Sex work and hate crime: developing innovative research, policy & practice

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This fellowship builds on my PhD study, the first to examine the innovative approach adopted by Merseyside Police of treating crimes against sex workers as hate crime (Campbell, 2017). This approach led to significant increase in crime reporting and a unprecedented number of prosecutions for crimes against sex workers, it was identified as a model of good practice by the Home Office. I was involved in the development of the approach, as Coordinator of a sex work support project in Merseyside. The research was the first to detail the conceptual and empirical case that crimes against sex workers could be understood as hate crime, and that treating crimes against sex workers as hate crime can have many practical benefits for sex workers and wider society. It also highlighted that whilst the hate crime approach was progressive, sex workers had not been fully integrated into hate crime polices and practices, and elements that made up the hate crime approach were at risk of being eroded. The multiple policy impacts of my research to date are highlighted by it informing National Police Chiefs Council guidance on prostitution and national hate crime guidance, which reasserted that forces can include victim groups outside monitored strands, with Merseysides' inclusion of sex workers as an example. Findings from the research informed a successful application for funding to support sex worker victims of crime in Merseyside.Funding was awarded to the Office of Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner for this initiative to improve the safety of sex workers 'the Red Umbrella Project'. This includes amongst other provisions the reintroduction of a specialist sex work Independent Sexual Violence Advisor post, identified by the research as a critical element of the hate crime approach. Selected findings from the research have been published in two book chapters (Campbell 2014a & 2018), but these significant findings for academic scholarship, policy and practice have not been published more widely. Also research on sex work and hate crime is underdeveloped internationally. The three overarching aims of this fellowship are; 1. To produce the highest quality publications on sex work and hate crime, contributing to original academic scholarship & knowledge which have policy relevance. 2. Develop the investigator's research leadership skills, including developing a research grant application as Principal Investigator for a study which will explore a wider diversity of sex workers' experiences of hate crime and expand empirical and theoretical knowledge in this area. 3.To enable the fellow to carry out further policy and practice impact work at local and national level with non-academic stakeholders, to enable the research to directly support the further development of hate crime policy on sex work in Merseyside (further integrating sex workers into hate crime procedures/polices) and in the UK.I am well placed to carry out this work, with a track record of contributing to the development of sex work policy nationally and in several cities via my work as a practitioner and manager within support services for sex workers. Impact and engagement is at the heart of this post doctoral project. Some examples of the key activities to be carried out as part of this fellowship are; production of a sole-authored book (the first globally on 'Sex work and hate crime), developing a research proposal for a multi sited study of sex work and hate crime which encompasses the full diversity of the sex industry, working with Merseyside Police, the Red Umbrella Project and a sex worker group to develop ways of raising awareness about the approach amongst sex workers in Merseyside and sharing learning through networks nationally about the hate crime approach (including with police forces).