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An alleged criminal is convicted and sentenced to prison where he or she will join the ranks of thieves, rapists, and homicidal killers. What are the injustices that this individual has committed? They have been arrested, after hours of police observation and sums of taxpayer’s dollars, for accepting or providing money or other forms of compensation for engaging in sexual acts and companionship with an of-age and consenting accomplice; they have committed an act of prostitution. Does this infringement warrant such punishment when there appears to be no harm to either party? Are such individuals reckless enough to need corrections by the law? Morals aside, the answer should be clear. Prostitution should be decriminalized and conditions in the business of sexual acts should be governed by state laws.
In Tucson, Arizona, the minimum mandatory charge for prostitution is up to 15 days in jail and $360 in fines and surcharges, not to mention up to 3 years of probation (City of Tucson).This is the cost of the offender. It may not seem too harsh, but what does it cost the taxpayers to prosecute so many hardened criminals?
Well, “..the war on prostitution is yet another battle being waged with tax dollars rather than common sense. Let's look at the price tag for a moment. It is estimated that one in every ten police officers works on vice-related activities. Currently, it is assumed that as much as one-half of a typical urban city's prison female population are prostitutes. In fact, the city of Los Angeles alone spends close to 100 million dollars annually dealing with illegal prostitution. The real
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cost, of course, is that these public resources could have been used to protect law-abiding citizens from real criminals” (qtd. in Armentano).
The question is simply one of morals. Prostitution may be immoral, as many Christians believe. In the Christian Bible, Jeremiah 3:2 reads:
“Look up to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished? By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers, sat like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness” (New International Version, Jeremiah. 3:2).
Although, more and more people are beginning to think otherwise. In recent decades, a number of groups for sex-workers rights have sprang up such as: HIRE (Hooking Is Real Employment), PLAN (Prostitution Laws Are Nonsense), and COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics) (Sloan 186). COYOTE was created in 1973 by a woman named Margo St. James. It calls for not only the laws against prostitution to be repealed, but also laws against pimping and pandering, or encouraging others to become prostitutes. They work towards the rights of all sex workers: strippers, phone operators, prostitutes, porn actresses etc. of all genders and persuasions and offer support and crisis counseling. (COYOTE homepage)
Illegal prostitution is characteristically linked with the scare of the AIDs/HIV virus. Because legal brothels can be regulated, AIDs prevention through legalization has become a strong argument for the sex-worker movement. It’s estimated that half of the street prostitutes in New York carry the
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AIDs virus, and up to 60% of prostitutes in Newark, New Jersey are also infected. [http://www.fff.org/freedom/1293e.asp] Unregulated prostitution often happens anywhere, any time, with little or no concern toward safety.
Coincidentally enough, some areas have chosen to legalize and regulate prostitution. Under Nevada law, any county with a population of fewer than 400,000 is allowed to license brothels if it so chooses. In order to be licensed in most counties, an individual must be 21 years old age. The hired sex-workers are required by law to use condoms in all oral sex and intercourse, and they are also subject to weekly test for sexually transmitted diseases and monthly test for the HIV virus. Therefore, brothel owners are liable for any STD a client may be diagnosed with if a hired sex-worker is tested positive for the said disease. These regulations seemed to have worked because, as of 1986, when mandatory testing began, not a single brothel prostitute has ever tested positive for HIV (Wikipedia).
Prostitution has long had it’s place amongst the world’s nations. Several European countries support prostitution, as do South American countries. For example, the politicians in Buenos Aires, Argentina protect investments of organized bordellos, so long as they are not erected near the city’s main street Guy 126).
