Using interview and focus group data (N = 44) from three study sites, we locate prostitution diversion program (PDP) professionals within logics of punishment and governance. While critical research on problem-solving justice emphasizes professionals' performative and quasi-therapeutic roles, inadequate attention has been paid to the contradictory logics of their roles. Involvement in a diversion program reinforces underlying assumptions about whom they are working with and what those people need, in ways that we argue require critical distance. Professionals exploit the paradox of assistance through coercion, and exhibit what we identify as “targeted sympathy.” Targeted sympathy enhances the ability of these professionals to use their discretion to help their clients, but it also elevates a narrow set of acceptable problems and interventions. Created with an understanding of street-based sex workers as victims, PDPs also rely on hyper-responsibilization, expecting defendants to bootstrap themselves over systemic hurdles with virtually no resources. Thus, while targeted sympathy may indicate a movement away from the “othering” that pervades contemporary penality, it continues to decontextualize individuals and assign blame and accountability.

中文翻译：

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在“谁的法庭”上有针对性的同情：刑事司法行为者对卖淫转移方案的看法

使用访谈和焦点小组数据（N = 44），我们从三个研究地点中找到了在惩罚和治理逻辑内的卖淫改道计划（PDP）专业人士。解决问题的正义的批判性研究强调了专业人员的表演和准治疗角色，但对他们角色的矛盾逻辑却没有给予足够的重视。参与转移计划会以我们认为需要关键距离的方式，加强有关他们与谁一起工作以及这些人需要什么的基本假设。专业人士通过胁迫来利用援助的悖论，并表现出我们所确定的“有针对性的同情”。有针对性的同情心增强了这些专业人士运用其酌处权帮助其客户的能力，但同时也带来了一系列可以接受的问题和干预措施。PDP建立在了解街头性工作者为受害者的基础上，也依赖于过度负责，希望被告在几乎没有资源的系统性障碍中进行自我引导。因此，尽管有针对性的同情可能表明一种远离普遍存在当代刑罚的“另一种”的运动，但它继续使个人脱上下文，并指责和追究责任。