Running Head:LEGALISATION OF PROSTITUTION IN THE US

LEGALISATION OF PROSTITUTION IN THE US

Legalisation Of Prostitution In The US

Introduction

Prostitution is often called “the oldest profession,” but this characterization is somewhat inaccurate. While prostitution indeed has a long history, it has taken many forms over the centuries. Moreover, the law has rarely recognized prostitution as a profession; more commonly, prostitution has been treated as deviant or criminal behavior.Currently most everywhere in the United States, our legal system penalizes prostitutes and their customers for what they do as consenting adults. (Jenness, 2003)

Discussion

Prostitution is usually understood as the exchange of sexual services for money between a female prostitute and a male customer. Although most prostitutes are women, male prostitution also exists. Nearly all customers of both female and male prostitutes are men, but heterosexual couples occasionally hire prostitutes, as, more rarely, do women. Prostitutes find customers, and vice versa, through personal solicitation on the street or at bars, nightclubs, strip clubs; at truck stops; through advertisements in telephone books, classified ads in magazines and newspapers, and flyers and cards distributed on the street; and via the Internet. Where prostitution is legal, it may also be advertised on television and billboards.

Sexual relations are handled differently in countries around the world. Most countries encourage varied forms of monogamy, others polygyny. Even in the case of monogamy, there are numerous countries that impose no restrictions on prostitution, unlike a majority of the communities within the United States. (Almodovar,2003)

The American Journal of Sociology

The American Journal of Sociology (AJS), established in 1895 by Albion Small, is the oldest scholarly journal of sociology in the United States. The journal is attached to the University of Chicago's sociology department and it is released bimonthly by The University of Chicago Press.

AJS is revised by Andrew Abbott of the University of Chicago. The journal presents work on the idea, procedures, practice, and annals of sociology. AJS also publishes sociology-related papers by scholars from out-of-doors sociology, speaking to sociologists, social researchers, and the general sociological reader.

Academic journals are occasionally evaluated by their Impact Factor, a statistic which corresponds to the frequency a journal's articles are cited in other journals. By this measure, the American Journal of Sociology and the American Sociological Review have longed jockeyed for first rank.

In order to discover if legalization is proper, one has to first familiarize oneself with the U.S. prohibition of alcohol in the 1920s and the legalization of abortion in the 1970s. The implementation of prohibition was a result of an abolitionist philosophy and caused great harm to the country through lost taxes, increased crime rates and higher suicide rates. Similarly, when the U.S. abandoned its abolitionist stand on abortion, the country benefited from fewer deaths from botched back alley abortions. (Chapkis,2007)

Prostitution is illegal in most countries in the world. In the United States, prostitution is primarily a matter of state rather than federal law, resulting in some variation in criminal statutes. While laws once defined the prostitute as a woman who sold sexual services, today most American ...