Summary: Decriminalizing Prostitution

Pat Kelly's, "Enough Already, It's Time We Decriminalize Prostitution," discusses the scandal that occurred when a New York Senator, Eliot Spitzer, was revealed to have spent thousands of dollars on prostitutes. Pat Kelly's, who studied sex for profit, essay provides arguments for why prostitution needs to be decriminalized. This essay provides important points about the safety and health of sex workers, but fails to provide arguments that are compelling reasons for decriminalization while passing off legalization as a bad choice without any argument as to why. Pat Kelly reports that 1 in 10 Americans have paid for sex in their lifetime and that it is not an uncommon practice. She writes that Spitzer's resignation will convince voters that

Out of the thousands of people that have been human trafficking victims each year, only an insignificant amount of them is actually reported. Imagine being in 8th grade. Having all sorts of hopes and dreams. Now flash forward to dreams being taken away by a pimp that lures people into human trafficking. In short, this is true for Holly Austin Smith, a survivor of human trafficking. The punishment for the pimps that ruin the lives of these young girls is not severe. Therefore, there is not much help for the girls after they get rescued from this tragedy. A realization Holly had soon on and explains, “...Although I was soon recognized to be a victim, the specialized aftercare needed for a trafficking victim did not yet exist... Twenty years ago, there were no anti-trafficking laws in place. This pimp, who raped and lured a child into prostitution, served only 365 days in jail” (Smith). This young girl had recovered from this horrible incident all by herself. Many other girls in her position have gone through similar experiences and have been hurt by their pimp. In addition, the pimp will not receive much punishment. A sad story repeated across America and is very prominent in other countries. In America, most of the time victims are the ones that usually serve time in jail since in some cases it’s considered prostitution, even if it was forced by the pimp. In most cases, the pimps stay uncovered and if the victims of trafficking come forward as to who their pimp is, they

On March 17, 2008, Eliot Spitzer resigned his post as New York governor in a desperate attempt to avoid impeachment. One week prior to his resignation, The New York Times reported a prostitution scandal that involved governor Spitzer frequenting Emperors Club, an elite escort service in New York city, where he is accused of spending a sum of $80,000 in a period of several years. ‘Enough Already, It’s Time We Decriminalize Prostitution’ is Patty Kelly’s response to the scandal, appealing to logos, in which she argues that prostitution is a common part of North American culture which will not soon resolve. At the time, Kelly was an assistant professor of anthropology and had recently returned from Tuxtla, Chiapas, a state in Mexico, where she spent one year working as an anthropologist at a

In her argumentative essay "Enough Already, It's Time to Decriminalize Prostitution," Patty Kelly asserts that decriminalizing the practice of prostitution is in America's best interests. Her essay begins with several statistics to prove her claim that prostitution is a long-standing "part of our culture," will likely remain as such, and should, therefore, be legalized, as warrantable (Kelly 436). Following this, she draws upon her personal experience as an anthropologist closely studying regulated commercial sex in Mexico and reports that prostitution is an often conscientious and profitable decision for the women involved. She also argues that while prostitution

Patty Kelly’s article, “Enough already, it’s time we decriminalize prostitution”, takes the reader into a fascinating behind the scene look into one of Mexico’s legalized brothels. Although it is apparent that her research and investigation into this social experiment are well defined, it is too narrow a focus to gather all the required information to support her argument. Kelly begins with a half hazard analysis of Elliot Spitzer infidelity, then continues down the path that is far too laser like to see the overall effect on these women; failing to see these prostitutes as real people with hearts and souls. Instead, she produces an impression that the prostitutes are just commodity, bought and sold on the open market, lacking feeling

Patty Kelly wrote the persuasive essay "Enough Already, It's Time to Decriminalize Prostitution" while she was an assistant professor of anthropology at Washington State University. She wrote this essay in response to the 2008 scandal of New York Senator Eliot Spitzer, who was found to have spent over $80,000 dollars on expensive prostitutes and consequently, was forced to resign. Kelly takes a positive stance on the decriminalization of prostitution. Arguing that because prostitution has been and always will be prevalent in our global community, she declares that our first concern should be about maximizing the safety and well-being of sex workers. The appeals to pathos, ethos, and logos are all used effectively in creating a well-rounded

Most people throughout the world would think of slavery as an issue of the past, but sex trafficking is today’s form of “modern day slavery” (Countryman-Roswurm, 2014). Sex trafficking has become the fastest growing and most profitable criminal enterprise in the world due to the fact that people can be sold over and over again. Corrupt governments have tried to cover this issue up and have worked alongside traffickers to help them obtain illegal documents to continue operating (Deshpande et al., 2013). The effects of this crime causes victims of trafficking to have many emotional, physical, and mental traumas (Deshpande et al., 2013).

