this domain.

Dame Catherine Healy, New Zealand Prostitutes Collective

This book brings together literature, empirical research findings from two projects, and policy analysis to examine how some forces in England have adopted the approach of treating crimes against sex workers as hate crimes. Thisbook identifies some of the benefits and challenges of the hate crime approach to crimes against sex workers, both operationally and for some of the victims of crime. The authors argue that the hate crime approach should not be seen as an alternative to decriminalisation of sex work but can provide a pathway to achieving more sensitive but robust policing of crimes against sex workers.

Rosie Campbell OBE is a freelance consultant focused on applied research and third sector leadership. She is a ‘pracademic’ moving between research and managing frontline sex work support services, delivering and developing sex work projects and contributing to multi agency responses to sex work. She has been involved in researching sex work in a range of sectors and geographical areas of the UK for over two decades.

Teela Sanders is Professor of Criminology at the University of Leicester, UK. She is a leading international scholar in research on the intersections between gender, regulation, governance and crime, specifically in the sex industry. Sanders has written 8 books, edited 10, and has over 60 peer reviewed journal articles, based on research projects funded from major research councils.