Among Aboushi’s opponents, Assemblymember Dan Quart has released a set of 18 offenses he would not prosecute, including resisting arrest and drug possession for personal use. (Aboushi includes these and also drug sales on her list.) Public defender Eliza Orlins says she would decline to charge offenses like drug possession and petty theft that perpetuate cycles of poverty and inequality, and last week launched a new plan to decriminalize sex work. Lucy Lang, a former prosecutor, also says she would not prosecute sex work. Alvin Bragg, another former prosecutor, lists on his website offenses that he would “[make] it the default” to not prosecute. Also running are former prosecutors Liz Crotty, Diana Florence, and Tali Farhadian Weinstein.
Aboushi spoke to the Political Report about what it means to reduce criminalization. She explained why she extends her declination promise to drug sales, why she is proposing to fully decriminalize sex work, and makes the case that her declination policies would also address police misconduct.
Sex work is a consenting engagement between two adults. It is work, people are engaging in this for income, and that is done with consent. The Nordic model still leaves the door open to have those who engage in sex work to be criminalized. This is not to be conflated with human trafficking, rape, sexual assault. We have plenty of laws on the books that address those things. But particularly for sex work, what we’re seeing, and it was especially problematic in the NYPD’s VICE unit, is that this is a charge used in an abusive manner by police.