Criminal Justice: Prostitution in the United States

Prostitution is a very controversial issue within the United States of America these days. Although there is minimal coverage about prostitution compared to, lets say, illegal immigration, it is still a problem. Most states have made prostitution illegal within their state boundaries. The only two states that allow prostitution, according to CourtTV, are Rhode Island and Nevada. All other states have some sort of law prohibiting prostitution. Since there is at least one state that has prostitution legalized, it, in my mind, becomes a state government issue since states have the power to legalize prostitution in some sort of manner.

But what makes prostitution so bad that its practice must be prohibited? In the next paragraph I am going to explain some of the reasons why prostitution should be allowed. In the paragraph following that I will explain reasons as to why prostitution should stay prohibited. In order to understand any controversial topic one must look at both of the fighting sides and be enlightened to both sides logic in the matter.

One of the main reasons that prostitution is controversial is because people believe that it's prohibition conflicts with our freedom as American citizens. In a country with so much freedom we should be able to do what we want with our anatomical bodies, as it is, our free will the government is dealing with. Also, prostitution is generally harmless to anyone else aside from the people engaging in the sexual conduct. Unlike some other misdemeanor crimes such as possession of drugs, assault, and even petit larceny, someone is essentially being hurt in the process of the crime. What I mean by this is that there is an immediate victim, and that someone has had their freedom abused by another person when they engaged in some sort of criminal activity. Prostitution does not do this since all of the activity is done with consent of the individuals engaging in the sexual conduct. Another reason people use is that prostitution leads to financial gain. Some people who have bad records or aren't exactly 'smart enough' cannot usually function in society by getting a regular job (ex: teacher, doctor, police officer, ect.), so they stoop to this level to insure that they have some sort of method of gaining money.

But as there are reasons to allow something, there are reasons to prohibit it as well. The top reason I can think of to prohibit prostitution is that is can easily spread diseases such as HIV, AIDs, and many other contractible sexually transmitted diseases when engaging in sexual conduct with a prostitute. Since prostitutes have a large volume of "customers", diseases can easily spread, especially due to the fact that not everyone is exactly "safe" when it comes to their conduct. Another reason as to why prostitution should be prohibited still is because, to some, it's very immoral. Some people believe that prostitutes are the bottom of the bucket, and these same people will occasionally correlate prostitutes with lack of morals. Many religious groups are against the idea of prostitution as a whole, and claim that prostitution is "sinful" in many different ways. The last reason to keep prostitution heavily prohibited is that there's a danger factor involved with being a prostitute. Unlike a secretary, or some sort of desk job, a prostitute goes to vacant places with their "customer", whom is essentially a stranger that they have never even been in contact with before, and engages in the sexual conduct. Many times prostitutes work at night since there's a large nightlife in some areas, and business can be accessed easier. In strangers car the prostitute can easily be raped, assaulted, and even murdered. There has been numerous cases where prostitutes have been found dead in random places through the United States. I can even recall of watching a documentary where the body of a prostitute was found laying on a curb across the street from an elementary school with her eyes gouged out. The woman was obviously dead, and the man killed even more women as he went on his horrific rampage. Prostitutes are people too, with actual lives, and actual families. The sanctity of life, despite your job, religion, skin color, race, and so on, should always be upheld. Life is not something that can be re-acquired once it is finally lost. The danger that these prostitutes put themselves in is immense altogether.

Since prostitution is practically a state-manner, I believe that there's a way to help resolve the problem where prostitution is legalized. Personally, I believe that it should be legalized within all of the United States. This way we can setup some sort of structure where prostitutes can engage in their conduct. This structure (think of it like the presented hiring halls) would have security measures, as well as sanitary and medicinal measures to help stop spread sexually transmitted diseases, and to make sure that no one has their natural born rights infringed upon by being hit or hurt in some way. That's the easiest solution that I can come up with at this time.

Overall, prostitution is definitely dangerous, and it sure is an issue that needs to be discussed and resolved sometime soon. Prostitution in general is inevitable to happen. If we were to increase the punishment associated with prostitution then we would be putting people away for trying to make some sort of living. Maybe if the government offered extra help and assistance in fiscally helping these families get on the right track, there will be less trouble in this area of the law. But the most important thing that we all must remember is that prostitutes are people too. They have rights, families, and freedom like any normal person.