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| Source:Time Magazine- |
I guess what Cook County, Illinois is doing by arresting johns, that is men who pay prostitutes for sex, is better than arresting both johns and the prostitutes. And getting the prostitutes off the streets and giving them opportunities to improve their lives by getting out of prostitution and staying out of jail. The problem, is you’re still arresting johns. And for what, paying women for doing their job. Which is to give johns a good time and even sex. You’re arresting john for participating in a consensual act. And even if the consensual act is dangerous, its still consensual. Between two parties.
Illegal and criminal, are two different things at least to me. Doing something illegal means you’re breaking the law. You ran a red light, parked in a handicapped zone, failed to signal a turn and there are many other examples. But criminal, is when you intentionally hurt someone and do something that is not only illegal, but its criminal. You stole someone’s money, you beat an innocent person up, you raped someone, you murdered someone and you can go down the line. Good reasons why these acts are not just illegal, but criminal as well.
Prostitution, of course is illegal in most places and always has, but we’re talking about something where two agreeing parties agreed to do this with each other. And where the prostitute makes money from this simply by doing her job. And I understand everything about the dangers that come with the prostitution business is, which is exactly what it is a business. But you can say that about a lot other business’s that are legal in many places. Pro sports, gambling, private detective work, bounty hunting, stunt work and even acting. And yet these business’s are made as safe as they possibly can legal and otherwise through regulation. These industries actually regulate themselves.
Is prostitution the sole reason why we have two-million people in the criminal justice system in America as offenders? Of course not, but a big reason why we have so many convicted offenders in our system is because we arrest and lock people up who haven’t hurt anyone. In many cases these offenders are in jail, or prison for committing acts that are technically illegal and dangerous. Prostitution, is obviously one of those business’s. It’s not the oldest profession in the world for nothing. So the question is how best to deal with that. Locking people up for it has not worked. So the question for me at least are what are the alternatives. And I go to regulation and taxation to make a business that is not going anywhere as safe as possible.
