Prostitution - What if it is decriminalized?

As a criminal defense attorney, I regularly encounter women, mostly, and sometimes men that have been arrested in a police "sting operation" that focused on targeting prostitutes and/or johns.  In case someone reading this article does not know, a prostitute is one who exchanges sexual favors for some form of compensation, usually money.  Johns are those who pay for the sexual favor-usually men, but as you can imagine, the roles could reverse.  I believe that conducting these police sting operations reduces the quality of life in our society and that the only persons "harmed" by prostitution are potentially the actors.  Not to mention, it is a waste of police time and resources to prosecute these "victimless" crimes.

Legalization improves neighborhoods and promotes safety

Consider this:  if places where prostitution would naturally occur are forced out of business, like brothels, some motels, or apartments, police action drives the activity into the streets of neighborhoods where it otherwise may not exist.  Thus, residents of the neighborhoods are exposed to the activity against their will. 

Also because of prostitution being forced into the streets, the dangers to many prostitutes greatly increase.  Prostitutes whose jobs involve working at night and getting into cars with strangers can be, and often have been, easy pickings for serial killers and other sociopaths. Some criminal justice studies have shown that prostitutes are the most frequent targets for serial killers.

A sensible solution to these problems would be to follow the example of some European cities, where prostitution is allowed in certain designated areas. People who are interested in the activity go to places where it's permitted, and they leave alone the neighborhoods that don't wish to be associated with it.  Not only are the prostitutes working in a safer environment, but the residents of neighborhoods are not bothered with the traffic, cat-calls, or other related behaviors that they may find reprehensible.

Legalization reduces crime

Another problem with prostitution arrests is that they cause long-term increases in crime and drug abuse in society.  Margo St. James, a former social worker and a leading advocate of legalizing prostitution, believes that when a woman is convicted of prostitution that it acts much like a brand or negative stigma, like the "A" in The Scarlet Letter.  This could make it much harder for the female to find gainful employment, which then begins a cycle of arrests for more prostitution or other criminal offenses. 

Keeping prostitution illegal also contributes to crime because many criminals view prostitutes and their customers as attractive targets for robbery, fraud, rape, or other criminal acts. The criminals realize that such people are unlikely to report the crimes to police, because the victims would have to admit they were involved in the illegal activity of prostitution when the attacks took place.  Also, there is a belief that prostitutes may have large sums of cash on them, which makes them an attractive target for other criminals.

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