Criminalise the Punters or Decriminalise the Industry? An Evaluation of Sweden's and New Zealand's Prostitution Reforms

Abstract

This thesis seeks to critically and comparatively evaluate the legislative prostitution reforms passed by Sweden in 1999 and New Zealand in 2003 from a liberal feminist perspective informed by harm reduction principles. Although Sweden and New Zealand have substantial similarities the socio-economic and ideological context in which the reforms were passed have had significant impact on the final legislative results. Sweden and New Zealand are important cases to review and compare as they were the first nations to introduce nationwide reforms and both have recently published official evaluative reports of their laws a significant length of time after their enactment. Analysis of the impacts both countries have been developed using a grounded approach drawing information from a variety of sources including academic publications, media reports, government documents, published statistics and stakeholder interviews. The two nations are compared on how well their legislation is monitored and reported on, the impact on public opinion and stigmatisation of prostitutes, the ability of social workers, police and other agencies to access an often hidden population and finally the health, safety and empowerment of prostitutes (including pathways to exit the industry). The aim of these evaluations is to highlight the strengths and weaknesses of the two models of prostitution reform held up as examples in the international arena