NCJ Number
86870
Date Published
Unknown
Length
38 pages
Annotation
Carefully controlled, legalized prostitution could represent an improvement over the currently chaotic illegal industry, since the funds currently spent on suppressing prostitution could be spent dealing with its negative side effects.
Abstract
The prostitution industry consists almost entirely of small, autonomous units which have little economic interaction with one another. A typical unit consists either of a boss or manager and one or more prostitutes or a single prostitute with only weak economic ties to others in the industry. Prostitutes include streetwalkers, call girls, brothel prostitutes, bar prostitutes, hotel prostitutes, and massage parlor prostitutes. In the mid-1970's, the United States probably had from 80,000 to 500,000 prostitutes with an annual income of $1.9 to $16 billion. Prostitution is more a business of individual entrepreneurship now than it was in the past. More teenagers are becoming prostitutes as well. Most prostitutes use drugs. The incentives to prostitution are the money and the feeling of independence offered by the profession. However, prostitutes face extreme physical and health dangers as well as the risks of fines and imprisonment. Social costs include the spread of venereal disease, the association of crime and drug use with areas of prostitution, and law enforcement costs. The United States is one of a small minority of countries that tries to suppress prostitution. Policy options for dealing with prostitution include providing support for prostitutes ready to leave the profession, decreasing the flow of illegal drugs into areas of prostitution, strictly enforcing laws against sexual discrimination in the labor market, and legalizing prostitution. Data tables, footnotes, and a list of 46 references are provided.