Res. No. 1444-A
Resolution calling on the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, a bill to amend the criminal procedure law to allow violations for Loitering for the Purpose of Engaging in a Prostitution Offense (PL § 240.37) to be sealed and have the law apply retroactively.
By Council Members Rivera, Rosenthal, Kallos, Gibson and Ayala
Whereas, Penal Law section 240.37, Loitering for the Purpose of Engaging in a Prostitution Offense, penalizes merely appearing to be engaged in such an offense, an inherently problematic and vague standard that invites discriminatory enforcement; and
Whereas, In fact, the enforcement of this law disproportionately targets Black and Latina women and transgender women of color; and
Whereas, Eighty percent of people who were arrested under the law in 2018 were women, and of that, forty-nine percent were Black and forty-two percent were Latina, according to the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services; and
Whereas, In 2013 and 2014, the nonprofit organization Red Umbrella Project found that in a Brooklyn court, over ninety percent of defendants charged under the law were Black; and
Whereas, Section 240.37 remains in the Penal Law even as Governor Cuomo has publicly supported repealing this statute; and
Whereas, The collateral consequences stemming from an arrest, violation or conviction for criminal offenses are severe; and
Whereas, People who are arrested or convicted for Loitering for the Purposes of Engaging in Prostitution can lose their employment and housing; and
Whereas, Undocumented individuals who are arrested or convicted for Loitering for the Purposes of Engaging in Prostitution can be subject to deportation as immigration law disqualifies individuals from adjusting their immigration status if they have been arrested or convicted on a prostitution offense; and
Whereas, These collateral consequences overwhelmingly burdens Black and Latina women and transgender women of color as they are disproportionately subjected to enforcement of this problematic statute; and
Whereas, Under Criminal Procedure Law section 160.55, New Yorkers are prohibited from sealing their violations for Loitering for the Purpose of Engaging in a Prostitution Offense; and
Whereas, This is one of only two violations in New York State law that can never seal under the statute; and
Whereas, This prohibition only exacerbates the burdens a violation for Loitering for the Purposes of Engaging in a Prostitution Offense carries; and
Whereas, To reduce some of the needless burdens imposed on New Yorkers with Penal Law 240.37 Offense violations, the New York State Legislature should amend Criminal Procedure Law 160.55 to permit New Yorkers to seal their violations for this offense; and, now therefore, be it
Resolved, That the Council of the City of New York calls on the New York State Legislature to pass, and the Governor to sign, a bill to amend the Criminal Procedure Law to allow violations for Loitering for the Purpose of Engaging in a Prostitution Offense to be sealed and have the law apply retroactively.
KMD
LS15942
9/25/2020
CGR
12/7/2020