With the murder of the women in Ipswich. Is it time for the law to be changed and make prostitution legal?

Question

The law will never stop prostitution in any country. Maybe making it legal and have some control. Women who want to earn there living this way would be able ply there trade in safety.

Answer 1

I do think legalising prostitution would make life for people who practice the trade safer in many, many ways.

However, governments have a moral obligation to protect and uphold the virtues our culture maintains to be vital to a healthy society. If the government legalised prostitution, that would send a message that they were condoning it. As the Church of England is the moral authority in this country, we cannot condone such acts as they fall outside the lines of acceptable conduct as is dictated by the CoE.

It's a very sticky situation because in effect the authorities can only clean up messes, after the fact. They cannot prevent it from happening due to current 'blind-eye' tactics.

The CoE cannot be seen to accept prostitution, so morally there will never be agreement between what is the better of two evils. Legalised Prostitution vs. Leaving Vulnerable Women At The Mercy of Rapists / Murderers / Diseases.

I don't think there is an ideal answer to these questions - but I do honestly believe that legalising prostitution would cut down on so much street crime. However, that opens a whole big can of worms too - look at Amsterdam. We would then be pushed to follow suit and say that because people are going to do drugs anyway, and there exists a dangerous drug market, we should legalise it because it could be regulated. Then you have Euthanasia.. Another serious discussion along the same lines.

Again, immorality being condoned is not always the best policy.

The Government has a responsibility to protect the moral fibres of society. If it doesn't answer to the CoE, who will it answer to? We all know that politicians are unbelievably corrupt - if moral standards were thrown to the wind, how far would they run to benefit themselves with that freedom? At whose expense?

You cannot legalise something just because it makes the people who are breaking the law - safer. Lines have to be drawn somewhere - and people will always cross the lines, but they also know the risks.

It's sad - but cannot stop wrongdoings by just lowering societal standards.

Answer 2

It has to do with being a role-model - so to speak. If the government makes it legal they are in a way saying that it is OK to buy and sell sex.

With legislation however these women (and men) would have to pay taxes which probably would lessen the amount of money they receive for this type of work. The money is good because it is illegal. So maybe fewer people would want the work.

I remember a case in Germany (or maybe it was Holland) where a woman was forced by law to be a prostitute. There they have a law which says that if you are unemployed and are receiving unemployment benefits then you HAVE TO accept any job-offering you get, or else you'll lose the benefits. That law is very common btw it is used to minimise people accepting unemployment benefits. So if prostitution is legal then it applies to that line of work as well.
If we are to legalise prostitution then it means that we have to look upon it as a normal job.
So, if you have a romantic partner who is unemployed she/he might have to work as a prostitute if she's/he's offered a job in a brothel or on the streets. Or if you get unemployed yourself you might have to accept this type of work.

That is something many people don't realise.

Answer 3

I agree prostitution s/b legalized, but not simply because women have been murdered. But legalization would make the profession a little less dangerous.

The main reason I feel prostitution s/b legalized is that I simply cannot accept that an act which is perfectly legal if done for any number of motivations, some good and some bad, can all of a sudden be illegal simply because someone is being paid for it.

For example, a young lady can have sex with her boyfriend and no one thinks a thing of it; it is legal. A college cheerleader could screw the entire football team just to be popular, and that would be legal. (I'm not saying 'right' or 'moral', just legal.) But if that same girl were to try to help pay her way through school by having sex for money, that would be illegal. That just makes absolutely no sense to me. Attaching money to a legal activity should not make it illegal.

Answer 4

Making it legal wouldnt help, these women will always choose when and where, protection would come at a cost who pays??safe brothels where do you put them?? I agree it should be legal but dont think it would help much with the safety of these women.The radio said that most of the prostitutes in Ipswich didnt go out on the streets last night bet you they back 2nt though.Theyre being told make sure you tell someone where youre going with these" clients"why? if he,s going to kill you all that does is give police an idea of where the body is not going to help the girl that went with the" client"

Answer 5

I doubt this man is murdering the Prostitutes because it's a legal or illegal occupation.
He's murdering them because they are women who are on the streets alone at night and are willing to get into his car.
If there were no prostitutes he'd have to put in a little more effort and kidnap his victims but I'm sure that's an effort the monster would be willing to make.
It should never be legal to solicit on the street. Creating registered brothels would solve a great many ills. Health, safet security and workers rights for example. But it wouldn't stop these types of murders.

