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  • Jul 13, 2006, 12:23 PM
    Starman
    Legal Prostitution?
    This is something that has puzzled me for a long time.
    Prostitutes are arrested in the streets of USA for soliciting while they do a brisk business right under the law's nose in those many so-called massage parlors and via so-called dating services. Why is it condemned on the one hand and winked at on the other? Taxes??
  • Jul 13, 2006, 06:33 PM
    CaptainForest
    Perhaps because it is easier and takes less time to arrest street prostitutes as opposed to those at massage parlors or escort agencies?
  • Jul 13, 2006, 07:43 PM
    jduke44
    You're probably right, Captain. I heard just recently in my town they busted one of those. Don't remember the details but it probably takes a lot for paper work a preparing to do this. A detective could have a hunch and the whole town know they do this but to actually have this place raided takes a lot more than seeing a prostitute on the street.
  • Jul 13, 2006, 07:57 PM
    phillysteakandcheese
    Street walkers are often the dirty and desperate prostitute, and are highly visible in the public eye. It's a priority for the city to try to curtail this activity in the interest of the general public, so police "crack down" from time to time.

    By putting up a front of legitimacy, massage parlors and introduction services can hide the true nature of their business, keeping them out of the public eye (most of the time) and away from public pressure for the police to "do something" about it.

    It's impossible to stop all forms of prostitution, so politicians and police forces do what they can, and then respond to public pressure when enforcement is demanded.
  • Jul 13, 2006, 08:14 PM
    wizzkid89
    Philly has a point, I think it's because they do offer a legitimate service at first, like massages and what not, and all that is legal, the prostitution is what's not talked about you know. It's the secret ingredient if you will, and I think that is why they are not cracked down because a face value it looks like a legitimate business venture, but underneth that's when things get dirty. :)
  • Jul 14, 2006, 06:45 AM
    ScottGem
    As Philly notes it's a quality of life issue. People don't want to be offended, accosted or annoyed by overt acts. Also police don't have the resources to investigate businesses that can only be suspected of breaking the law.

    Frankly, I think Nevada has the right idea. Legalize it so it can be regulated and taxed.
  • Jul 14, 2006, 07:06 AM
    Krs
    I agree ScottGem, same as in Amsterdam!
    Its clean and safe, regulated and taxed.
    Save a few problems in the streets.
  • Jul 14, 2006, 12:18 PM
    Starman
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wizzkid89
    Philly has a point, I think it's because they do offer a legitimate service at first, like massages and what not, and all that is legal, the prostitution is what's not talked about you know. It's the secret ingredient if you will, and I think that is why they are not cracked down because a face value it looks like a legitimate business venture, but underneth that's when things get dirty. :)

    Or it could be that the cops are on the take along with some other high officials who might be pocketting the protection money just as Al Capone did in Chicago during prohibition. In fact, he had officials on the take.
  • Jul 14, 2006, 02:25 PM
    Jay_Jay
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Krs
    I agree ScottGem, same as in Amsterdam!
    Its clean and safe, regulated and taxed.
    Save a few problems in the streets.

    And in Germany it is legal in some parts.
  • Jul 14, 2006, 02:52 PM
    wizzkid89
    I agree in one regard that it should be legalized, it has the potential to help the economy because they are being taxed and what not. However, it would really change the american psyche. For instance, most of the places now are out of sight out of mind, but god knows the minute they become legal they will start advertising. Now they will probably be discreet at first, but we all know over the years it will only multiply until it's on billboards, and that whole clean cut americana idea is now thrown out the window, and I fear a future of that in Back to the Future part 2. And if you remember correctly we already tried this back in 30's, where prostitutions was legalized and everything around it became slums. It really wasn't until the white slave traffic act of 1910 came about that their was laws on prostitution. Also note that not the entire state of Nevada agrees with prostition, it just so happens that the state says it o.k. but the county government gets to decided whether it is legal. Anyway, it really is a hard issue to debate, I think on one hand it would let police focus on more important issues, but I just see all these towns turning into Las Vegas. And if you haven't been there you won't understand. Porn magazines are sold on the streets like newspapers, and cards with a naked girls on them and a number on handed out every night by the thousands. They liter the streets every night. Every night. Every time I have been there which is like five times, it has always been like that. And it's hard to visualize like I said unless you been there, but porn just litters the entire strip, people stand on the sidewalk handing them out every night bagging it against their wrist to get your attention. I know I don't want that. I don't want to see that everyday. Fine it's out in the middle of the desert and it should be kept there. But not anywhere else. I want my family, especially when I have kids, I don't want them to be surrounded by that. Because sometimes ignorance is bliss.
  • Jul 14, 2006, 03:41 PM
    ScottGem
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wizzkid89
    I agree in one regard that it should be legalized, it has the potential to help the economy because they are being taxed and what not. However, it would really change the american psyche. For instance, most of the places now are out of sight out of mind, but god knows the minute they become legal they will start advertising. Now they will probably be discreet at first, but we all know over the years it will only multiply until it's on billboards, and that whole clean cut americana idea is now thrown out the window,

    The advantages of legalization are in regulation. This allows it to be taxed, insures healthy partiticpants, and can restrict it. Such regulation would, no doubt, allow practitioners in only certain areas and revent overt advertising.
  • Jul 14, 2006, 03:47 PM
    phillysteakandcheese
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Starman
    Or it could be that the cops are on the take along with some other high officials who might be pocketting the protection money...

