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.

If prostitution were legal,

these victims would be less reluctant to report to police any criminal acts

that occurred while they were involved in it. This would significantly improve

the probability of catching the criminals and preventing them from victimizing

others. In many cases, it could deter them from committing the crimes in the

first place.  That view is consistent

with the experience of the European countries where prostitution is legal. They

have far lower crime rates than the U.S. overall.

Studies have been conducted

in the Nevada

counties where prostitution is legal and the results were similar:   those

counties that provide legalized methods for prostitution to exist are quite peaceable

and have lower crime rates.   Interestingly, in November, 2004, in Churchill County, Nevada,

a ballot proposal to outlaw prostitution was rejected by a 2-to-1 margin, even

though the county is primarily Republican and supported George W. Bush for

president.

Legalization promotes

liberty and privacy   

Laws against prostitution

violate Americans' fundamental rights of individual liberty and personal

privacy. Thomas Jefferson and other founders of the U.S. envisioned a society where

people can live without interference from government, provided they don't harm

others.  Lest we all forget, when the

founders of the United States fled Europe, they were fleeing the very

intrusions and governmental oversight that has developed in this country over

the past thirty to fifty years, but especially in the the post 9/11 era under

the watch of the Homeland Security Act.

As Jefferson

said in his First Inaugural Address: "A wise and frugal Government,which

shall restrain men from injuring one another, shall leave them otherwise free

to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement." Or as Arthur

Hoppe wrote about consensual acts in the San Francisco Chronicle

in 1992: "The function of government is to protect me from others. It's up

to me, thank you, to protect me from me." Combined, these two statements

demonstrate the very principle that I described above-that government should

protect its citizens and not try to dictate their very lives.

Similar to issues such as

birth control, abortion, and the right to death with dignity, this issue

involves people's fundamental rights to control their own bodies and decide the

best way to conduct their lives.

In a free society, it makes

no sense for the government to be telling persons - particularly the poor -

they cannot charge a fee for harmless services they otherwise are at liberty to

give away. To paraphrase George Carlin: Selling is legal, and sex is legal, so

why isn't selling sex legal? The simple answer is that some people are

offended by this act and want to impose their "moral authority" on others.

Sex isn't just for the

handsome: some side benefits of legalization

Likewise for the customers,

there's no reason their freedom should not include the right to purchase the

companionship and affection they may want but do not find in other aspects of

their lives.  

For example, one disabled

man told researchers he was lonely and visited prostitutes because "I'm

ugly, no women will go out with me. . . . It's because of my disability. So

prostitutes are a sexual outlet for me." Another man reported that he did

the same for a number of years due to being "anorexic and very reclusive.

There was no chance of forming a relationship." A physically

unattractive man added, "I pay for sex because that is the only way I can

get sex." Another person said his experiences with prostitutes and other

sex workers helped him overcome an extreme aversion to physical intimacy, which

had resulted from years of physical and emotional abuse while growing up. He

explained: "I very likely would have died a virgin if I hadn't somehow

gotten comfortable with physical intimacy, and sex workers enabled me to do

that. At least for me, it's been a healing experience."

Consider this: in some ways

alleviating the sexual need that we all have could be a form of therapy with a

paid professional.  It's perfectly legal

to meet with a psychologist to discuss sexual concerns, but it is not legal, in

most places, to meet with a prostitute to work out that tension on your own... if

you pay for it.  Through prostitution,

someone may be able to meet a need that would otherwise be unfulfilled, which

could result in more violent criminal behavior, like sexual assault (aka

"rape).  In other words, I believe that

the sexual drive becomes so strong at times, that some people are unable to

control it and will obtain that release they desire, even against the will of

the other participant.  This behavior

should not be condoned and must remain illegal, but consensual sex between adults,

even for money, hurts no one but the "moral police".

What about Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STDs)?

Many who oppose the

legalization of prostitution argue that STDs would spread and that some

unsuspecting person may contract a STD if prostitution were legal.  However, it is my contention that just like

alcohol sales, which are regulated as to time, place, and quantity in some

instances, that if prostitution were legalized, and monitored by the

government, much like in some European cities, the government could require

registration and testing for the prostitutes. 

Granted, this would be more governmental oversight, and while I am not a

fan of "Big Brother", I think this would be far less intrusive and more logical

than the  current system in place with

criminalizing two already legal behaviors: sex and sales. 

Consider this: the

government could collect a registration fee from anyone seeking a license for

prostitution, it could require testing every six months or whatever period of

time was prescribed, and it could contain the behavior to registered

facilities.  All in all, it appears that

the government would benefit by having an increase in its revenue stream, and

the public would benefit because they who choose to participate in sexual

encounters with prostitutes would be better protected by the registration and

testing.  Communities would benefit by

the containment to a given area.  And

under this system, criminalization would occur for those not following the system

put in place.

Legalization puts

law-enforcement resources to better uses   

Numerous legal commentators

point out that using law enforcement resources against prostitution

substantially diminishes the resources available to fight other crimes

committed against persons or property. This nation desperately needs more

efforts applied to solving those crimes, because arrests are being made in

connection with only about 20% of them. 

And, if you look around to your local law enforcement agencies across

the United States,

most of them are desperate to find new recruits to fill in the already thinned

lines of officers.  By removing officers

assigned to "sting operations" and special divisions like "Street Response

Teams" more officers could be available to answer calls or follow-up on more

serious reports currently on file.

While I do not have

statistics to support this, though I am confident they exist, I believe that the

damage inflicted on society by corporate crime and white-collar crime far

exceeds the harm caused by all the street crime combined. Just ask the victims

of the Enron and WorldCom scandals - many of whom lost their life savings....

As for white-collar crime,

the police undoubtedly know that their jobs and careers are safer by making

prostitution arrests than by investigating criminals who cause serious harm but

either wield political power or have strong connections to those who do. And

when the corruption involves others in the police force, the notorious

"Blue Wall of Silence" leads all too many officers to ignore and

protect the wrong-doing of badge-wearing criminals too.  

Conclusion 

Our society would be better

served if the police directed their efforts away from the activities of

consenting adults and toward preventing and solving real crimes involving clear

victims and injustices.