Answer 6

Well it certainly would make sense in a lot of ways. Prostitutes could be checked regularly for sexually transmitted diseases and have access to contraception etc. Maybe it could be made safer as well instead of prostitutes having to hang about on street corners every night. However, lets not forget the facts here. The main reason why women are prostitutes is because they or their partners are addicted to drugs so its a way of getting money to feed the drug habit. So if you're going to legalise anything, legalise drugs and make them readily available - that will cut out most prostitution all together anyway - probably. Also, doing a job where you are highly intimate with total strangers without exchanging more than a "Hello" beforehand is always going to be dangerous whether its legalised or not! There are a lot of weirdos out there and I expect lots of them regularly use prostitutes.

Answer 7

Why not make it legal, in this day and age casual SEX is accepted....and that's for FREE! Most prostitutes are abused and in a lost situation anyway, makin it legal might open doors for them, yes it's wrong, yes it's bad...but so is cigarettes, so are strip clubs, so is pornography, i can go on with the list...people say oh legalizing won't solve anything..how the hell do they know when they haven't tried it yet? Obviously porn is one of the biggest damn industries in this country, i've never seen many strip clubs go out of business, and as sleazy as it is a lot of women who have no other option apparently took that risk, were sensible to use the fast money and get out to follow through with a successful career. The world's a b*tch..bad things will never go away, but if you can use it for the greater good in the end....what's wrong with that? Some people had to go through hell just to get to where they are in their success...and alot of it wasn't clean cut going to mcdonalds, college, and then big career, you have to have MONEY for that kind of sh*t...lot of people don't have it.

It won't stop murders.....there's always gonna be that. But if you take away the incentive to do bad things (for example income from marijuana is crazy for fast money, but if you legalize it, tax it, and that price turns from sugar to sh*t...what will those bastards have to make fast money now?). Then alot of times things change for the better....so good point on the legalizing, but....not because it will stop the murders...that'll never end.

Answer 8

The majority of prostitute`s in this country do it because they need money to feed their drug habit !( Fact )
Should we legalise all the drug`s they use aswell ? Making brothel`s legal will not stop the smack head`s working the street`s ! as you have mentioned the government would make money off the prostitute`s so the smack heads walking the street`s would`nt use the place`s anyway because they need all the money they can get for the drug`s !

Answer 9

Tough one.
I hate to judge anyone about anything.
Some people will try to convince you that all sex-workers are co-erced into the trade after being illegally trafficked into the country and their families back home in "wherevia" are being held at knifepoint. Some others will say that they enter the oldest profession due to the failure of society to give them alternative opportunities to feed their children. There is probably some truth in both, but there must be a "middle ground" that we never hear about".
Who is the biggest criminal - the women who solicit, or the mad nutters who run around killing them?
I'm no saint or crusader, but the whole issue leaves me feeling a little uncomfortable, either way.
Hookers are people too.

Answer 10

the church should have no say in this. in our society there is a separation of church and state. i'm pretty sure, as somebody said, prostitution is legal - it's solicitation and running a brothel with more than one woman in it that's illegal (i don't understand the logic behind any of this). still, they're allowed to put ads in phone boxes, no problem. although we should establish brothels and 'districts' it will never stop kerb crawling or women working on the street. there'll always be ones who know they can get more money from guys who don't want to be under the eye of the law. in the long run, it would go a long way in preventing prostitutes being assaulted/raped and STDs being transmitted. if we could stop 5 women being raped or 5 people getting AIDS in a year then i'd consider legalised brothels a success