Table 2.
Prevalence of lawful and unlawful police enforcement practices among all sex workers and associations with ethnic or racial identity
| Ethnic/Racial identity | Odds ratio for ethnically/racially minoritized identity | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All | Ethnically minoritized | White | Unadjusted | Adjusted* | |||
| Police enforcement practice | n/total (%) | n (%) | n (%) | OR (95% CI) | p value | OR (95% CI) | p value |
| Recent (6 months) practices | |||||||
| Arrested (any reason) | 49/264 (18.6%) | 22 (31.4%) | 24 (13.2%) | 3.0 (1.6–5.4) | 0.001 | 2.8 (1.3–5.8) | 0.008 |
| Arrested (sex work) | 18/264 (6.8%) | 4 (5.9%) | 14 (7.6%) | 0.7 (0.3–2.1) | 0.554 | 0.4 (0.1–1.4) | 0.141 |
| Client arrested by the police | 32/273 (11.7%) | 10 (14.9%) | 21 (10.8%) | 1.3 (0.6–2.7) | 0.453 | 0.6 (0.2–1.5) | 0.262 |
| Sanctioned by police | 74/276 (26.8%) | 28 (39.4%) | 42 (21.8%) | 2.2 (1.3–3.7) | 0.003 | 1.6 (0.8–3.2) | 0.201 |
| Recently been to prison | 18/272 (6.6%) | 7 (9.9%) | 10 (5.3%) | 1.8 (0.7–4.1) | 0.203 | 1.3 (0.5–3.3) | 0.552 |
| Referred to services by police | 21/265 (7.9%) | 8 (11.4%) | 11(6.0%) | 1.9 (0.9–4.2) | 0.111 | 1.0 (0.4–2.5) | 0.929 |
| Items confiscated by police | 40/279 (14.3%) | 15 (21.1%) | 22 (11.2%) | 2.4 (1.6–4.6) | 0.009 | 1.5 (0.7–3.4) | 0.31 |
| Any law enforcement | 103/283 (36.4%) | 38 (53.5%) | 60 (30.0%) | 2.4 (1.5–3.4) | 0.001 | 1.5 (0.8–3.61) | 0.242 |
| Past (ever) practices | |||||||
| Arrested (any reason) | 113/265 (42.6%) | 38 (54.3%) | 70 (38.3%) | 1.7 (1.1–2.6) | 0.016 | 1.4 (0.6–3.1) | 0.422 |
| Arrested (sex work) | 51/265 (19.2%) | 14 (20.6%) | 36 (19.5%) | 1.2 (0.6–2.1) | 0.602 | 0.6 (0.3–1.3) | 0.183 |
| Client ever arrested by police | 57/274 (20.8%) | 22 (32.4%) | 34 (17.4%) | 1.9 (1.1–3.4) | 0.022 | 1.0 (0.5–2.3) | 0.91 |
| Ever been sanctioned by police | 123/272 (45.2%) | 41 (57.7%) | 77 (40.7%) | 1.9 (1.2–3.0) | 0.006 | 1.5 (0.7–3.3) | 0.327 |
| Ever had items confiscated by police | 74/275 (26.9%) | 23 (32.4%) | 46 (24.0%) | 1.5 (0.9–2.6) | 0.132 | 1.0 (0.5–1.9) | 0.924 |
| Ever been to prison | 72/272 (26.5%) | 30 (42.3%) | 38 (20.1%) | 2.4 (1.4–3.9) | < 0.001 | 2.3 (1.1–5.0) | 0.037 |
| Ever been referred to services | 43/260 (16.5%) | 13 (18.6%) | 28 (15.7%) | 1.5 (0.8–2.7) | 0.18 | 0.9 (0.4–1.8) | 0.224 |
| Ever experienced any law enforcement | 123/280 (43.9%) | 39 (54.9%) | 79 (40.1%) | 1.8 (1.1–2.9) | 0.016 | 1.0 (0.5–2.0) | 0.904 |
| Past unlawful police practices | |||||||
| Accepted money, sex in lieu of arrest | 18/258 (7.0%) | 11 (15.5%) | 7 (4.0%) | 4.0 (1.7–9.8) | 0.002 | 3.3 (1.4–7.8) | 0.008 |
| Verbal abuse | 61/260 (23.5%) | 19 (27.1%) | 40 (22.2%) | 1.3 (0.7–2.3) | 0.419 | 0.8 (0.4–1.4) | 0.408 |
| Scaring or intimated | 52/259 (20.1%) | 18 (25.7%) | 32 (18.0%) | 1.4 (0.8–2.9) | 0.134 | 1.4 (0.7–2.8) | 0.304 |
| Rape (anal, vaginal or oral) | 11/262 (4.2%) | 6 (8.7%) | 5 (2.8%) | 4.3 (1.4–13.5) | 0.012 | 3.6 (1.1–11.5) | 0.032 |
| Threatened or actual physical violence | 32/264 (12.1%) | 13 (18.8%) | 18 (9.8%) | 1.9 (1.0.–4.0) | 0.053 | 1.8 (0.9–3.5) | 0.112 |
| Damaged personal property | 34/258 (13.2%) | 17 (24.3%) | 17 (9.6%) | 2.3 (1.2–4.4) | 0.012 | 1.9 (0.9–3.7) | 0.082 |
| Any police violence ever | 89/277 (32.1%) | 29 (40.8%) | 57 (29.2%) | 1.5 (0.9–2.5) | 0.128 | 1.1 (0.6–2.0) | 0.702 |
*Univariable and multivariable models are from generalized estimating equation (GEE) logistic regression with an exchangeable correlation matrix. Multivariable models are adjusted for working sector, time in sex work, born in the UK or not, gender, and sexual identity