Summary: The Decriminalization Of Prostitution

It’s nighttime in the city. The sun has long left the sky, and the streets are illuminated by streetlights and some neon signs. You would think a young girl, about the age of 14, would be hanging out with friends, eating dinner with her family, or doing after school work. However, some people, an estimated one million, are not doing this, but are selling their bodies in the human sex trade (Lloyd, Girls Like Us, 2011, p. 10). The same 14-year-old girl that should be hanging out with her friends, or doing homework, has just sold her body again to a man soliciting sex from a minor. She gives the money to her pimp, or what she lovingly calls her boyfriend. He is enraged by how little money she brought in that night. He is addicted to heroin, …show more content…
When Rhode Island accidently legalized prostitution from the year 2003 to 2009, it gave criminologists, and sociologist the opportunity to study the effect of having prostitution be legal (Hong, 2014). Studies done by Scott Cunningham and Manish Shah showed that there were 824, about 31%, decrease of reported rapes (Decriminalizing Indoor Prostitution: Implications for Sexual Violence and Public Health, …show more content…
In spite of that, many women and children are still going to be exploited, and the legalization of prostitution will not change that. As stated before, new studies coming from countries that have legalized prostitution have found that there has been an increase in the amount of people being trafficked into the area. This is the opposite effect that the United States wants to happen. In addition, prostitution is only a victimless crime if individuals are willing participants, but, majority of the people in the sex trade are minor, or not willing at all. Our country cannot stand, and allow for the exploitation of people who are unwilling