Not long ago, legalised prostitution as implemented in Germany and the Netherlands was widely considered the ideal solution to prostitution. Proponents of this approach claimed that it respects the right to bodily autonomy, provides safety to women, and could benefit the economy. In New Zealand, we are promised, there has been an increase in health and safety , no expansion of the sex trade, no human trafficking β not one case β in the 20 years since full decriminalisation was implemented.
How can it be that countries with legalised, taxed and regulated prostitution would be associated with such documented violence and abuse but New Zealand, which is fully decriminalised and operates with almost no oversight, is hailed as a haven of peace and equality?
The PLRC has published several reports on the efficacy of the PRA, which have become the authoritative sources on the effects of full decriminalisation. This paper assesses these reports and refutes their claims about the outcome of full decriminalisation in New Zealand, including claims that:. Estimates of the number of people in prostitution in New Zealand prior to decriminalisation were provided in New Zealand Police, Further estimates were made after decriminalisation in PLRC, , and both in PLRC, , although the post -decriminalisation estimate has been cited consistently as the baseline estimate PLRC, , pp.
Information for the estimate was gathered via a survey of Police officers with knowledge about the sex industry in each of the 12 Police Districts. Police drew on information from the registers of sex workers compiled under the Massage Parlour Act , and from contacts with newspapers and advertisers. The survey was undertaken between October and February , but informants were asked to provide a picture of the sex industry as close to June as possible.
In , prior to the legislation, the New Zealand Police conducted an unbiased census identifying 4, people in prostitution. Despite the census being established as the baseline for future comparisons PLRC, , pp. This significantly narrowed the scope of the census. The resulting reduced coverage was associated with a sharp drop in the reported numbers of people in prostitution 2, in and 2, in , because both earlier censuses had encompassed all major metropolitan areas as well as many rural and suburban areas, some of which were now excluded.
