Prop K will decriminalize prostitution in San Francisco, even though under California state law prostitution is illegal. It will still be illegal to prostitute yourself, but police cannot search for or question possible prostitutes. California will be the first state to pass this. The main arguement for this prop, is that it will save the police department from spending millions of dollars prosecuting prostitutes, and that the prostitutes will be safer since they will not have to rely on a pimp. This prop doesn't seem constitutional, and I wonder if it gets passed, if it will be challeneged. It is essentially legalizing prostitution in San Francisco without actually doing it.
Original Article:
http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-national/20081021/San.Francisco.Prostitution/
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9 comments:
The whole prostitution issue kind of reminds me of the war on drugs and prohibition. Yeah its illegal, but people still do it. The police spend tons of money trying to convict people who do drugs and participate in prostitution, but in the end there are more people who do it than get caught. The time it takes the police to arrest someone, charge them for a crime, and get them into jail could be spent catching thieves and murderers. So, i think that the prop K could be a good idea. (isn't prostitution legal in Nevada?)
So, i was not sure if you were talking about prostitution itself being unconstitutional, but if you were here are my thoughts on it. In my opinion prostitution should be legal because its a person's body and they should be able to do what they want with it. I mean imagine if the Constitution safeguarded only the most popular behavioral choices and allowed the government to restrict activities such as watching television, or gardening.
Oh this prop kinda of reminds me of the medical marijuana thing too. I mean the federal government says its illegal, but about 11 states say the medical marijuana is legal. So, i wonder if the gov. will let Prop K slide like the medical marijuana issue or contest it.
I meant that the prop basically legalizing it when its not supposed to be is unconstitutional. And it's the first state to do this under the rador legalization, like its fully legal in Nevada, but its "legal" in SF, if that makes any sense.
Paige failed to mention that the passing of Proposition K, and the general legalization of prostitution would help to limit human trafficking and sex slavery. Under current laws, prostitutes who come to the law for help can be arrested and tried for the very prostitution they are trying to escape. If prostitution is legalized then sex slaves and other prostitutes who need help or are the victims of violence, abuse, etc. will be able to get help without the fear of arrest. This is why I support the passage of Prop K and the legalization of prostitution in general, and not the reasons why one might expect a teenage boy to expect the legalization of prostitution...
I can see why the prop might be beneficial in that it would save our police department a ton of money... But it wouldn't be surprising for California to be the first to pass it considering how the state is already very liberal in general. I'm not entirely sure how it wouldn't be unconstitutional as it seems to support individual rights and etc. I'm not sure what the unconstitutional aspect is... but whatever... I don't know all the detailed content in our constitution and whether or not any part of it could be used to show the proposition is unconstitutional.
I think it's kind of ridiculous to for us to support prostitution in S.F. Of course it's always going to be there, but it's morally wrong. You can make the argument that a person can do what they want with their body, but not in public, that's stupid. Garret made a good point about prositutes and sex slaves being protected under prop k, but they can be without prostitution being legalized. In the future I wouldn't want to be walking down the streets of S.F. with my kids and have every other person be a prostitute. Even though Cali is one of the most liberal states in America, I don't think it would be good for the state or the country if prop k was passed.
Last year in English my debate was on legalizing prostitution, and I think Prop K is missing out on a lot of stuff.
After doing some research, I found that not only does legalized prostitution help prostitutes seek help without fearing arrest (as Garret said), but also it allows the state to regulate prostitution. The legislature could enact health standards and mandatory STD tests for prostitutes once it was legalized.
Here is one of the sites I used in my research. It has a lot of good information on prostitution. Check it out!
http://prostitution.procon.org/
I agree with those wanting to legalize prostitution.
It is important to note that laws do not exist to determine morality. That is up to an individual to decide (i.e. family values) or, if he is so inclined, his religion (or the dogma thereof). Laws exist to be pragmatic and realistic. If we were to look at almost any "crime" that does no harm unto others, we would see that however "immoral" each may seem, criminalizing them does nothing to prevent them. Rather, it creates a black market that evades taxes and regulation and inclines the destitute to put themselves at considerable risk to make money dealing/prostituting/etc. If there were going to be prostitutes, I would rather their income be taxable, and that they stop spreading STDs.
Abortion is a perfect example of how legalizing something that people claim is "morally wrong" makes society much better (I in no way think prostitution is anywhere near as acceptable as abortion, though). By legalizing abortion, the black market of unsafe abortions ended, the safety of all involved increased dramatically, and the government was then able to regulate it on a continuous basis.
Remember, making something legal does not equate with determining it right or wrong, just what makes rational sense.
I'm with Jason on this one. Morality should not affect the laws that are enacted in the U.S. An individual chooses whether to have high ethical standards or not.
Also, legalizing prostitution would actually benefit the health of current prostitutes and make prostitution safer. There could be regulations requiring prostitutes to take an STD test every so many days, which would decrease the spread of AIDS and other STDs considerably. Also, there would be pay regualtions, so prostitutes would be able to safely support a family if need be.
Prostitutes are people too, and they need the same care as other working class members.
I agree with Jason and Rachel on the issue of writing inherently subjective morality into law, but another important thing to think about when the legalization of various illegal markets comes up, which Jason touched on briefly, is that illegal things can't be taxed. The legalization and subsequent regulation of things like prostitution and marijuana would create another source of tax revenue for a government that is currently hurting very much for cash.
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