Sex between consenting adults is legal and morally okay right? That statement is true until it comes to prostitution, or the exchange of payment for sex. Prostitution has been around in some form since practically the beginning of time. Lawmakers have declared prostitution illegal in the United States, forcing the industry underground, providing a safe haven for violent pimps and harsh, unsafe illegal brothels to operate. Criminalizing prostitution has only succeeded in making the industry a violent place for sex workers to operate. in fact, a prostitute is 27x more likely to be murdered than a non-sex worker. Prostitution should be legalized to provide a safe and regulated work environment for these workers. Critics against prostitution …show more content…
They say it can still be controlled by pimps and violent men and women. This is not the case, however. Margo MacDonald states that, “when it’s driven underground, criminality, the trafficking of women and drugs are under much less scrutiny by the police,” (MacDonald pg. 5). Prostitution is an underground industry with no rules or regulations and essentially no protection for workers, even from the police. If the industry is regulated, professionals and businessmen and women would operate brothels and escort services in a safe and fair way instead of violent, controlling pimps in extremely unsafe work conditions. It would also be easier for foul play to be detected because brothels would be operated in the open and under scrutiny from the health department and the police. In countries where prostitution has been legalized or decriminalized, violence was more likely to be reported, the amount of sex workers decreased, and HIV infections in the industry decreased (Breiner pg. 2). Sex-workers would be provided a safe and healthy work environment. Prostitution would work as a legitimate business closely regulated by police and health departments instead of being unregulated and controlled by pimps enforcing the industry with drugs, threats, and