Legalizing prostitution in the United States: arguments for decriminalization

¶ … legalization of prostitution within the United States, America would actually be better served by legalizing prostitution. This is due to three reasons: first, prostitution will continue to exist, legal or not; second, criminalizing prostitution compromises the health of prostitutes, their customers, and others by not enabling prostitutes to have regular health checks, and third, keeping prostitution illegal, as it does now, does not improve, but instead actually decreases, the social health of the United States in terms of crime rate, suicide rates, divorce rates, and other indicators of national social well-being.

Prostitution is illegal in the United States, with the acception of a few places in the Nevada (Armento, 1993; Rationale Behind the Legalization of Prostitution, 2004). Rather or not prostitution become legal throughout United States, it is in many other countries, including Israel (Liberator, 2003) and the Netherlands (Otchet, 1998), has been an issue of ongoing debate in America. CATAW (2001) and Raymond (2003) argues that legalizing prostitution would encourage and promote sex trafficking and the sex industry overall, increase child prostitution, and fail to protect women's health. Carlson (2000) Killingsworth (2002), Liberator (2003), and Rationale Behind the Legalization of Prostitution (2004) say keeping prostitution illegal will neither decrease the practice, protect women, decrease crime, or improve social conditions of our socity. It is my own opin that the benefits of legal rostitution outwaigh disadvantages. three reasons: (1) prostitution has not been stopped, and will not be stopped, by criminalizing it; (2) the health of prostitutes and those they serve is at greater risk currently than it would be if prostitution were to become legal; and (3) social conditions within the United States would actually improve if prostitution were to become legal.

Criminalizing Prostitution Will Not Stop it

Prostitution is now illegal in America, but still "There are currently over one million prostitutes in the United States making a full-time income off their services" (Rationale Behind the Legalization of Prostitution (2004) p. 2). Because prostitution is illegal does not end it simply drives underground. Further, as Carlson (2000) suggests: "Illegality has not ended the... problem. No amount of enforcement can do so entirely. Its very illicitness adds a certain spice" (p. 1). One only recall the effects of prohibition in the United States in the 1920's, or the frequency and numbers of illegal abortions performed throughout the United States before Roe vs. Wade legalized abortion to relize that criminalizing prostitution does not in fact put a stop to it, and may even serve (under Carlson's theory) to increase the practice and entice people to try it. Raymond (2003) suggests prostitution bad for women's self-esteem and overall health, but Rationale Behind the legalization of Prostitution (2004) counters that "Call girls that have been surveyed reported that their self-esteem is higher now than it was before they became prostitutes. An astonishing 97% of these women assert themselves more. Prostitution serves as a niche for those whom were unable to find their place in any other place"(p. 2). Therefore, I belive prostitution is here to stay, and that keeping it underground instead of leagalizing it will only entice it, and lead to further health problems and other dangers for the women and customers.

Keeping prostitution Illegal Does Not Help Social Condition

Raymond (2003) and CATAW (2001) suggest that prostitution is bad for social conditions, but prostitution in and of itself, I feel, does not necessarily decrease social condition. Instead, I agree with Liberator (2003) that there is no proven connection between low crime rate and illegal prostitution. In fact, the opposite seems to be the case. According to Liberator, "The countries where prostitution is legal do not suffer from a high number of violent crimes. It appears legalized prostitution does not make societies more of a crime hazard" (p. 11).

Also, according to Liberator (2003) countries like Denmark, with leagalized prostitution, who spend more on education, healthcare, and other necessities for each citizen, have lower suicide rates and lower divorce rates. The United States, with prostitution illegal, has higher crime rates, suicide rates, and divorce rates than countries like the Netherlands, Denmark, or Canada. "If we compare divorce rates between countries, we will understand the success of institutional monogamy under different social conditions. The United States is second highest, with eight times the divorces as Mexico, twice as many as Canada, and 55% more than Denmark. It is clear that the U.S. has a high turnover rate. Meanwhile, most countries with legal prostitution have less of a problem with institutional monogamy" (p. 13). It appears, then, that keeping prostitution illegal within the United States does not help the overall social health of our nation in terms of divorce, suicide, or crime rate. Criminalizing prostitution, then, seems not only to actually increase the crime rate in America and make many Americans physically unhealthier due to visiting prostitutes with undetected and untreated STD's, but may even increase the levels of social guilt and psychological unhappiness among Americans who visit prostitutes, as well as among the prostitutes themselves.

Conclusion have argued that despite prostitution currently being illegal in most parts of America, legalizing prostitution would be of more benefit than harm to the people of the United States. This is because (1) keeping prostitution illegal does not stop prostitution, but just drives it underground; (2) the physical of health of prostitutes could be better monitored if prostitution were legal, making it easier to detect and cure Sexually Tansmitted Diseases (STDs) in prostitutes, and keep prostitutes from spreading these diseases to clients and others, and (3) keeping prostitution illegal, as it is now, does not improve the social health of America, as some who oppose legalization would argue it does, in terms of crime rate, suicide rates, divorce rates, and overall happiness. Prostitution may come with a social stigma, but legalizing and regulating it could only benefit prostitutes, their clients, and others, since, like it or not, prostitution in America is here to stay.