Case study: Ipswich Murders PDF

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A case study of the Ipswich Murders focusing on Prostitution legislation and victim portrayal. ...

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Victims, Rights and Restorative Justice ICA

Name: Lauren Ashdown Victims, rights and restorative justice ICA Case study: Ipswich Murders 15/01/2015 Word Count: 1,269

"The judge's remarks were widely welcomed by those arguing that the justice system needs to be more on the side of the victim of crime rather than the perpetrator," said The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Read more: http://www.theweek.co.uk/uk-news/49249/did-Judge-give-homeowners-licence-shootburglars#ixzz2Jvh9xmQv

Victims, Rights and Restorative Justice ICA The Ipswich Murders: Has Prostitution Legislation Changed? This essay will outline the way that the victims of the Ipswich murders were portrayed during and after the case in relation to prostitution. It will also examine how the murders prompted the British government to reconsider Britain’s legislations towards sex workers and whether policy actually changed as a result of the tragedy. On 21st February 2008 Steven Wright was found guilty by the courts of murdering five women by asphyxiation between 30th October and 10th December 2006. All five of those women were prostitutes. Benedict (1992) highlighted the tendency of the media to categorise women as either ‘virgins’ or ‘whores’ based on whether they are seen as a ‘deserving’ or ‘undeserving’ victim. Despite prostitutes typically receiving less media coverage due to their failure to conform to society’s view of an ‘innocent’ victim, the victims of the Ipswich murders received a large amount of coverage during and after the events of the case. Wiest (2011), in an investigation into the differences between British and American media portrayals of serial killers, found that British media tends to focus more on victims than the killer, whilst also ‘[providing] unsubstantiated warnings to alleged potential victims… which seems likely to incite public fear’. Although the tragedy of the case was not lost on the public, the larger focus quickly became the fact that the victims were sex workers, and later shown to be addicted to drugs. This would theoretically lead them to be categorised as ‘deserving’ victims, due to their high risk lifestyles. However; the victims of the Ipswich murders were further victimised as vulnerable women who were in need of saving before their seemingly inevitable murders. Matthews (2007) comments on how there was noticeably more public sympathy for the women, in comparison to the ‘Yorkshire Ripper’ case 30 years prior. This is not, however, mutually exclusive of the media promoting a moral panic within the sex worker 1

Victims, Rights and Restorative Justice ICA ‘community’, as increased public sympathy seemed only to increase the sense that women working on the streets are troubled souls in need to saving. The tragedy also inspired a three-part BBC dramatization ‘Five Daughters’ (BBC, 2010), which focused solely on the victims rather than the killer or the police force. It paid particular attention to the victim’s struggle with drug addiction rather than focusing on prostitution, a theme followed by the reporting media as well as being reflected in Britain’s legislative discussions. A prostitute is defined in section 54(2) of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 as a person who, on at least one occasion, offers or provides sexual services to another person in return for payment or a promise of payment to that person or a third party. The Sexual Offences Act (1956) portrayed prostitutes as victims in need of protecting, much like slaves. This legislation related to management and exploitation, prohibiting sex workers from being employed, employing others, collaborating or purchasing services from associates. In a later legislation, the Street Offences Act (1959), prostitution was presented as a form of ‘private vice’ which was acceptable as long as it was hidden from the public eye. Therefore, supply and demand for prostitution on the street is illegal, but the demand for prostitution off-street is not. This created a double standard in which clients could purchase services privately without sanction, but sex workers had to attract potential clients whilst pretending that their ‘public’ work was a matter of ‘personal’ choice (della Guista & Munro 2008). The Ipswich murders caused the government to reconsider legislation regarding prostitutes, as reported by the media; however no major changes were put into place. The biggest change to policy in the last 10 years was before the murders, the Sexual Offences Act 2003, which states that it is an offence to cause or incite prostitution or control it for personal gain. This is a ‘strict liability’ offence, meaning 2

