Cost of Recovery: Economic Profiles of Former Street Sex Workers in Detroit

OVERVIEW: This presentation presents economic profiles of 95 Detroit area sex workers taken at various stages of a Drug Treatment Court intervention. Semi-structured and ethnographic interviews were conducted at three separate phases of the intervention: incarceration (n=31), treatment (n=24) and transitional housing and/or independence (n=31). The research also includes interviews with women who were terminated from the program (n=9). Drug use, sources and levels of income and expenses are reported in detail. Aggregate economic data is supplemented with ethnographic interview data.

FINDINGS: Women reported spending more of their monthly income on food upon leaving the street environment. However, income from public assistance was secured to support that increased expenditure. Unemployment remained a problem after treatment with only 39% of recovered women reporting income from employment, and income gains are elusive during recovery. Most women (n=75) reported limited other economic opportunities and amount of money earned as reasons why they participated in prostitution. Decreased drug expenditures were not enough to offset the decrease in income that accompanies termination of sex work. Ethnographic data indicate that the structured coercive and supportive elements of the program are each important to the success of treatment and early recovery. However, long-term recovery raises questions of sustainability if human capital and social networks do not expand.

CONCLUSIONS: Increased emphasis on employable skills is necessary for sustained recovery of former sex workers. Further studies should emphasize cost-benefit analysis that could substantiate savings associated with decreased law enforcement and judicial costs as an offset to job training expenditures.