Safe Reporting Assaults Suffered By Sex Workers Introduced in Colorado

In policy news, there’s a new bill that makes it less dangerous for sex workers to report assaults in Colorado. The Safe Reporting Assaults Suffered By Sex Workers Bill, or HB22-1288, debuted in the Colorado House on March 16th. This bill, which received bipartisan support, proposes to grant sex workers immunity from prostitution charges when reporting any of about two-dozen crimes, including human trafficking, murder, manslaughter, assault, false imprisonment and stalking.

The bill passed the full House on Monday with unanimous votes, and is now headed to the state Senate, thanks in part to Red Light Resources International. Sex workers often do not report violent crimes for fear of being arrested and jailed themselves: just one of many reasons that criminalization makes marginalized people less safe. While this bill may lead to more sex workers feeling safer reporting crimes, some remain skeptical of these Safe Harbor laws: it’s going to take more than this for those working in informal economies to trust the police.