Bad Dates: How Prostitution Strolls Impact Client-Initiated Violence

Abstract

Routine activity theory suggests the crime will happen when a willing offender encounters a vulnerable victim in the absence of a guardian (Cohen & Felson, 1979). Such guardians can be actual individuals, but are more often the internal or external static factors associated with the environment. Sex work research has focused considerably on the role of such ecological factors in mitigating client-initiated violence among types of indoor sex work. Yet distinctions between outdoor sex markets, or “strolls,” have been underdeveloped. This paper is divided into two parts. In Part I, I identify three types of street-based prostitution strolls: identity-associated, drug-associated, and high track, using a combination of previous literature and observational data. In Part II, I examine how these stroll-level factors impact the demographics and acts committed by violent clients against Washington, DC street-based sex workers. Stroll-level factors do not impact client demographics, but are correlated with differences in types of violence and client action.