Term Paper on "Should Prostitution Be Regulated Decriminalized"

Term Paper 6 pages (2143 words) Sources: 4 Style: MLA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Sociology

The Dilemma of Prostitution:

Criminal Conduct or Consensual Act?

Vast resources are expended in the fight against prostitution and other "vices." Politicians and moralists rail against the pernicious effects of these transgressions. Police arrest streetwalkers and launch sting operations against those who use them. Fines are collected and jail time awarded. Public service announcements and outreach programs attempt to change the attitudes of those involved. Still despite decades of assiduous enforcement of anti-prostitution laws, the practice remains as common as ever. While many insist that prostitution must remain illegal, others call for de-criminalization and regulation. Why not recognize the fact that prostitution is not going to go away, and at least protect the health and safety of those involved? Religious and ethical injunctions aside, numerous people have argued that prostitution is a consensual crime - a crime with no real "victims." Prostitutes choose to become prostitutes, and those who employ their services choose to do so. On the other hand, opponents of legalization claim that many individuals are forced into prostitution. Clients contribute to the break-up of families, and their actions disturb the proper framework of society. Prostitution is also, they point out, frequently associated with other more serious crimes such as assault, theft, and murder. Those involved in the trade are often drug users. Trafficking in sex is a gross waste of financial and human resources - the arguments against prostitution are legion. Yet, prostitution is not called "the world's oldest profession" for nothing. Legislators and activists need to look more closely at the realities of a profession that shows no signs of disappearing anytime soon.

Most arguments against legalized prostitution rely on traditional stereotypes of the profession and its practitioners - "The word normally calls to mind women down on their luck, pitied cases who walk the streets at night with little protection or rights -- essentially women who have no other choice."

In this view, the typical prostitute is driven to the streets, or the brothel, solely out of hard necessity, or worse, by compulsion. Prostitution is widely associated with crime in general. Not only are ladies of the evening typically seen as being in the forced employ of pimps or madams, they are also imagined as caught up in wider webs of criminal activity, the knowing or unwitting tools of gangs and organized criminal syndicates that deal in everything from illicit drugs and gambling, to guns, protection rackets, and money laundering. Most disturbing to some is the sheer scale of the trade in forced prostitutes. According to recent figures, approximately 40,000 to 50,000 women and children are smuggled into the United States each year as part of the international sex trade, with international traffickers earning a whopping $9 Billion a year.

Whether they come from abroad or originate within the country, prostitutes are commonly forced to work under appalling conditions. They rarely keep much of the money they earn, the lion's share being turned over to pimps and other "managers." In many cases, girls must pay a fee if they leave one pimp, pay a bounty or finder's fee" to another when they find a new "position," and can be made to turn over large parts of their earnings as penalties for infractions of the unwritten rules of their business.

Stories of outright physical and sexual abuse are too numerous to relate. In short, the largest part of the argument against the legalization or de-criminalization of prostitution rests on the terrible crimes associated with the business, and the outrages perpetrated on its practitioners.

Still, enforcement of the laws against prostitution entails many interesting intellectual contortions. Numerous advocates, and many prostitutes themselves, regard prostitution as just another job, an alternative way for women and other sex workers to make a living.

They do not consider themselves forced into what so many others deem an inherently distasteful, immoral, or abusive profession. People do not need to be defended from the choices they make by themselves and for themselves. A common argument in favor of decriminalization is that prostitution is a crime with no victims. Prostitutes, assuming they have not been forced to ply their trade, work of their own free will. Their clients patronize them of their own free will. Importantly, prostitutes themselves are trying to redefine the business. Many of them strive to "alter the traditional definitions of public sex as a degradation to various interpretations of prostitution as 'sex industry' and the prostitute as 'sex worker,' requiring public recognition and standard worker benefits."

Under such a definition it would be difficult to say that there are any victims of these acts. Opponents generally try to overturn these arguments through a resort to the notion that, on some level, prostitutes themselves are always victims, as are the communities in which they operate. Law enforcement officials believe they are responding to this strain of thought within the public when they enforce generally held ideas of morality. The issue becomes one of whether morality can be imposed on individuals who think differently, and who do not, in any real sense, cause actual harm to others. The kinds of harm pointed to by opponents of legalized or decriminalized prostitution involve relating prostitution's effects to those who are not directly involved in the activity. As one example, a frequent claim is that neighborhoods themselves are opposed to the activity. Streetwalking, in particular, is associated with higher levels of other crimes. Yet, "[the] inability to see gradations of wrong between shooters and people who take sexual liberties and life from someone... On the one hand, and dope dealers, nonviolent mopes... Of the world on the other, is blinding to the exercise of discretion."

The consideration of prostitution as somehow the same as other more violent or invasive crimes is to ignore the fact that prostitution, if removed from these elements, is hardly similar in nature. The john and the hooker need not be upsetting to public peace or morals.

Furthermore, policymakers often find themselves at odds with legal prescription and their own personal attitudes and values. The recent case of New York Governor Eliot Spitzer is illustrative of the difficulties faced by those charged with the enforcement of the laws against prostitution. Governor Spitzer made a name for himself by pursuing organized crime figures, and breaking up criminal syndicates - including prostitution rings. Governor Spitzer; however, was toppled from his position after being exposed as a patron of a high-end escort service. The governor that had gone after the "bad guys" was apparently a "bad guy" himself. Spitzer's situation reveals the conundrum of prostitution's legality and acceptability. Those who oppose the practice will heap scorn upon the patrons of prostitutes and escorts, insisting that - no matter the apparent - circumstances - there is indeed a victim. The New York Times editorialized about the state of mind of the woman who had been Governor Spitzer's escort:

What do we know about the woman Gov. Eliot Spitzer allegedly hired as a prostitute? She was the one person he ignored in his apology. What is she going through now? Is she in danger from organized crime because of what she knows? Is anyone offering her legal counsel or alternatives to prostitution?

The assumption is clear - that no one could possibly choose to be a prostitute. There must exist some underlying nefarious elements, some example of social neglect, familial abuse, or outright compulsion, which drives an individual toward this sort of unacceptable lifestyle. The usual motives of greater earning power, increased control over one's own time, and sheer freedom of personal choice are inoperative in the opinion of such editorialists and their sympathizers. Once more, the idea is that prostitution - or similar anathematized choices - are always negatively motivated. Either that, or they are informed by sheer ignorance of the real ramifications of the decision. As with drug users, gamblers, and others who commit crimes that are frequently labeled "consensual" or "victimless," evidence is often lacking as to the offender's desire to upset the balance of society or to cause wider harm. Governor Spitzer likely did not intend his actions to have any wider consequences than the satisfaction of his own personal desires. The crime that so often comes hand in hand with things like prostitution is not a direct outgrowth of the act itself, but rather a result of that act's being classified as illegal. Mark and activity as illegal, or treat it as if it were virtually so, and the action itself will invite further criminal associations. Prostitution attracts the participation of the criminal underworld because, as an illegal activity, it encourages illegal forms of management and control. It is also likely more expensive as an illegal activity simply because its participants must runt he risk of arrest; therefore, causing them to charge more, and thus inviting the participation of criminals who are attracted by nothing more or less than the opportunity to make huge amounts of money. If indeed prostitution is such a reprehensible condition then the enormous sums… READ MORE

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