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The Pros And Cons Of Prostitution

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Prakash (2013) claims that prostitution is the oldest occupation in the world. It occurs when an individual assumes material or monetary compensation in exchange for the performance of sexual acts. This has been observed since the beginning of the formation of relationships between men and women (p. 1). Despite this, selling sex as a profession remains illegal in most places except in Las Vegas, Amsterdam, New Zealand, Austria, and the Netherlands to name a few. On the other hand, the selling of sex has been permitted in some countries like Sweden and Canada but the solicitation of sex is still not allowed by the law. Moreover, prostitution is just like any other occupation in the sense that it has its negative and unwanted sides, but it …show more content…
Approximately 80,000 people are detained annually for the involvement in prostitution and as a result, innocent taxpayers are forced to pay $200 million yearly as well (HG Experts Organization, n.d.). Furthermore, Hakim (as cited in Daubney, 2015) said that criminalizing prostitution is destined to be unsuccessful and the government should criminalize the decision of certain individuals to perform sexual acts for a living because it would be like throwing away the nation’s money (para 3). However, some might claim that legalizing prostitution will not significantly reduce crime rates. About 1,646,212 people are arrested for property crimes and 1,552,432 people are arrested for drug abuse violations per year in comparison to the 80,000 people arrested for prostitution (Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2012). There are about twenty times more property and drug abuse crimes than prostitution cases incurred yearly. On the contrary, legalizing prostitution will not only prevent the occurrence of prostitution crimes, but crimes involving rape as well. Men claim that prostitution reduces the likelihood of rape occurring because if it were not for the sex selling industry, the chances of them raping a woman would be higher (Bindel, J., Farley, M., & Golding, J., 2009). According to Joseph (2015), the crime rates for rape are remarkably low in countries like the Philippines, Japan, and Thailand where prostitution as a profession is evident, even if it is illegal. However, prostitution is legal in countries like the Netherlands and Spain and low crime rates for rape are evident here as well (para

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