Victims, Rights and Restorative Justice ICA that whether or not the person purchasing sexual services is aware of the sex worker being controlled is irrelevant. On the other hand, more attention seemed to be paid to the issue of drugs within the sex work ‘community’. As of 12 September 2007 the Home Office issued guidance aimed at improving the engagement of those involved in prostitution with specialist projects: Good Practice Guidance to Increasing the Engagement of Adults Involved in Prostitution within the Drug Interventions Programme. A follow up report in The Guardian by McVeigh (2010) suggested that the murders inspired other women to leave the streets and seek help for their addictions. The three women interviewed are said to have sought rehabilitation ‘out of fear for their lives’, and are also reported to have been successful. Although this is a positive outlook following the tragedy, there is no evidence that it is reflective in the general population. In fact, several academics suggest that societies need to ‘save’ sex workers is simply a social construct which, in itself, is not reflective of the sex worker community. Day and Ward (2007) go so far as to suggest that ‘there is no evidence that 90% of UK sex workers are addicted to drugs or that 45% were abused as children’, the statistics are over-estimated and over-reported by the media, but ‘we have heard nothing about the many responses that refute these stereotypes’. More recent studies by Manning (2013) and Kingston (2013) also suggest figures aren’t as high and although drug addiction is not dismissed as a cause of prostitution, it is acknowledged as a myth that all prostitutes have been ‘seduced by a drug dealer’ and forced into sex work. Grant (2014) is strongly against the idea that prostitutes are ‘societies most vulnerable’ and all in need of ‘saving’. She comments on society’s tendency to see sex workers as either exploited or empowered, with no ‘in-between’, often referring to them as both ‘victims’ and ‘villains’. In the Ipswich murder case the 3

Victims, Rights and Restorative Justice ICA victims were proven to be addicted to drugs, allowing the media to maintain the stereotypical image of vulnerable women in need. The typical underreporting of the non-stereotypical image prostitution as well as the consistent reports linking drugs directly to prostitution, described by Matthew (2007) as a change in the composition of prostitution from sporadic, economically driven women to drug dependant, is a strong indicator of why the British government chose to address drug addiction instead of targeting prostitution directly. The government has also expressed a desire to prevent prostitution from being driven further underground, thus further endangering more vulnerable women and making the practice harder to police. The hope is that offering more opportunities for rehabilitation will encourage women to overcome their habit and thus remove the need to obtain money to fund addiction. Though this is important in that recognition is shown towards the importance of harm reduction, it does little to challenge root causes as well as promoting an overly simplistic view of the complexities involved (della Guista & Munro, 2008). The murder of five young women in Ipswich in 2006 is undoubtedly a tragedy, but as far as policy is concerned their murders did not bring about any major legislative changes. The media over-reported the fact that the women were prostitutes, and the government responded by over-reporting the same discussion regarding British prostitution legislation that they have been having for several years. Matthews (2007) summarises that the murders marked a turning point in public and political opinion, bringing into question liberal policies centred on harm reduction and normalisation. However, a more proactive approach is required, with Matthews suggesting the need for pressure to be placed on the authorities to implement the more positive elements

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Victims, Rights and Restorative Justice ICA of current programmes, while also encouraging the introduction of more radical and influential reforms.

BBC. (2010). Five Daughters. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00s9jjg. Last accessed 12th December 2014. Benedict, H (1992). Virgin or Vamp. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Day, S. E. and Ward H. British policy makes sex workers vulnerable BMJ 2007; 334:187 della Giusta, M. & Munro, V. (2008). Demanding Sex: Critical Reflections on the Regulation of Prostitution. Ashgate Publishing Ltd. p54. Grant, M.G. (2014) Playing the Whore: The Work of Sex Work New York: Verso Books. Kingston, S. (2013). Prostitution in the Community: Attitudes, Action and Resistance. Oxford: Routledge Manning, P. (2013). Drugs and Popular Culture in the Age of New Media. Oxford: Routledge. Matthews, R. (2007) Prostitution, Politics and Policy. Oxford: Routledge. McVeigh, K. (2010) ‘Don’t Look Back: Life After the Ipswich Serial Killings’, The Guardian (24th April), available: http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2010/apr/24/life-after-ipswich-serial-killings. Last accessed 17th December 2014. Wiest, Julie B. 2011. Creating Cultural Monsters: Serial Murder in America. Boca Raton, FL: CRC Press.

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