Brooklyn Vacates 857 Prostitution Cases Dating Back To 1970s

BROOKLYN, NY — More than 800 open prostitution cases have officially been cleared from the books in Brooklyn.

Judge Keisha Espinal granted Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez's request on Wednesday to vacate 857 open warrants related to prostitution and loitering for the purposes of prostitution that date back to the 1970s.

The dismissal comes several weeks after Gonzalez first announced he would work toward vacating all open bench warrants related to the two charges, which his office recently stopped prosecuting. The first batch of 262 cases dating back to 2012 were vacated in January.

Since then, New York State repealed the loitering for purposes of prostitution law and the Bronx and Queens have joined in dismissing outstanding warrants on the charge, which advocates say disproportionately harms trans people, women and people of color.

"This is a historical step, hopefully the first of many, towards undoing some of the harm against women, particularly Black and brown women in Brooklyn," Jillian Modzeleski of Brooklyn Defender Services said.

Of those vacated Wednesday, 296 pertained to cases with a top count of prostitution and 561 were for a top count of loitering for the purposes of prostitution.

Open warrants on both charges, which show up in background checks, can bar sex workers from finding housing or a job and make them less likely to report abuse or crimes out of fear of being prosecuted, the DA said.

Gonzalez has also called on legislators to expunge old prostitution-related convictions.

Since 2020, instead of prosecuting those arrested for engaging in prostitution, the Brooklyn DA has worked to connect them with services including therapeutic counseling, medical assistance and checkups, educational services, housing assistance, mental health or substance abuse screening and therapy and legal assistance with immigration, children's services or family court issues.

Whether they accept services or not, the cases are dismissed. The DA's office prosecuted less than 30 prostitution cases last year.