Prostitution should be legalized in the United States

Going straight into refutations.It is going to happen away.The argument my adversary brings up for this is kind of off track. Using murder as a comparison to prostitution is not logical. If anything it would be similar to a marijuana stance. If people are going to sell it and you can make money and regulate it, then it is more beneficial to legalize it than allow it to happen illegally. This argument follows the same principles. Prostitution can and will happen, but there are a few notable things about it. (a) It is consensual(b) it can be regulated (c) it does not harm third parties directlyComparing it to murder is a logical fallacy. Murder directly and negatively effects third parties. It results it death so this is quite obvious. The entire rebuttal my adversary brought up here falls apart when we compare them logically. He then says it is not the US governments job to go out of their way to make the lives of prostitutes easier. This is kind of sad in some ways, especially the misconception that he has about prostitution. He even compares this to an office job. There are a lot of prostitutes that do no want to be prostitutes. They are stuck there because of financial reasons and the inability to make money in other ways. They could have criminal records or because of how the economy is, may not be able to find a job. Some of these women will do anything to make sure there family is taken care of, regardless of what happens to them. So when they actually go into the business a good many of them actually have no idea what they are getting into. You can see from my prior round that leaving a pimp is not always easy. In some cases they will try to kill the women if they leave, or even go as far as physically abusing or mentally harassing them. In some ways they are a prisoner to this life style [1] . By the US government legalized and regulating it , it can help stop violence, murder, and even help some of these women escape a life they may not want any more. It also gives a more safe alternative for women whom actually want to stay in the business. Rape It could possibly happen if it were legalized, but my adversary completely drops the amounts of rapes that occur because of it not being legal and the amount of rapes legalizing it will prevent. As we can see from my last round legalizing prostitution will reduce the rape rate by 25 percent in the United States alone, which is a drastic 25,000 fewer rapes per year. [2]. This is a perfectly good reason for legalization. While it may happen if it were legalized, it would not happen near as much as if it remains illegal. By near as much I mean 25 percent less. If you really consider it that is a monumental number. That is 1/4 of the amount of rapes that occur in the united states alone. If we can decrease the amount of rapes that occur yearly by 1/4 that is an a pretty solid reason to legalize it, even from a moral perspective. MurderMy adversary calls me out on my wording but just skips the point I presented. Obviously the pimps and clients are murdering the prostitutes. This is part of the contention. I just think he was lost as to how to actually refute this and tried to throw out a red herring to get rid of the contention. This is the same issue as above. By regulation and legalizing prostitution it also decreases the number of murders that occur on a yearly basis in the United States. Those murder rates you see can be prevented with proper regulation. They are occurring because they happen under the table. With legalization comes regulation, which is a business and which can be monitored and tracked. This will prevent deaths due to it happening in the light and not in back alleys and hotel rooms with no real way of monitoring anything. It is shown murder rates will decrease along with rape rapes if it is legalized [3]. Countries see a drastic decrease in violence and rapes once prostitution was legalized. Again instead of addressing the contention properly, he just says no source. This did not even touch the contention that I brought up and this stands untouched. If he wants some sources, I will toss up a few. Granted this is almost common knowledge and does not need citing. [4] We also can do this logically. The nether lands legalized prostitution in 2000(using wiki as a source for this because it is a fact, does not really need citing but just to prove a point [5]) Now before 2000 when it was legalized the murder rate in the nether lands was a high as 1.70 on a 100,000 scale. From the time of it being legalized in 2000 it started to decline to to 1.46 down to under a 1 in the past few years. In this case correlation does equal causation. We see similar results when we look at Nevada and other countries. We have very similar results. Expanding prostitution would open up more cases of rapeNot if it is regulated. I have no idea where con pulled this argument from but every one my sources shows otherwise. Porn stars and prostitutesThis was to show a correlation of hivs and diseases that prostitutes had prior to legalization and after they legalized it. The number went down. The prostitution industry is so heavily regulated that they have less HIV rates that porn stars , at least in Nevada. It can be regulatedIf we can regulate weed, alcohol, porn, and cigarettes I promise we can regulate prostitution. Other nations don't even have the tools we have for regulation and they still manage it and see lower rates of violence. Con just says it can't be regulated and provides no evidence or logical thought process to support this. This almost was untouched due to a lack of response. CostsThey are given both fines and minor jail time[7]. So lets assume con is right and everyone is given a fine and no jail time(not true, you will see this in a second). Say 200 for a round number because it is between 100-300 dollars. Still assuming we are spending 10,000 for the costs of arrests and papers and this is not even considering half the cases that could go to court as a result of other factors. 80,000 * 10,000 = 800,000,000 + 80,000(fines) = 800,080,000 just in arrests costs and fines alone. Add in the fact a lot of these cases will see court time we are still talking 1 - 2 billion extra that could be avoided entirely. MoralityMorality should not even be an issue in this discussion. It is about consent and what should be allowed. That is the equivalent to saying gay people can not marry because it is "immoral". Immoral is a concept that is defined differently for everyone and should not play a factor in what is legalized in this country. Secondary Harm and third partiesIt does not directly effect secondary individuals or third parties. Alcohol you have drunk driving, cigarettes you have second hand smoke, weed can be the same thing as cigarettes. All these things have factors that can harm someone directly. Prostitution does not have any of that. Everything you mentioned is a branch of what could possibly happen, and none of it is cited nor proven. This is con speculating about the possibility of it. Decrease in murder rateThis is not really even a rebuttal on his part. If you want to see this more in depth about how and why women are trapped in this industry and how legalizing it will prevent 25 percent of rapes that occur in the US on a yearly basis, read the prior contentions and rebuttals. Jails and PrisonsProstitutes do get jail time, and as you mentioned fines. While it may not bear the entire 80,000 that are caught a good many do go to jail/prison. Texas spent around 6.5 million dealing with ones that are in jail [8]. And it is not just texas" According to Illinois Department of Corrections records, there were 127 prostitution admissions in 2012, costing $2 million. End Demand Illinois, an advocacy group against sex traffickers, estimates that holding an individual facing felony prostitution charges costs Cook County $5.3 to $9.5 million every year. Illinois has one of the harshest prostitution policies in the nation; only 7 other states still charge prostitution as a felony, and Illinois is the only state to allow felony prosecution after one offense." [9]ConclusionI have refuted almost all of my adversaries contentions. Prostitution is an industry that can be regulated, taxed , and monitored. With legalizing it comes a great many benefits as well. It can reduce crime, rapes, and sexual violence in large numbers. It can help prevent STDS and HIVS, and give women whom are stuck in this industry a way out if they so chose. It also can produce a high amount of revenue. Legalizing it not only helps and gives women whom are stuck in a bad life a chance to either get out, or have a chance to treated better in their trade it also prevents deaths , rapes, and also frees up money that is being used without need.I would like to thank Con for a great Debate. This debate got a lot of hype and it was a pleasure to debate dabench. [1] http://digitalcommons.liberty.edu...[2] http://www.independent.org...[3] http://www.independent.org...[4] http://prostitution.procon.org...[5] http://en.wikipedia.org...[6] http://www.nationmaster.com...[7] http://sex-crimes.laws.com...[8] http://www.theagitator.com...