Anti-trafficking advocates, public health groups, LGBTQ organizations, civil and human rights advocates, and people with experience in the sex trades converged in Albany today to call on the New York State Senate and Assembly to pass legislation barring confiscation and introduction of possession condoms as evidence of prostitution-related offenses. New York State gives away 39 million male and 2 million female condoms a year. Yet police officers routinely confiscate condoms and prosecutors routinely use them as evidence to justify prostitution-related charges, wasting taxpayer dollars and undermining the state's efforts to combat STIs, HIV, and unwanted pregnancies. Supporters of Bill S1379/A2736, known as the No Condoms as Evidence bill, say that allowing condoms to be confiscated by police and used as evidence in criminal cases discourages trafficking victims, sex workers, LGBTQ people and other New Yorkers from carrying condoms. “If condoms continue to be cited as evidence of prostitution-related offenses, if police continue to question youth about how many condoms they have on them during stops and frisks, HIV rates will continue to rise, and our ability to protect ourselves from STI's and pregnancy will continue to be undermined,” said Mitchyll Mora, a youth leader and researcher with Streetwise and Safe, an organization working with LGBTQ youth. “This is especially true for people whose access to condoms is controlled by a person who is exploiting them. Using the presence of condoms on people or premises to arrest or prosecute anyone puts everyone's lives at risk.” The President's Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) has called for elimination of “the use of condoms or other measure to prevent HIV transmission, as the basis for criminal prosecution or sentence enhancement." The No Condoms as Evidence bill has garnered support from 70 anti-trafficking, reproductive rights, public health, HIV/AIDS, human rights, LGBTQ, civil liberties groups – and one powerful District Attorney. Nassau County District Attorney Kathleen Rice, who will take over the leadership of the New York State District Attorneys' Association in July, has weighed the potential harm of continuing to use condoms as evidence of prostitution-related offenses, and has come down on the side of ensuring that prosecutions don't get in the way of public health and protecting the rights of victims. Earlier this year DA Rice showed leadership on the issue by becoming the first New York City area District Attorney to take action by adopting a comprehensive policy banning the use of condoms as evidence in any prostitution-related cases, including trafficking cases. According to Rice, “Under any reasonable analysis, the seismic public health impact of using condoms as evidence of prostitution dwarfs the limited courtroom gain in the isolated number of cases that make it that far. With this issue, the public good rests in the long game, not the short one." “I trust that my ADAs have the skills and the evidence to make their trafficking cases without putting the health and reproductive rights of trafficking victims at risk by creating additional deterrents to condom access for trafficking victims," she added on Tuesday as advocates lobbied for a state bill that would mirror Rice's policy, excluding condoms as evidence in all prostitution-related offenses. Organizations challenging racial profiling and “stop and frisk" also came out in support of the bill. “This common-sense measure would promote public health," said Socheatta Meng, Legislative Counsel at the New York Civil Liberties Union. “Passage of this bill would allow individuals – especially those individuals who are frequently profiled by the police – to carry condoms without fear that they could be used against them in court." “I have the right to walk down the street as anyone else should, without being harassed by the police," said Yhatzine Lafontain, a member of Make the Road New York whose condoms were taken by police during a stop and frisk and used as evidence of intent to engage in prostitution. “And I have the right to carry condoms to protect myself, not so that they are used against me in a court of law. My case is not an isolated one, and this is why I am joining hundreds of activists today to demand an end to this discriminatory and dangerous practice." “I was arrested for carrying condoms which led to immigration opening a deportation case on me. I believe that the use of condoms as evidence of prostitution is a bad policy because it encourages people to have unsafe sex," said Clara Sierra, Peer Educator at New York Harm Reduction Educators (NYHRE). “We must pass this law to protect the rights of sex workers, immigrants, and all people who care about their sexual health.” “LGBTQ communities frequently report to us that they believe they were arrested for carrying condoms," said Ejeris Dixon, a Deputy Director at the New York City Anti-Violence Program, an organization that receives public funding to distribute condoms. “This law enforcement practice not only undermines public health, it undermines common sense.” An abundance of research documents the harms of the practice. The Open Society Foundation also released a report entitled “Criminalizing Condoms," focused on 6 countries around the world, including the U.S. A 2012 report from Human Rights Watch, entitled Sex Workers at Risk; Condoms as Evidence of Prostitution in Four US Cities, reports that sex workers in New York are terrified to carry condoms, and are putting themselves at risk by not using condoms because they are afraid of arrest. One sex worker stated “If I took a lot of condoms, they would arrest me. If I took few or only one, I would run out and not be able to protect myself. How many times have I had unprotected sex because I was afraid of carrying condoms? Many times." According to a 2012 report from the PROS Network (Providers and Resources Offering Services to Sex Workers) and The Sex Workers Project at the Urban Justice Center, up to 50% of people surveyed have at some point not carried condoms for fear of police repercussions. The report also documents instances where individuals have traded sex without condoms following police confiscation. Transgressive Policing, released by Make the Road New York found that transgender women are routinely profiled as sex workers. 61% of transgender respondents reported that they had been harassed by the police, many for carrying condoms. The No Condoms As Evidence bill was introduced by Senator Velmanette Montgomery and Assembly Member Barbara Clark and has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee and the Assembly Codes Committee. BN