Furthermore, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 was best known for providing the framework to respond to human trafficking (Feldman, 2011). Likewise, it also helped for the redesigning of the laws in the United States by making sex trafficking an individual crime and allowing the government to focus on the victims. Even though this law has been reauthorized in 3 years the latest time, 2008, is the one that actually strengthens protections for the victims as well as, improves the protections for the victims. While this law already helped to develop people to prohibit the crime, the reauthorization of it, created a new set of criminal tools to reach unscrupulous labor recruiters (Feldman, 2011). Although the revisions of this law

Human trafficking is in every state of this nation and in every country across the world. It’s in cities, suburbs, and rural areas; being hidden in plain view; unseen by so many. In 2015, 17,500 cases of sex trafficking were reported in the United States (Chawla). This is only the cases that were reported. It is estimated that there were about 20.9 million cases across the world that never got reported in 2015 (Lize). There are more human slaves in the world today than ever before in history (Straker). The purpose of this paper is to educate the reader on human trafficking in the United States and in the World, and prove how bad it has become.

In 2014, the states considered more than 220 bills that addressed human trafficking, including 24 bills in 11 states that called for expanding services to sexually exploited youth. (State Legislative). The United States expanded services like the “safe harbor” for sexually exploited children. In the United States, about 300,000 children are at the risk of being exploited and trafficked for sex. Human trafficking impacts millions of people globally; as a community we need to come up with a solution to stop it; some solutions may be, provide security for victims (of being trafficked); and help force laws against it.

In America illegal crimes are committed every day. One out of the three most frequent illegal crimes committed is sex trafficking. Sex trafficking is a major issue throughout the world. Most of the victims in sex trafficking are American-born. Not only women are considered victims of sex trafficking but also men can be forced into a life of sex trafficking. Sex trafficking is considered modern day slavery. The number of victims that are minors is one-third of the whole total. The United States has been trying to end Sex Trafficking to no avail. No matter what laws are set in place pimps find a way to get around the laws all together.

Prostitution has been around as long as human beings have engaged in sexual activities, and it is even touted as the world’s oldest profession. Despite these proclamations, the subject of prostitution continues to spark controversy in the United States in moderns times as it is a hot debate topic. Off and on, throughout the years, various states around the country have proposed that the practice should be decriminalized; however, it remains illegal nationwide, except for a few counties in Nevada. The reasons for this stem from both sides of the argument, as anti-prostitution advocates claim decriminalization of prostitution is immoral and sexually exploitative, while pro-prostitution advocates want to keep the government out of the bedrooms of consenting adults. No matter the stance for or against prostitution, the current legal construction surrounding it is undeniably harmful. Regardless of the arguments against prostitutes, it is time to decriminalize the laws against this practice to protect the rights of sex workers.

As stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights created by the United Nations in 1948 “No one has the right to treat you as a slave, nor should you make anyone your slave. No one has the right to hurt you. Everyone has the right to live in freedom and safety.” The world is in agreement that human sex trafficking is wrong and is a violation of fundamental human rights, but the industry continues to flourish. There have been numerous global conferences, conventions, and international laws that have been created, and all of them have come to a unanimous consensus: human sex trafficking will not be condoned in any country; it is a practice that is illegal, immoral, and inhumane. The central question that this study seeks to address is whether

Generally, the enforcement of prostitution laws in the U.K. is largely dependent upon citizen complaints. British brothel keepers are rarely prosecuted by police and juries in some cases have been reluctant to convict them as long as there are no related crimes. For example, Claire Finch was acquitted of the charge of running a brothel from her home in an apparent case of jury nullification. Finch stressed the importance of how her business insured the safety of the four women who worked there. And, in the end, the announcement of her acquittal was met with loud cheers in the courtroom.

The trafficking of women and girls for the purpose of prostitution is big business. It has been and still is one of the biggest industries worldwide. These unfortunate women and girls do not lead normal lives, but rather they are bought and sold as commodities. They also usually have no control over their lives and live in conditions of extreme poverty and abuse. Trafficking, debt bondage, forced labor, and other abuse is suffered by women all over the world and it is a violation of human rights. The problem is one of international proportion. United States feminists as well as many nongovernmental organizations acknowledge that this is a huge problem that needs to be tackled with greater proportions. We