Prostitution as a Crime
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Prostitution is a crime that is often listed with several other criminal offenses under the hading "victimless crimes," meaning such offenses as drunkenness, drug addiction, and gambling. Proponents of laws against these offenses point out that they are not victimless crimes at all, that the families of addicts and drinkers and gamblers suffer, that the prostitute is a victim, and today that prostitution can have a wider effect in such anti-social acts as the spread of the AIDS virus and other sexually transmitted diseases as well as being associated with related criminal activity such as violent street crime, drug abuse, and the blighting of neighborhoods because of criminal activity. Efforts toward decriminalization of prostitution emphasize the social and behavioral causes of prostitution and state that criminalization has done nothing to reduce the activity, while those who believe prostitution should remain a criminal offense point to the devastation it causes to individuals and the community. Today, 49 of the 50 states outlaw prostitution, in contrast to other Western nations such as England, the Netherlands, and Germany. In 1959 the American Law Institute's (ALI) Model Penal Code did not endorse the decriminalization of prostitution, though it did suggest decriminalizing other previously criminal sexual behaviors, such as homosexuality. At the time, the ALI cited several problems with prostitution which prevented it from making a recommendation of legalization, i
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g like marijuana is heavily penalized, while no criminal penalties attend to the user or possessor of small amounts;
5) a medical model would allow for prescription by medical doctors of presently illicit drugs, especially narcotics; and
6) the licensing model, as indicated by the Nevada data for gambling and prostitution, sets out procedural guidelines for the licensing of practitioners in a formerly illegal activity (Skolnick and Dombrink, 1978, 193 208).
Opposition to legalization remains high because of the perception that drug abuse is high among prostitutes and that both activities--drug abuse and prostitution--contribute to the spread of AIDS. Inciardi, Pottieger, Forney, Chitwood, and McBride (1991) note the mounting incidence of HIV infection among adolescents, especially among minorities and inner-city youths engaged in high risk activities such as prostitution and intravenous drug use (Inciardi et al., 1991, 221-235). Kuhns and Heide (1992) note that the literature has documented a positive relationship between prostitution and sexually transmitted diseases. Kuhns and Heide found that prostitutes tended to be more knowledgeable than the general population regarding AIDS, though this did not mean they ceased t
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Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 1670
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page)
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