Prostitution

A paper for English 102

Prostitution

Prostitution is a national problem. Too often, it is also a local problem. Our current solutions to that problem are not working. It is time for a new solution to the prostitution epidemic sweeping our nation. I will touch on a recent prostitution sting in Nixa, Missouri; where in the United States prostitution is legal; some national and Missouri prostitution statistics; and a radical new solution to prostitution in California.

On September 18, 2013 the Springfield News-Leader reported a story about a prostitution sting operation in Nixa, Missouri. “Christian County Associate Prosecuting Attorney Joseph Flees filed charges against three men for the misdemeanor of patronizing prostitution. Four women, the youngest 19 and the oldest 32, are charged with the class B misdemeanor of prostitution.” (Burger)

This story is too close to home. Prostitution is not a problem that I normally think of as a local issue. It happens in New York, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles. If pressed I would say I could see it happening in St. Louis or Kansas City, but this story is in my backyard. This is not a Hollywood story playing out on the big screen. There are women, maybe even women I know, who feel they have to put themselves in danger for money.

Prostitution is not a new concept. It is known as the world’s oldest profession. There is evidence of prostitution going back thousands of years. There is not an easy solution to this age old problem.

The internet has made the definition of what constitutes prostitution into a bit of a gray area. For example, you are on a website and you agree to meet a person at a predetermined place for sex. Technically, agreeing to meet that stranger can be seen as solicitation. Even if no money or goods will be traded for sex.

Prostitution is illegal in Missouri. According to criminaldefenselawyer.com, “People commit the crime of prostitution in Missouri by engaging in, offering, or agreeing to engage in sexual conduct in exchange for money or something else of value.” (Mince-Didier)  

In the United States, prostitution is illegal in 49 out of 50 states. The only state that allows prostitution is Nevada. Even there, it is only legal in 11 of the 16 counties. (“Prostitution in the United States”)

In 2010, 62,668 arrests were made for prostitution/commercialized vice nationally. 338 of those arrests were made in Missouri, according to the website procon.org. Nationally and locally those numbers have decreased since 2001. Nationally in 2001, 80,854 arrests for prostitution/commercialized vice were made. In Missouri the number of those arrests was 13,220. (“Prostitution Arrests”)

I do not know what has caused this downward trend. It is possible that it is due to alternative methods of dealing with women who are arrested for and charged with prostitution. There is a close tie between prostitution and human trafficking. Some areas of the country are working toward helping these women rather than arresting, prosecuting, and shuffling them back into the system.

A paradigm shift has been the focus of the Anaheim, California police department since 2011. In 2010 they realized that the women they were picking up for solicitation were coming from similar backgrounds. Most had been coerced or forced into prostitution by men they thought loved them. Once in that world, they believed that they had no other choice for survival. (Marcin)

Human traffickers tend to prey on women and girls who are already in situations that make them vulnerable. They convince them to run away with them using the lies of love and a better future. Once they have them away from everyone and everything they know, they become completely different people. The men use physical, mental, and emotional abuse to keep the women under their control. (Marcin)'

The women are told that they have to prostitute themselves to earn money for their survival. They are told that no one will ever want them or that their family would never accept them now that they have sold themselves. Any and all means are used to control and use them. (Marcin)

This police department decided to change the way that they handle these women. Rather than treat the symptom they are attacking the disease. The traditional approach is to arrest the hooker. The prostitution is then temporarily relocated. Obviously, this is a temporary Band-Aid on a much bigger problem. It is not a solution to the bigger problem. (Marcin)

Now they are focusing on rescuing women from these situations. Then they go after the pimps to work on eradicating the source of the problem. This makes the prostitutes potential victims and the pimps the suspects. (Marcin)

They then deal with these women in a way that is similar to how domestic violence victims are handled. Women are helped to escape, services are offered to help them understand their situation, services are also offered to assist them in redirecting their lives, and they are asked to help with the pursuit of the pimps and human traffickers. (Marcin)

This new technique has been a success. “From the project’s inception in August 2011 through April 2012, the APD vice detail has saved 29 women from their traffickers. Almost 40 percent are under 18 years old. Of those juveniles, records indicated that 77 percent were missing persons. Traffickers transported 81 percent of the 29 out of their home counties.” An update to the article states that, “As of October 31, 2012, 38 pimps have been arrested and charged. Twenty were convicted and 18 are awaiting trial. The Anaheim vice detail has rescued 52 human trafficking victims; only 4 are known to have returned to prostitution.” (Marcin)

Numbers alone cannot tell the true story of the success of this program. Each of those numbers represents a real person. It represents girls who were ripped from their world and forced into a nightmare. It is one thing for an adult to make the decision to become a prostitute. It is something completely different when they are forced into the life.

I did the math on the Anaheim police department’s success. Between August 2011 and April 2012, eight girls who had been reported as missing persons were found. That alone makes this program worthwhile. Imagine the ripple effect if this were to become a nationwide procedure.

Prostitution is a huge problem. We have looked at a local, to me, instance of prostitution; where in the United States prostitution is legal; the statistics of arrests made; and a radical approach to a possible solution to this problem. These women and girls need someone to stand up for them. They need someone to be their voice. You never know, next time, it could be in your backyard.