Stay Strapped: NYPD vows to back off from criminalizing condoms in sex work cases

Imagine you are stopped by the police, searched without basis, and arrested for an illegal act with legal items in your possession cited as evidence of your crime. 

Unfortunately and unsurprisingly, this does not sound unfamiliar or unique to any one particular encounter with the police. However, this is what some 200 prostitutes reported when describing their interactions with the NYPD in interviews with Human Rights Watch.

Following Brooklyn's lead, the Manhattan district attorney announced this week that they will be cutting back on their seizure of condoms as evidence in the arrest of prostitutes.