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

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