Decriminalization would also prevent minors from participating in acts of prostitution. With a minimum age of registration, anyone under that age would be unable to enter the world of sex-work. Several underage minors dabble into
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prostitution with catastrophic results. Faye was only thirteen when, after having been physically and mentally abused by her family for years, she first became a prostitute. She operated without problem until a client raped her with a gun and she had no one to go to for help because she feared the police would not help her. (CosmoGirl)
But legal adults have the right to sell their body for profit, right? Lacey Sloan, a professor at the University of Houston writes: “There is no difference in work in which a woman sells her hands, such as typist, an work in which a woman sells her vagina, as in sex work.” The work can be just as hard, or harder, than that of a legitimate title, and yet sex-workers today are cloaked in fear and shame due to their field of choice (Sloan 179).
When it comes down to it, a society needs to weigh their morals against what is logical and what the world is like today. Prostitution is a touchy subject for many world religions, but in this day and age, people tend to be more liberal and open-minded. If legalizing this business could reduce the quantity of STD and AIDs infection or the harm done to professors of this occupation by even the smallest margin, it is worth the legal work to do so. The tax dollars saved from ending the barrage of prostitution stings could be used to fund several other government projects. Everyday in the United States, legislation towards this industry gains ground toward legalization. When will Americans learn to follow Ms. Margo St. James’ example and called off our tired ethics? The day may be closer than one has realized.
Works Cited
City of Tucson. 10 Mar. 2006
<http://www.ci.tucson.az.us/johns/what_is.html>
Armentano, Paul. The Case for Legalized Prostitution. 1993. 9 Mar. 2006
<http://www.fff.org/freedom/1293e.asp>
Sloan, Lacey. Sex: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego: Green Haven, 2000.
Rights groups: Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics. 2000. 8 Mar. 2000
<http://www.walnet.org/csis/groups/coyote.html>
Guy, Donna. Sex and Danger in Buenos Aires. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991.
Khidel, Marina. “I Was A 13-Year-Old Prostitute.” CosmoGirl. Feb 2006: 146, 147.
United States. Wikipedia. Prostitution in Nevada. 2006. 9 Mar. 2006.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/prostitution_in_nevada>
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An alleged criminal is convicted and sentenced to prison where he or she will join the ranks of thieves, rapists, and homicidal killers. What are the injustices that this individual has committed? They have been arrested, after hours of police observation and sums of taxpayer’s dollars, for accepting or providing money or other forms of compensation for engaging in sexual acts and companionship with an of-age and consenting accomplice; they have committed an act of prostitution. Does this infringement warrant such punishment when there appears to be no harm to either party? Are such individuals reckless enough to need corrections by the law? Morals aside, the answer should be clear. Prostitution should be decriminalized and conditions in the business of sexual acts should be governed by state laws.
In Tucson, Arizona, the minimum mandatory charge for prostitution is up to 15 days in jail and $360 in fines and surcharges, not to mention up to 3 years of probation. [http://www.ci.tucson.az.us/johns/what_is.html] This is the cost of the offender. It may not seem too harsh, but what does it cost the taxpayers to prosecute so many hardened criminals?
According to http://www.fff.org/freedom/1293e.asp, “..the war on prostitution is yet another battle being waged with tax dollars rather than common sense. Let's look at the price tag for a moment. It is estimated that one in every ten police officers works on vice-related activities. Currently, it is assumed that as much as one-half of a typical urban city's prison female population are prostitutes. In fact, the city of Los Angeles alone spends close to 100 million dollars annually dealing with illegal prostitution. The real cost, of course, is that these public resources could have been used to protect law-abiding citizens from real criminals.”
The question is simply one of morals. Prostitution may be immoral, as many Christians believe. In the Christian Bible, Jeremiah 3:2 reads:
“Look up to the barren heights and see. Is there any place where you have not been ravished? By the roadside you sat waiting for lovers, sat like a nomad in the desert. You have defiled the land with your prostitution and wickedness.”
