Decriminalize Prostitution Essay

The oldest profession known to man is under debate across the globe. Between 60,000 and 80,000 sex workers are prosecuted each year in the United States. In much of the world, selling one’s body for sex is against the law but for over fifty countries like New Zealand and the Netherlands, prostitution is legal and is regulated by the government. These countries verify through statistics that decriminalizing the act of prostitution creates a much better environment for sex workers who are protected under labor laws, resulting in reduced violence, lower rates of human trafficking, and even promotes workers to find other career paths. Sex workers are walking the streets, posting on the web, and offering services in “underground brothels”. Love it or hate it, the act of selling sex is not going anywhere. By legalizing prostitution in the …show more content…
However, according to HG.com, a government information site, “every year in the U.S., between 70,000 and 80,000 people are arrested for prostitution, costing taxpayers approximately $200 million” (HG.com). While prostitution is illegal in the United States, citizens spend an estimated 14.6 billion each year for sex services (havocscope.com). Clearly, prostitution is a major industry in American culture. Tracey Pierce Sonntag, an instructor at Eastern Michigan University, expresses the economic gain that would benefit the United States if prostitution was decriminalized in a her proposal argument essay "Case for Legalization of Prostitution” written in 2009. “The average annual income of an employee at one Nevada brothel working only one week per month is at least $100,000 (qtd. in Ayres). Based on this figure, each legally licensed sex worker would contribute more than $20,000 in federal income taxes per