Prostitution - What if it is decriminalized?
- Author Dax Garvin
- Published September 14, 2008
- Word count 1,832
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.
Dax Garvin, Attorney and Counselor At law is an experienced Austin DWI Attorney, Austin criminal attorney, and a compassionate Austin divorce attorney.
I am a prosecutors worst nightmare, a former cop, a former prosocutor and now a defense attorney I know every side of the story.
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