Flutterby™! : Washtenaw County decriminalizes sex work

Washtenaw County Michigan decriminalizes sex work

The Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office is well aware that sex work carries an increased risk for violence, human trafficking, and coercion. Data and experience, however, have shown that criminalizing sex work does little to alleviate those harms. Indeed (as outlined in further detail below) the criminalization of sex work actually increases the risk of sex work-adjacent harm. Accordingly, the Washtenaw County Prosecutor’s Office will henceforth decline to bring charges related to consensual sex work per se. The Prosecutor’s Office, however, will continue to charge sex work-adjacent crime—including human trafficking, violence, and offenses involving children—that directly harm County residents.