    We know there are dirty cops out there, and we know there's a certain amount of "looking the other way" by law enforcement on this (for various reasons - probably mostly political), but I think it's way off to suggest most cops working vice are corrupt and on the take.

    It would be nice to have someone working in law enforcement give us a little insight into how city/state police prioritize these investigations.

    Whether you agree it should or should not be legal - the police are there to enforce the laws the government puts in place, not judge your individual morality.
  • Jul 14, 2006, 04:02 PM
    talaniman
    It's the same as the war on drugs only the low-level people get any attention from the police while the high classed dealers and prostitutes or call girls ,whatever, do their business with impunity and a degree of respectibility.
  • Jul 14, 2006, 04:27 PM
    Starman
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by talaniman
    Its the same as the war on drugs only the low-level people get any attention from the police while the high classed dealers and prostitutes or call girls ,whatever, do their business with impunity and a degree of respectibility.

    Call me crazy if you want to but in my book that encourages the criminal activity they are supposed to discourage. There is a certain statue which represents justice and it holds a scale in each hand. It also has its eyes blindfolded, I always wondered why.
    Now I know.
  • Jul 14, 2006, 04:46 PM
    talaniman
    Money talks and can buy a lot of blindfolds, money can also buy a townhouse or nice apartment and you don't have to walk the street, In America people with money don't go to jail or get hefty sentences, they can afford a good lawyer. Poor people go to jail and stay there.
  • Jul 14, 2006, 05:38 PM
    wizzkid89
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by ScottGem
    The advantages of legalization are in regulation. This allows it to be taxed, insures healthy partiticpants, and can restrict it. Such regulation would, no doubt, allow practioners in only certain areas and revent overt advertising.

    You say that however, but I am pretty confident that like anything else in this world, it would spread. If we can't maintain prostitution as it is, how do you think that when it's legalized we would be able to quarantine it or contain when we can't do that right now?
  • Jul 14, 2006, 07:31 PM
    ScottGem
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by wizzkid89
    You say that however, but I am pretty confident that like anything else in this world, it would spread. If we can't maintain prostitution as it is, how do you think that when it's legalized we would be able to quarantine it or contain when we can't do that right now?

    Look at places where it has been legalized and you don't see what you are predicting will happen. Practitioners would know that abuse is likely to remove the legalization.
  • Jul 14, 2006, 07:37 PM
    wizzkid89
    I have seen where it is legalized and I did see what I was afraid, that was what one of my previous posts were talking about.
  • Jul 14, 2006, 07:49 PM
    talaniman
    I agree with legalizing prostitution and put it under the scrutiny of legislators to monitor regulate and tax! The biggest failure in America is trying to make rules to ban the behavior of the population. This has driven these activities into the hands of criminals and a lot of money poured down a big hole with no abatement of the activity. All efforts to stop these activities including drugs and gambling have not worked for thousands of years. It is time for a new approach!
  • Jul 14, 2006, 09:17 PM
    Starman
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by talaniman
    I agree with legalizing prostitution and put it under the scrutiny of legislators to monitor regulate and tax! The biggest failure in America is trying to make rules to ban the behavior of the population. This has driven these activities into the hands of criminals and a lot of money poured down a big hole with no abatement of the activity. All efforts to stop these activities including drugs and gambling have not worked for thousands of years. It is time for a new approach!

    Wouldn't it be a bit contradictory for a government that claims in God it trusts to legalize things that the God it claims it trusts condemns?
  • Jul 14, 2006, 10:40 PM
    talaniman
    What's contradictory is sending people who are more victims than criminals to jail because they fall through the traps that society creates in an attempt to say how morale or ethical they are. As this thread has already shown the police can ride up on any corner and arrest a female trying to get her fix on but they never bust the call girl trolling some yuppie bar looking for lawyers and doctors and judges. So keep it off the street and out of site and its business as usual, and that is where all the money is made. Its not about God its about money power rich and poor. Now that is a contradiction. Its not about God but in the way the government does its business.
  • Jul 14, 2006, 11:29 PM
    Starman
    It's really irrelevant to this discussion.
    I tend to drift off topic sometimes.
  • Jul 15, 2006, 03:35 AM
    wizzkid89
    This is one of those problems that in Theory it sounds nice, but it's just insn't practical. In the case of Las Vegas, I know there is no room to live on the strip, but I guarantee no one would want to. I also know that Las Vegas has been one of the top growing cities in America, but that is misleading to how it will handle other communities. Because the town of Las Vegas and the Strip are pretty much separated from one another, particularly by a highway cutting them off. The Rio is on the other side, but that is really only the other casino/hotel from the strip other than the freemont street. Like I stated before, it will spread I guarantee, and it will be a sad future to legalize prostitution. I personally don't think that unless you have been to Las Vegas, should you make comments about Nevada and it's going, because it's not a community for children or aspiring families. The problem with the red light district that you say will form once it's legalized will keep prostution in a corner, but it won't. What's next allowing the selling of drugs in another corner. Life finds a way(Jurassic Park). It will spread, and I know it will. It might be economically feasible to legalize prostitution however it opens the flood gates for some much more, and it really seems like there could be a more sensible solution. Maybe cracking down on it, isn't fixing it, but surely legalizing it is too drastic. Either way, I would not raise a family in a city that promotes it, because I do fear the worst, I fear that it would turn in to Las Vegas, and if that is what the future holds, I'm coming to canada. Either way I still get to watch hockey.
  • Jul 15, 2006, 03:40 AM
    JoeCanada76
    At one time I heard that they were thinking about legalizing in some parts of canada as well. I do not think it ever happened. The same goes for crack houses.

