Prostitution the Decriminalization of Acts

Prostitution The Decriminalization of Acts Relating to Prostitution in Canada The history of prostitution is bound in a great many contradictions. Though many societies have held this practice as illegal, they have done so while striding a hazy line of regulatory uncertainty. This conflict of practical and moral concerns is evident in the current legal debate occupying the Canadian government. Indeed, Canada is one such example of a nation whose government must not work to resolve the inconsistency of its prostitution laws.

So denotes the article by Melnick (2010) which tells that in a recent landmark decision on the subject, Superior Court Justice Susan Himel proclaimed as unconstitutional laws that make sex work negotiation and operation in a brothel illegal. Though prostitution has always been legal in Canada, these restrictions have been used as technicalities to ensnare sex workers for the practice of their profession. According to Melnick, the focus of the prostitution issue has shifting in recent years though, highlighted by the disturbing murder spree of British Columbia pig-farmer Robert Pickton.

Though convicted of killing six prostitutes, he has claimed and is believe to have murdered 49 prostitutes over the course of several years without detection. To Himel, this would highlight the terrible social cost levied by the nature of Canada's prostitution laws. Namely, the Superior Court Justice described prostitution merely as a 'social nuisance' and considered its prevention a far less necessary goal than the protection of sex workers from such dangers as that revealed by the Pickton case.

The Justice went on to argue that the Pickton murders were a consequence of Canadian laws requiring prostitutes to conduct their business in secrecy and, particularly, in obscurity from law enforcement. This secrecy and obscurity would allow Pickton to carry out his gruesome crime largely without raising the attention of Vancouver police. The decision by Himel and the approach now taken toward prostitution by the Canadian government demonstrates a clear transition in our way of thinking on the subject of prostitution over the years.

Where a recent history of moral hygienic emphasis has dominated the discussion on prostitution and the law, evolving understanding of public health issues is today producing a more realistic approach to the sex profession. Accordingly, "supporters of Himel's decision point to a wealth of data demonstrating that regulating the sex industry improves the health and well-being of its workers.

Barbara Brents and Crystal Jackson, both sociologists from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and co-authors of The State of Sex: Tourism, Sex and Sin in the New American Heartland, have studied the legal prostitution trade in their city, and enumerated the ways in which it is safer for workers than in places where the industry remains illegal." (p. 1) The article denotes that the measure has naturally raised the fury of many conservative opponents in the Canadian government and society.

Extensive debate is now underway, with studies citing the various dangers, vices and psychological realities of sex work as the cause for legal regulation. Himel has incited a great degree of.