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Speaker: Professor
David Canter
Affiliation: Centre
for Investigative Psychology, University of Liverpool
Presentation Title: Controlling
Client Violence: Street Worker Strategies
Abstract
It is widely recognized that street workers experience
high levels of violence in the course of work. The risk of these attacks
is well known by the women themselves. They therefore use a number of
strategies in an attempt to manage their dealings with clients so as to
minimize the likelihood of experiencing violence. Studies report that
securing control of the encounter is viewed by street workers as a critical
factor in their work (e.g. McKeganey & Barnard, 1996). The women have
been found to employ a range of measures to ensure they are in control
of the encounter. Any policy for the handling of the street sex trade
therefore needs to take account of the strategies the women use in so
far as they are effective. It is therefore necessary to gain a further
understanding of the different processes the women use and how they do
in relate to the actual levels of violence the prostitutes experience.
A survey of 100 street prostitutes was carried out, as preparation for a television documentary. This asked a range of questions about how the women managed their relationship with their client. It also explored their drug taking and related matters that increased their vulnerability. Analysis of responses indicate that the women who do not use illegal drugs have the least risk of experiencing violence, followed by those who will never go to certain locations due to safety concerns, and those who will only provide services to clients in a location they have chosen themselves. The analysis also reveals different levels and varieties of client violence in the prostitute-client interaction. The implications for policies of containment or removal of street level prostitution are discussed.
