Prostitution In America

Prostitution is known to be the world’s oldest profession, having been around for so long, this line of work has been subject to a lot of scrutiny; the most important debate resting on the whether or not prostitution should be legal. Although some may believe this debate to be black or white, there are many grey areas that play a part of this ongoing argument; these issues might prove to bring greater complications than meet the eye. Topics such as human rights, government involvement, the police’s role, must be considered when discussing the legality and policies that should be enforced concerning prostitution. Another key variable that must be taken into account when deliberating
Western culture has judged prostitution to be a criminal activity (excluding
Nevada), however this is not the case for some asian countries. This critical review will compare
2 research articles, the first will discuss prostitution in America whereas the second article will explore the Taiwanese sex trade culture.
The first text, written by Sociologist Ronald Weitzer, is an excerpt from the book Crime,
Law and Social Change.
Prostitution control in America: Rethinking Public Policy (Weitzer, 83) discusses the costs, victimization, community impact and mainly the alternative to the current policies that could be implemented regarding prostitution laws. The author, through detailed research, reviews policies such as decriminalization, legalization, and a two­track model which involves indoor prostitution and restructuring street prostitution control. Ultimately deeming the two­track model to be the most effective and promising policy for dealing with prostitution in american culture. (Weitzer, 93) The second text
The Dilemma of prostitution in Taiwan and Thailand from an NHRP
They hope that by informally ‘decriminalizing’ indoor prostitution, this will allow for an overall safer community if we are not being exposed directly to this deviant behaviour. (Weitzer, 90) In addition, they hope to ‘reconstruct street prostitution control’ which will consist of more frequent street arrest or the prostitutes and their patronizers.
However, it is pointed out in the article that most prostitutes prefer the streets because there is more business and money to be made, which could cause a riff in this policy. Because prostitution is a crime in America, this deviant act creates laws regarding this topic. Much like the authors from the previous article, the authors from article about Taiwan, the authors also adopted the functionalist theory when discussing prostitution. They are aware that prostitution is essential to the better functioning of taiwanese culture because of its economic and