A tale of four cities using possession of condoms in prostitution cases San Francisco’s law enforcement agencies will no longer use possession of condoms as physical evidence when prosecuting sex workers, according to a letter by the district attorney to the city’s Human Rights Commission. Using condoms as evidence discourages safer sex and fuels the HIV epidemic, according to a Human Rights Watch report from last summer detailing related police arrests in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Washington, DC.

Of the four cities in the report, San Francisco is only one to end the prosecution practice, though lawmakers in Los Angeles and New York State 
have introduced legislation to at least curtail such cases.