Prostitution should be legalized in the United States

Per the rules I am going to start with my contentions and then offer rebuttals in the next round. It is going to happen anywayI am going to tie this point into a later contention, but the thing I want to note is that even if it remains illegal it will not stop. There are an estimated 1-2 million prostitutes in the United States alone right now [1]. This means prostitution is occurring at a rapid rate and will continue to happen regardless of whether it remains illegal. (a) They won't just quitStudies show that an estimated 75-95 percent of prostitutes were abused as children, and they are afraid to leave because of what their pimp would do to them [2]. For many women this is the only life they know, and some enjoy it and some hate it. Regardless they have it in their head this is the best way for them to support their family and they are going to keep doing it. Things that happen due to non regulationNow that we know it is going to happen whether or not it is illegal, I want to take a look at some of the effects from prostitution in the current system. Women that are under pimps almost always suffer physical abuse, mental abuse, and money manipulation [2]. Meaning they have to do their job or they are often beaten, and even once they complete the act they receive only a portion of the money that is earned. They are intimidated and are stuck in a endless cycle. In addition to this almost 80 percent of prostitutes are raped[2]. Once a woman agrees to the act of sex and there are terms set out, a man can still rape her against her will. This happens commonly in the industry, and they are often forced to do acts they do not wish too. 204 out of 100,000 prostitutes are murdered in this business due to lack of regulation. This is 20 times over the national average when you compare it to other countries that have regulated the practice[3]. 6-8 percent of prostitutes also contract STDS and other HIVS due to lack of regulation , this is almost 1.5 the national average as well [3]. In addition to this the industry spits out an amazing 58 billion dollars yearly and this is without regulation and proper procedures. This is only an estimate with money often going under the table or not being recorded [3]. Regulating ProstitutionThere are a huge number of benefits from this and it is most certainly the answer that we need to look at. It is estimated that if prostitution were legalized in the United States it would decrease the rapes in the united states by 25% percent alone or roughly decrease it by 25,000 rapes per year [4]. When we compare this to other countries that have legalized prostitution we see similar results. Most of those countries if not almost all of them have saw a drastic decrease in sexual violence and rapes once prostitution was legalized[4]It is also proven that regulation of prostitution will help prevent murder rates and sexual acts of violence as I already mentioned with the murder rate dropping from nearly to 20% of people in the business to under 10. We can tell this by subsequent places whom have legalized it seeing similar results. The irony of this is how heavy this can be regulated. This was legalized in parts of Nevada and since then the STD rate among prostitutes have dropped dramatically. Porn stars have more STDS than Nevada prostitutes now [6]. Since prostitution was legalized in Nevada we have seen a drastic decrease in violence, rape, and diseases in the prostitution industry [7][8]. So saying it can not be regulated is a drastic misconception. It can and has been regulated in both Nevada and 22 other countries all throughout all the world. All of which have shown decreases in acts of violence, murders, and disease after they legalized it. CostsIn America 80,000 citizens are arrested a year for solicitation of sex[5 ]. I am going to break this down simply but this is a pretty fair estimate. The cost on incarcerating someone is estimated around 28,000 per year. The cost of arrest runs around 10,000 per person(this is just on a marijuana charge which is far cheaper than most arrests, the price would actually be higher [9]). The cost of a trial is roughly 42,000 per hour so let us assume this will be a short case and round it up to 128,000 per case due to a 3 hour trial [10] .Now lets do some mathIf there are 80,000 citizens arrested yearly for selling sex, and we were just to put them in jail for one year1 person X 28,000 = 28,00028,000(incarceration yearly) + 10,000(cost of arrest) +128,000(short trial ) = 166,000 dollars per person. ( Even if you were to knock off the 28,000 dollars and say a few months or weeks instead of a year this is still running over 100k per person)Now take166,000(per person) x 80,000( that are arrested yearly) = 13,280,000,000Take that in 13 billion and 280 million dollars is the price to properly enforce prostitution crime in the United States, and this is assuming a 3 hour trial. ConsentThis is a basic argument but again one of the key factors in this argument. "Prostitution is perhaps the ultimate victimless crime: a consensual transaction in which both parties are supposedly committing a crime, and the person most likely to be charged—the one selling sex—is also the one most likely to be viewed as the victim" [11] says Cathy YoungSomething we have to acknowledge is that selling sex is a consensual act among two adults that remains between those two adults. It is almost no different than buying your girlfriend dinner and expecting or having a pre agreed conversation about having sex after. It is sex in exchange for a gift or money. It is consensual among two adults and we are calling it a crimeI mean we have legalized cigarettes and alcohol, both of which have more direct effects on secondary individuals than prostitution ever will. Meaning those two things actually harm individuals and we consider it fine. Second hand smoke and drunk driving kill about as many people as pre mediated homicides on a yearly basis. Prostitution hardly has no impact with physical harm toward a secondary person, and is an adult decision between two adults to have sex for payment. I have no idea how this is even a crime to begin with, because in minor ways we all have accidentally did something similar to this. Ever asked your girlfriend" Hey if i buy you this can we have sex afterwards"Guess what you just did? Don't sit there and think to yourself gross, I have friends that do this almost on a day to day basis and it is the same freaking concept. Yet when people want to make it a business we spend 13 billion dollars a year arresting them instead of regulating it. ConclusionLegalizing prostitution has been shown to decrease rates in murder , rape, and diseases by a substantial margin. It is a consenting act between two adults and with proper regulation can bring 58 billion dollars yearly to the table, opposed to spending 13 billion trying to arrests people that are never going to stop doing it. I mean ask yourself how is having sex for something a crime? We are filling our jails and spending money on people that do not need to be there. By legalizing this we cut costs of incarceration, and have a new industry to pull money from. In addition to this it is a necessity for womens health. It gets women whom have been trapped under pimps into a system into which they can receive proper treatment. It gives them a way to go to doctors, gives them hope that they will not be abused, and also helps cut down murders because of this occurring in back-alleys and off the radarLegalizing this is almost a necessity, it has a great number of benefits. We can see this from Nevada and the other 22 countires that have did this prior to us and all have had amazing results. [1] http://prostitution.procon.org...[2] http://www.womenslaw.org...[3] http://sex-crimes.laws.com...[4] http://findingjustice.org...[5] http://www.independent.org...[6] http://www.huffingtonpost.com...[7] http://www.kuro5hin.org...[8] http://prostitution.procon.org...[9] http://norml.org...[10] http://www.ohiojpc.org...[11] http://prostitution.procon.org...