A long-overdue reckoning with ‘child prostitution’ convictions

The government announced in November that it will automatically expunge historic ‘child prostitution’ convictions i.e. for those convicted as children for themselves engaging in prostitution. This marks a significant and long overdue development in the application of relevant law.

History

The UK has an uneasy history with the sexual exploitation of children. Legislation has been slow to distinguish perceived sexual immorality from sexual criminality, and society’s sympathies, even to this day, often prioritise class and appearance.

In Europe, the practice persisted openly into the late 19^th century with limited regard for children’s welfare. Early legislation was driven by class anxieties rather than child protection. Reforms focused on safeguarding wealthy girls (whose inheritance was at risk), while working-class children were more likely to be criminalised for behaviour arising from coercion and abuse.

The catalyst for real change came not from legislative concern but public scandal. In 1885, William Thomas Stead, an investigative journalist and social reformer, published the Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon, a series of sensationalist articles exposing the suffering of Victorian England’s children. Assisted by a former prostitute and the Salvation Army, Stead bought a 13-year-old girl, from her parents for £5 to send to the Continent – a stunt that revealed both the prevalence of commercial abuse of children and the degree of official indifference. 

As a result of this scandal, after four years of legislative debate, the government passed the Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885, which raised the age of consent from 13 to 16 and introduced offences targeting the procurement and abuse of girls. 

Despite these reforms, the criminalisation of exploited children persisted well into the 20^th century.  The authorities routinely adultified vulnerable, mostly working-class children and charged them with vagrancy, loitering, soliciting and moral conduct offences.

Cultural romanticisation versus social vilification

Cultural narratives will always bleed into public perception. Art and media have repeatedly aestheticised the sexualisation of young girls. 20^th century fashion photography packaged sexualised images of children as beauty, tragedy, or artistic provocation. Louis Malle’s 1978 film, Pretty Baby, for instance, cast a 12-year-old Brooke Shields in a brothel setting, a portrayal applauded rather than condemned, while Vladimir Nabokov’s Lolita turned a sexually abused child into a “nymphet”.

Respectable society has historically tolerated sexual commerce within beautiful, middle-class settings, but vilified it when associated with poverty.