David Caruso: Sex work is criminalised for no reason other than a fallacious attempt to reflect public morality and conscience
PROSTITUTION is criminalised in South Australia in a discursive and illogical manner that sees certain types of sexual service made criminal depending on time, place and mode of offer or solicitation.
IN Western Christianity, Mary Magdalene has been identified as a prostitute who followed Jesus. She is associated with biblical parables of sin in respect of which Jesus counsels against judgment.
Prostitution remains criminal in South Australia. It is criminalised in a discursive and illogical manner that sees certain types of sexual service made criminal depending on time, place and mode of offer or solicitation.
Despite moral teachings urging against righteous judgment, sex work is criminalised for no reason other than a fallacious attempt to reflect public morality and conscience.
Why fallacious? Because any government that seeks to legislate “morality” necessarily cowers to their perceived view of the majority conscience.
Government perception of that view is often wrong and, if a government truly wishes to reflect social conscience, it should prefer liberalism to facilitate different values rather than selecting values government considers popular.
Criminalising sex work does not protect the workers – indeed, it may make them less likely to call police if a client is inappropriate or aggressive.
Criminalisation does not aid in policing any matters often associated with sex work, such as immigration issues, serious and organised crime or money laundering.
Other state and federal laws cover this. Criminalising sex work only serves to concrete the marginalisation of workers, leaving them tethered to a career shrouded in criminality, from which it is hard to plan or prepare for a future outside the industry and in which the state does little to offer workers dignity or choice.
The evidence from countries that have decriminalised sex work, such as New Zealand, is that decriminalisation does not increase the instances of work, but it does improve the health and safety of workers and it better enables them to leave the industry if they choose to do so.
The Statutes Amendment (Decriminalisation of Sex Work) Bill 2015 is currently before a select committee of the Legislative Council.
Together with the president of the Women Lawyers’ Association (SA) and an experienced female barrister, we advocated for decriminalisation. Countless other professional and social leaders have as well.
We wait to see if our Parliament takes on the leadership task of passing the Bill and legislating in this area by decriminalising the sex industry.
It would be to the credit of our elected leaders if they have the courage and capacity to make changes to support the few and explain the need for that change to the many — and maybe the many do not need much convincing to do right by their fellow citizens.
David Caruso is president of the Law Society of SA