Should Prostitution Be Legal?

The debate over the best legal approach to prostitution continues. Here is a breakdown of the 4 legal approaches to prostitution.

1. Criminalization. Criminalization of prostitution is when all involved in the sale of sex; the prostitutes, buyers, pimps, and brothel owners, are penalized for their role in the buying and selling of sex. Criminalization is the model adopted in the United States, outside of 10 counties in Nevada, and 34 other countries¹ around the world.

2. Legalization. Legalization is when all criminal penalties are removed from those involved in prostitution, including the prostitutes, buyers, pimps, and brothel owners. Legalization involves the regulation of the buying and selling of sex just like any other business. Regulation involves licensing of brothels and prostitutes and connecting sex workers with health and government services. This model is the most widely used method around the world, adopted in 53 countries¹.

3. Decriminalization. Decriminalization removes all criminal penalties for all the actors involved in the sale of sex, including the pimps, buyers, and brothel owners, but no regulations are put into place. Sex work advocates, like Sex Workers’ Rights², support full decriminalization, believing sex work should be carried out freely and without government regulation.

4. Nordic Model. The Nordic Model, aka the Neo-Abolitionist Model, decriminalizes the prostitutes, while holding buyers, pimps, and brothel owners, legally accountable. No regulations are placed on the buying and selling of sex in this model. This model is adopted in Norway, Iceland, Northern Ireland, Ireland, Canada, France, and Israel.
   
   Some theorists differentiate the Neo-Abolitionist Model to the Abolitionist Model, as used in England, where both selling and buying are legal, while soliciting and third-party involvement is illegal.
   

A Closer Look at Each Model

1. Criminalization. Despite criminalization being widely accepted, it fails to acknowledge the reality that sex work will continue to be in demand despite the penalties placed on perpetrators. When prostitutes face those same penalties, they can’t rely on law enforcement when needed due to fear of prosecution. When a prostitute is harmed on the job, or when a person is forced or coerced into selling themselves, they should not have to fear legal repercussions for seeking help.

2. Legalization. Legalization is beneficial to prostitutes for many reasons. Legalization, and the regulation that comes with it, provide many safeties for sex workers. Many countries that legalize prostitution require regular health checks, provide safety measures, like call buttons in rooms and on-call security guards, and most importantly, give the prostitute the right to seek help from law enforcement.
   
   Legalization, while beneficial for prostitutes, can be detrimental to trafficked victims. It can mean a life in trafficking with little to no hope of being identified. Identifying victims of labor trafficking is far more difficult than those of sex trafficking because the institutions in which they work are legal, causing law enforcement to overlook them. The same has been seen with sex trafficking victims in areas where prostitution is legal³.

3. Decriminalization. Like legalization, decriminalization helps protect the rights of the prostitute, but it extends those same rights to buyers, solicitors, and all third-parties.
   
   By extending rights to all third-parties, decriminalization does not decrease the demand of sex work.
   
   Decriminalization also fails to see prostitution as a commercial act. It doesn’t require regulation, taxation, nor does it give prostitutes direct access to health and government services. Supporters of decriminalization believe prostitution should be carried out freely without government intervention.

4. Nordic Model. The Nordic Model, is a blend of the Decriminalization Model in that it protects the rights of the prostitutes without regulation, and the Criminalization Model, by making all third-party actors involved held legally accountable.
   
   Much like the Decriminalization Model, the Nordic Model fails to see the buying and selling of sex as an occupation with regulation.
   
   Many supporters of the Nordic Model view prostitutes as victims. This idea denies the right to autonomy over one’s body and doesn’t account for those that are legally and mentally competent to make their own calculated decision to sell their body.
   
   Many believe that the Nordic Model is an opposition to the Decriminalization Model backed by Sex Worker’s Rights groups. This is not entirely correct. While the Nordic Model works to give prostitutes supportive services to help them leave prostitution, it is not a requirement of the model.

5. Abolitionist Model. By decriminalizing both the prostitute and buyer, the Abolitionist Model asserts that prostitution can be an autonomous act, but attempts to avoid its assertion into society by keeping all third parties illegal. Abolitionists recognize that a prostitute and buyer may freely chose to engage in this trade, but the law is designed to stop prostitution from impacting the public. Just like the Nordic Model, many supporters of Abolitionist Model believe abolishing prostitution should be the goal, but it is not a requirement for implementation of the model.
   
   Say No to Decriminalization, Say Yes to the Abolitionist Model,
   The Abolitionist

 

Sources

1. https://prostitution.procon.org/countries-and-their-prostitution-policies/

2. https://www.vox.com/2019/8/2/20692327/sex-work-decriminalization-prostitution-new-york-dc

3. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305750X12001453?via%3Dihub