DA Gonzalez dismisses all prostitution-related warrants
Brooklyn District Attorney Eric Gonzalez on Friday announced that he is moving to vacate open bench warrants related to prostitution and loitering for the purposes of prostitution — charges his office no longer prosecutes. The first batch of 262 warrants dating back to 2012 were vacated last week and their underlying cases were dismissed, with older ones planned for dismissal at a future date.
Gonzalez also called on legislators to repeal the loitering for the purposes of prostitution law and to expunge old prostitution-related convictions.
He said, “I decided to take this action for several reasons: first and most obviously, it doesn’t make sense for someone to have an outstanding warrant for something we no longer prosecute. But beyond that, these warrants have powerful negative consequences for the individual, and they undermine public safety. Because someone with an open warrant is subject to arrest at any time, those engaged in the selling of sex are more likely to be driven underground and be less likely to report abuse or other crimes, which makes both them and others less safe.