From Brad Plumer’s blog
The moral questions surrounding prostitution are thorny (is it ever freely chosen? is it always coercive?), so let’s set that aside and just note that criminalization creates a host of practical problems—and usually makes the sex trade more dangerous. One recent study by Steven Levitt and Sudhir Venkatesh found that many police officers rape prostitutes on a fairly regular basis, holding the threat of arrest over their heads (as do gang members offering “protection”). And, in the underground market, condoms are used only 20 percent of the time, versus the near-100 percent rate you see in legal-but-regulated Nevada brothels.
I am for legalisation, regulation and provide coerced sex workers social help.
Prostitution is illegal here in Taiwan too.
UPDATE:
Found these opeds through New York Times, insightful reads.
AS a former sex worker, I’m puzzled by what is reported to be Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s preference for the riskiest form of indoor prostitution I have ever experienced. Escort agencies are constantly being investigated, infiltrated and spied on… …someone like the governor would shop for sex through an Internet escort service is mind-boggling.
another oped arguing that prostitutes are victims even if they consent to renting their organ.
… most women in prostitution, including those working for escort services, have been sexually abused as children, studies show. Incest sets young women up for prostitution — by letting them know what they’re worth and what’s expected of them. Other forces that channel women into escort prostitution are economic hardship and racism.
and about the legality of prostitution speculation on whether Spitzer was selectively prosecuted.
When society has effectively legalized something that is still theoretically illegal, there is always the possibility of selective prosecution—targeting individuals who are in disfavor with someone in government. Selective prosecution is tyranny, and the possibility of selective prosecution is a powerful argument for legalization of the behavior that the society has chosen to condone.
Echo