Prof. Teela Sanders (Dept. of Criminology, University of Leicester) from the BtG team is presenting at the 2017 European Society of Criminology Conference, taking place on 13th 15th September at Cardiff University. This presentation she will be making draws on one element of another research project she is involved with, funded by the Wellcome Trust being carried out with researchers at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Teela is presenting on behalf of the team which consists of Stewart Cunningham (Leicester University), Lucy Platt, Pippa Grenfell & PG Macioti (all of London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine) . The paper she will deliver is called ‘Trends in Homicide Against Sex Workers in the UK’ and it will present an up-to-data analysis of the UK sex worker murder database held at the National Ugly Mugs scheme, which consists of 180 individuals over a 26 year period between 1990 – 2016. Within this database the research sampled for occupational homicide specifically examining those people who were killed during the course of their work. It will explore the trends in victims targeted in relation to sex market, migrant status, making comparisons between those work worked on street and those indoors. The paper surmises that patterns of victimhood are changing in line with the broader changes in the sex industry. It will also look briefly at conviction and sentencing patterns with the limited data we have to suggest that investigations into sex worker homicides are increasingly successful. The research also makes comparisons with some other ‘risky’ professions to examine the highest risks of mortality for certain occupations, suggesting that sex work is amongst the highest.
For more info about the conference itself including how to register go to: https://www.eurocrim2017.com/
