GCUA Scholar Series presents a talk titled, Exiting Prostitution: How Research Shapes Practice and Policy, by Andrea N. Cimino, Ph.D, MSW, postdoctoral fellow, Johns Hopkins School of Nursing.

This presentation offers a comprehensive overview of the commercial sex industry and the ideologies that influence how prostitution is handled legally. Indirect forms of sex work (i.e., stripping) and direct forms such as sex trafficking, street prostitution and escorting will be discussed. Dr. Cimino will present her work on the street prostitution exiting process and the development of an instrument to identify one’s risk of returning to street prostitution will be presented. The presentation will conclude with a discussion of some recent and controversial legal/social work interventions, including Project Rose in Phoenix, AZ, and a policy proposed in Hawaii that condones sex between undercover police officers and prostitutes in order to thwart “cop checking” done by prostitutes.