Prostitution should be legalized in the US

Thanks to FT for taking this. I look forward to an interesting and good debate. A way this can work would be similar to how it works in other places and in Nevada. There would be legal brothels that are opened. This would run the same as any other normal business, meaning the federal government would regulate it. This includes and is not limited to taxes, paying the prostitutes, and making sure their is proper medical care and pay for the prostitutes that working their.C1) Regulation The issue with not regulating something is that you risk the activity still occurring whether or not you regulate it. Meaning even with prostitution being illegal, prostitution is still going to occur. It is estimated that between 84,000 - 150,000 women work as prostitutes yearly in the US[1]. Just in 2007 alone there was nearly 78,000 arrests due to prostitution, and this number is considered conservative because most people are not caught[1]. A primary thing to be aware of is that this occurs with anything that is banned and not regulated properly. Look at marijuana in the US. It is still illegal in quite a few places, but the underground market for it is insanely high. If people can find a way to make money illegally and without paying taxes they are going to do it. Regulating prostitution does quite a few things. It stops violence, keeps prostitutes healthy, and allows us to tax it. A) SafetyPeople that often get into prostitution do it because they have no other choice. Meaning they are not educated well enough to get a job that pays enough to sustain them, or they want to do it and don't know what they are getting into. This sadly includes people who were raped, abused, or beaten as children[2]. Once women enter into this job they submit to their pimp. Their pimp pays them, he loans them out, and he basically abuses them. The issue with not regulating prostitution and allowing it to happen that way is it subjects women to all types of abuse and psychical harm. Most prostitutes in the industry tend to get raped in their lifetime[3]. Even more tend to get assaulted or physically abused [3]. Opening up brothels for women that want to be prostitutes allows them to engage in prostitution but engage in it in a safe and controlled manner. With the brothels being regulated like a regular business there is no chance of rape or physical abuse occurring . My adversary may say that prostitution will still occur under the radar which is true, but what regulating does is mitigate that down to a minuscule amount. If a women has the choice to go to a business and get paid like a normal job vs going to pimp, there is a very high chance they are going to go the brothel instead. It gives them guaranteed money by federal law, it gives them medical care, and it reduces the chance of harm to them in comparison to working underground. Experts actually estimate that if prostitution was legalized in the US , rape would decrease by nearly 25 percent in the us alone which is nearly 25,000 rapes per year[5][6]. Not just that but a study in Queensland shows that when brothels were closed and shut down, rapes increased nearly 150% percent[5][6]. This shows a direct correlation between rapes and non regulation of prostitution. B) Medical and STDSNot regulating prostitution also opens up a whole new type of problem. The women tend to get diseases because of lack of medical care. A pimp is not going to care if they have condoms or go to a doctor for check ups. Regulating the Industry allows the government to make sure they are taken care of as business owners would be required to make sure their medical needs are met. Prostitution is legal in Nevada and it is regulated so well that ironically Porn Stars have a higher STD rate that prostitutes[4]. Most studies show that women who had sex with men and worked as prostitutes report sad statistics. 47 % of women expected to have sex without a condom all the time, 73% reported that men offered to pay additional money if they had sex without a condom, and over 40% reported that they were abused when they mentioned using a condom at all[7]. Upon Inadvertently decriminalizing indoor prostitution in Rhode Island from 2003 to 2009, the state saw a giant decrease in rape and STDS[8]C) CostsThis is a huge impact because you gain the benefit of taxation of the industry and cutting the incarceration rate for those that participate in the industry. Nearly 200 million dollars a year is spent on incarceration rates alone [9]. Per arrest on someone soliciting sex, it generally cost around $2,000 for each individual arrest. You up this to a larger national scale, you are looking at nearly 200 million dollars a year alone we spend in arresting prostitutes. That 200 million could be invested back into proper regulation, thus reducing the harm, and used for other programs. It is far to much to spend on arresting prostitutes, while keeping it illegal to begin with causes a net harm. We are basically paying 200 million dollars to maintain a ban that is a net detriment to society. Taxation is another major impact. We would gain nearly 20 billion dollars a year by regulating prostitution annually[11]. Prostitution itself is somewhere along a 16-20 billion dollar industry as is [12]. If we regulate it an estimated influx would occur and you would earn nearly 20 billion dollars of taxation alone, and this is just off the estimated influx alone. This number could easily jump to 30 or 40 billion dollars. C2) ConsentThis is a basic argument in itself but 2 consenting adults having sex is just that two consenting adults having sex. The reasons they are having sex is a non factor. In almost any case prostitution acts just like any other job. You do a certain task for money. Prostitution is no different. You are performing an act in which both parties are consenting for that has no negative effects and which is perfectly legal in every other regard, in exchange for payment. Sex is perfectly legal, so performing sexy for money should be allowed as any other task that you do for money as long as it is taxed and regulated. OverviewLegalizing prostitution will(1) Reduce crime(2) Reduce rapes(3) Reduce Stds(4) allow us to tax it(5) cut unnecessary spending(6) Uphold common consent. Sources[1] http://tinyurl.com...[2] http://tinyurl.com...[3] http://tinyurl.com...[4] http://tinyurl.com...[5] http://tinyurl.com...[6] http://tinyurl.com...[7] http://tinyurl.com...[8] http://tinyurl.com...[9]http://tinyurl.com...[10] http://tinyurl.com...[11] http://tinyurl.com...[12] http://tinyurl.com...