The United States Federal Government should legalize prostitution.

Rebuttal #1 Pro states that: "The reality is that prostitution is alive and well in this country, and that it will happen whether or not we do anything about it" By legalizing Prostitution, the rate will just go higher making it easier for this trade to go on. Prostitution may always happen, but it CAN be decreased. You argue 1st off, that police officer's waste "valuable time". What is a job of a police officer anyways? Just to watch these women continue in their path's and watch their lives go down the drain? Not only are they physically abused, but some are murdered. A police officer's job, as defined in the dictionary is: "Responsibilities of a police officer are varied, and may differ greatly from within one political context to another. Typical duties relate to keeping the peace, law enforcement, protection of people and property, making us feel safe and protected and the investigation of crimes." As you can read, their job is to protect citizen's, not pretend to be oblivious to the fact that they're are many women out there who are being abused and used. Rebuttal #2 Pro then states: "The women involved in this system are often so afraid to leave it due to abuse by their pimps that even those who find it untenable cannot leave" and then proved that "crowding our prisons and jails at huge cost through both the trial and incarceration" By saying this, you agree with these women having "pimp's" because that's the main reason as to why they are employed on the street's. Let's define "Pimp" A pimp is a person, usually male, who arranges sexual acts between johns and the person in prostitution.* Although some pimps might "protect" the prostitutes who work for them by making sure that the customers pay, pimps are often more violent to the women than customers are. In fact, 85% of prostitutes are raped by pimps.* Gee, no wonder why they are afraid to leave, but it's not the women's fault! Most of the time the only reason why they go onto the streets is because they are unable to live a substantial life. This goes on to lead my to my 2nd rebuttal, There aren't as many "Pimps" as there are Prostitutes. This proves you point that arresting prostitutes will over crowd prisons. It's the "Pimp's" who employ these women and force them to work. Even if the women want to get out of it, they're unable too because of the fear over what will be done to them. There are less pimps then prostitutes because a pimp usually owns multiple prostitutes. So arresting pimps (the employer) would not over crown these prisons. My next argument: Abuse and Violence. Many people chose to ignore the fact that these prostitutes get abused much more then what we actually think. "Even though prostitution itself is illegal, crimes such as rape, abuse, and murder can still be committed against women in prostitution. Women in prostitution have the right to report crimes committed against them, though many are afraid to come forward because they will be judged and perhaps arrested." This is the main reason as to why we don't hear so much about the kind's of things that go on. If we were to legalize Prostitution it would increase, and would just make it much easier to abuse these women. Legalizing this would mean it's okay for the abuse and violence to go on. But making it illegal, would make it much harder to take advantage of these women. Many prostitutes experience : "physical violence, "sexual assault, "economic abuse or manipulation, "isolation, "verbal abuse, "threats and intimidation, and "minimization and denial of physical violence. Sexual harassment, verbal abuse, stalking, rape, battering and torture are all types of violence that prostituted women regularly experience. "Women in prostitution have a death rate that is 40 times higher than women who are not involved in prostitution." "Sixty-eight percent of prostituted women meet the criteria for post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) in the same range as combat veterans and victims of torture." How could anybody possibly let this continue? So basically legalizing it makes it okay to kill abuse women. Pretty soon the trade will just get even worse because they are allowed to do whatever they want. "The health consequences to women from prostitution are the same injuries and infections suffered by women who are subjected to other forms of violence against women. The physical health consequences include: injury (bruises, broken bones, black eyes, concussions). A 1994 study conducted with 68 women in Minneapolis/St.Paul who had been prostituted for at least six months found that half the women had been physically assaulted by their purchasers, and a third of these experienced purchaser assaults at least several times a year. 23% of those assaulted were beaten severely enough to have suffered broken bones. Two experienced violence so vicious that they were beaten into a coma. Furthermore, 90% of the women in this study had experienced violence in their personal relationships resulting in miscarriage, stabbing, loss of consciousness, and head injuries" How can this possibly get any worse? I mean women are already getting murdered, but worse they have to suffer through the violence because they are afraid to leave, they're is no hope for them. 'The emotional health consequences of prostitution include severe trauma, stress, depression, anxiety, self-medication through alcohol and drug abuse; and eating disorders. Almost all the women in the Minneapolis/St. Paul study categorized themselves as chemically-addicted. Crack cocaine and alcohol were used most frequently. Ultimately, women in prostitution are also at special risk for self-mutilation, suicide and homicide. 46% of the women in the Minneapolis/St. Paul study had attempted suicide, and 19% had tried to harm themselves physically in other ways." Not only is physical abuse, but it's emotional abuse as well. If someone who was NOT involved in prostitution and was just living a normal life in society and they experienced depression, and tried to commit suicide, serious action would be taken. They would be helped and watched out after and receive counseling and medical care. But these women aren't able to. They are forced to continue in this lifestyle with no chance of help unless we arrested there employers, then they would have a chance to leave the trade. Back to Pro! Sources: http://en.wikipedia.org... http://www.womenslaw.org... http://www.uri.edu...