The Compassionate Court?: Support, Surveillance, and Survival in Prostitution Diversion Programs - Softcover

Shdaimah, Corey S.; Leon, Chrysanthi S.; Wiechelt, Shelly A.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1439922012 ISBN 13: 9781439922019

Publisher: Temple University Press, 2023

Synopsis

Laws subject people who perform sex work to arrest and prosecution.  The Compassionate Court? assesses two prostitution diversion programs (PDPs) that offer to “rehabilitate” people arrested for street-based sex work as an alternative to incarceration. However, as the authors show, these PDPs often fail to provide sustainable alternatives to their mandated clients. Participants are subjected to constant surveillance and obligations, which creates a paradox of responsibility in conflict with the system’s logic of rescue. Moreover, as the participants often face shame and re-traumatization as a price for services, poverty and other social problems, such as structural oppression, remain in place.
 
The authors of The Compassionate Court? provide case studies of such programs and draw upon interviews and observations conducted over a decade to reveal how participants and professionals perceive court-affiliated PDPs, clients, and staff. Considering the motivations, vision, and goals of these programs as well as their limitations—the inequity and disempowerment of their participants—the authors also present their own changing perspectives on prostitution courts, diversion programs, and criminalization of sex work.

About this title

About the Author

Corey S. Shdaimah is Daniel Thursz Distinguished Professor of Social Justice at the University of Maryland School of Social Work. She is the author of Negotiating Justice: Progressive Lawyering, Low-Income Clients, and the Quest for Social Change; coauthor of Social Welfare Policy in a Changing World, among other books; and the coeditor of Challenging Perspectives on Street-Based Sex Work.
Chrysanthi S. Leon is Professor of Sociology and Criminal Justice at the University of Delaware. She is the author of Sex Fiends, Perverts and Pedophiles: Understanding Sex Crime Policy in America and coeditor of Challenging Perspectives on Street-Based Sex Work.
Shelly A. Wiechelt is Associate Professor and Associate Dean and Chair School of Social Work at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. She is the coauthor of Examining the Relationship between Trauma and Addiction.

Edition details

• Publisher: Temple University Press
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1439922012
• ISBN 13: 9781439922019
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 204