Protection, Justice and Compensation: A Panel Discussion

Compensation for rape or other violent crimes is crucial to recovery, yet many victims are denied it. Find out
what can be done!

Build on a victory: In 2013 a campaign spearheaded by US PROStitutes Collective, with key support from other sex worker organizations and women’s and prisoners rights campaigners, pushed the California Victim Compensation Program (CalVCP) to drop a discriminatory regulation that denied compensation to sex workers for involvement in the crime of prostitution. Sex workers who are victims of rape, sexual assault or had suffered domestic violence can now get compensation.

• Compensation is still denied to victims who have suffered other violence, or who are prisoners or formerly incarcerated people (FIPs).
• A “cooperation with police” requirement is a further obstacle to compensation, particularly for immigrants and people of color, and any who fear retaliation, deportation, and/or police racism or other bias.
• Similar criminalization and discrimination exists in other countries, and we are campaigning together internationally against this.

Speakers:
Linda Evans, All of Us or None – the impact of compensation programs on prisoners and FIPs.

Nina Lopez, English Collective of Prostitutes and Legal Action for Women, UK – opposing criminalization based on the ‘Swedish model’; the use of anti-trafficking laws to target sex workers & immigrants.

Margaret Prescod, Black Coalition Fighting Back Serial Murders – fighting for justice over the murders of 100 Black women in South Central LA, dismissed by law enforcement as “no humans involved.”

Rachel West, US PROStitutes Collective – what’s next in the struggle for compensation.

From Ferguson and NYC to Los Angeles and Oakland sexism and racism ensure criminalization and even murder. In campaigning for justice we draw on our experiences to demand what we are entitled to.

Event called by: US PROStitutes Collective. Planning Group: All of Us or None, Erotic Service Providers Union: Global Women’s Strike; In Defense of Prostitute Women’s Safety Project; Queer Strike; Sin Barras; Kate Grünke-Horton, UCSF PhD Student; Meleiza Figueroa, and other individuals.

http://www.facebook.com/events/890003634396292/