Although, more and more people are beginning to think otherwise. In recent decades, a number of groups for sex-workers rights have sprang up such as: HIRE (Hooking Is Real Employment), PLAN (Prostitution Laws Are Nonsense), and COYOTE (Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics). COYOTE was created in 1973 by a woman named Margo St. James. It calls for not only the laws against prostitution to be repealed, but also laws against pimping and pandering, or encouraging others to become prostitutes. They work towards the rights of all sex workers: strippers, phone operators, prostitutes, porn actresses etc. of all genders and persuasions and offer support and crisis counseling. http://www.walnet.org/csis/groups/coyote.html.
Illegal prostitution is characteristically linked with the scare of the AIDs/HIV virus. Because legal brothels can be regulated, AIDs prevention through legalization has become a strong argument for the sex-worker movement. It’s estimated that half of the street prostitutes in New York carry the AIDs virus, and up to 60% of prostitutes in Newark, New Jersey are also infected. [http://www.fff.org/freedom/1293e.asp] Unregulated prostitution often happens anywhere, any time, with little or no concern toward safety.
Coincidentally enough, some areas have chosen to legalize and regulate prostitution. Under Nevada law, any county with a population of fewer than 400,000 is allowed to license brothels if it so chooses. In order to be licensed in most counties, an individual must be 21 years old age. The hired sex-workers are required by law to use condoms in all oral sex and intercourse, and they are also subject to weekly test for sexually transmitted diseases and monthly test for the HIV virus. Therefore, brothel owners are liable for any STD a client may be diagnosed with if a hired sex-worker is tested positive for the said disease. These regulations seemed to have worked because, as of 1986, when mandatory testing began, not a single brothel prostitute has ever tested positive for HIV.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prostitution_in_Nevada].
Prostitution has long had it’s place amongst the world’s nations. Several European countries support prostitution, as do South American countries. For example, the politicians in Buenos Aires, Argentina protect investments of organized bordellos, so long as they are not erected near the city’s main street. (Sex and Danger)
Decriminalization would also prevent minors from participating in acts of prostitution. With a minimum age of registration, anyone under that age would be unable to enter the world of sex-work. Several underage minors dabble into prostitution with catastrophic results. Faye was only thirteen when, after having been physically and mentally abused by her family for years, she first became a prostitute. She operated without problem until a client raped her with a gun and she had no one to go to for help because she feared the police would not help her. (Cosmo)
But legal adults have the constitutional right to sell their body for profit, right? Lacey Sloan, a professor at the University of Houston writes: “There is no difference in work in which a woman sells her hands, such as typist, an work in which a woman sells her vagina, as in sex work.” The work can be just as hard, or harder, than that of a legitimate title, and yet sex-workers today are cloaked in fear and shame due to their field of choice.
When it comes down to it, a society needs to weigh their morals against what is logical and what the world is like today. Prostitution is a touchy subject for many world religions, but in this day and age, people tend to be more liberal and open-minded. If legalizing this business could reduce the quantity of STD and AIDs infection or the harm done to professors of this occupation by even the smallest margin, it is worth the legal work to do so. The tax dollars saved from ending the barrage of prostitution stings could be used to fund several other government projects. Everyday in the United States, legislation towards this industry gains ground toward legalization. When will Americans learn to follow Ms. Margo St. James’ example and called off our tired ethics? The day may be closer than one has realized.
Guy, Donna. Sex and Danger in Buenos Aires. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1991.
City of Tucson. 10 Mar. 2006
<http://www.ci.tucson.az.us/johns/what_is.html>
Armentano, Paul. The Case for Legalized Prostitution. 1993. 9 Mar. 2006
<http://www.fff.org/freedom/1293e.asp>
Sloan, Lacey. Sex: Opposing Viewpoints. San Diego: Green Haven, 2000.
Rights groups: Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics. 2000. 8 Mar. 2000
http://www.walnet.org/csis/groups/coyote.html.
United States. Wikipedia. Prostitution in Nevada. 2006. 9 Mar. 2006.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/prostitution_in_nevada>
Khidel, Marina. “I Was A 13-Year-Old Prostitute.” CosmoGirl. Feb 2006: 146, 147.
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