| Abstract: | Restorative justice might seem like a benign alternative to prison, but it is full of pitfalls, particularly when it is still enmeshed in the criminal justice system. Nowhere is this more true than with sex workers, who are either punished for their work or morally castigated for it. The criminal justice system's interventions into the sex trade, even when using programs based on restorative justice, fails to address the harms and conflicts women experience in the sex trade and street economy. A major reason restorative programs fail to serve women in the sex trade is because it remains tethered to the criminal justice system, which carries traditional punitive consequences. When women entrenched in these conflicts are given the space, support, and freedom, they are able to develop relationships and resolutions that better exemplify restorative values. This paper explores the limitations of the current relationship between restorative justice and the criminal justice system and then highlights how the relationships and resistance strategies of the Young Women's Empowerment Project demonstrated restorative justice praxis in the sex trade. |