    Joe
  • Jul 15, 2006, 05:39 AM
    talaniman
    I hate to blow everyone's bubble, but gambling drugs and prostitution are growing in every city across the country and history tells us that putting people in jail only makes for the building of more prisons that cost YOU more money. The social impact is devastating to families. We need a better solution not more bury our head in the sand. These problems have been around for centuries and have grown steadily.
  • Jul 15, 2006, 08:00 AM
    Jay_Jay
    I agree with talaniman these problems have been around for many years !

    After all the claim is "prostitution oldest profession in the world"

    Regards jails, it seems that prison time in this day and age does not stop people from going out and committing crime as fact shows that there are more repeat offenders ! If there is too be a crack down on matters than it needs to be a hard line policy from the start to end.

    There is little point in sending police officers out to arrest street walkers, when they would be better off going after the big fish.

    A lot of prostitution where it is not legal, see's it being linked to drugs and gangs etc.
  • Jul 15, 2006, 08:00 AM
    Jay_Jay
    Comment on talaniman's post
    Prostitution oldest profession in the world
  • Jul 15, 2006, 08:02 AM
    JoeCanada76
    What about the cops who actually are involved in literally picking up prostitutes for themselves?
  • Jul 15, 2006, 08:10 AM
    Jay_Jay
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Jesushelper76
    What about the cops who actually are involved in literally picking up prostitutes for themselves?

    IMO they are not real cops if they are doing these things ! Cops in most parts of the world have taken an oath to Up Hold The Laws of the Land.
  • Jul 15, 2006, 08:13 AM
    JoeCanada76
    I have watched documentation about prostitution and how cops turn the other way because there have been undercover operations where they found that cops actually get involved in these rings. I agree, if they are partaking in this activity they do not deserve the badge but it does happen.

    Joe
  • Jul 15, 2006, 08:18 AM
    talaniman
    I think the bigger question is why are men so willing to pay for sex? If we weren't so willing to pay for it would they just go away?
  • Jul 15, 2006, 08:21 AM
    JoeCanada76
    Good point Talaniman, Could not comment. A lot of men are into dirty sex. Prostitutes are filthy. You are right in stating that maybe if men did not pay for those services maybe they would just go away.
  • Jul 15, 2006, 10:36 AM
    Jay_Jay
    So true if they where not making any $$$ then there would not be any around as they would be doing no business ! Jesushelper your spot on, too many people want to pay for dirty sex with filthy people.
  • Jul 15, 2006, 02:16 PM
    wizzkid89
    Comment on talaniman's post
    EXACTLY
  • Jul 15, 2006, 02:20 PM
    CaptainForest
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Starman
    Wouldn't it be a bit contradictory for a government that claims in God it trusts to legalize things that the God it claims it trusts condemns?

    I assume this refers to the USA?

    I ask this, what about abortion? Or same sex marriage? Some states are in favour of that, and legalize that in the USA, but wouldn't that be “against god” as well?

    For the record, I support all 3. Just trying to point out that perhaps it is not so much of a slippery slope.


    Quote:

    Originally Posted by talaniman
    I think the bigger question is why are men so willing to pay for sex? If we weren't so willing to pay for it would they just go away?

    It would go away if no one was paying for it.

    But the point is, there is a market for it out there.

    Why do men do it?

    A lot of reasons.

    Not getting enough at home, don't have a girlfriend and want some sex, etc.
  • Jul 15, 2006, 02:26 PM
    talaniman
    So who should go to jail?
    The people who want it or
    The people who provide it?
  • Jul 15, 2006, 02:36 PM
    JoeCanada76
    How about both?
  • Jul 15, 2006, 02:41 PM
    CaptainForest
    Or how about none of them?
  • Jul 15, 2006, 02:51 PM
    JoeCanada76
    I guess it is a never ending question. There are so many different options on how to approach and deal with the problem.
  • Jul 15, 2006, 03:48 PM
    talaniman
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Jesushelper76
    I guess it is a never ending question. There are so many different options on how to approach and deal with the problem.

    The approach of the last 2000 years has not worked!

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