How to stop/prevent sex crimes and underage prostitution
There are several definitions of child prostitution. According to the United Nations, underage prostitution is the act that involves engaging minors to be involved or to take part in acts that are sexual in nature mostly for monetary gains, or whichever other consideration that the other person may propose. According to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, underage prostitution refers to the act of obtaining sexual services from a minor for compensation. Usually, in most states, the age under which somebody is considered a minor is that of below sixteen years. In most cases, the child is the victim of the act. Consent from the parties is not always considered as a child is deemed unfit or not old enough to make their own decisions and as such, indulging in underage prostitution, is an offence punishable by law (Iles, 2010).
Sex crimes are also offenses that are heavily punishable by the law, depending on their type and scale. The sex crimes may be divided into various categories depending on many factors. Examples of the sex crimes include cases in which there is non-consensual or forced sexual relationship. This usually leads to rape or sexual assault. Essentially, there is no consent from one party to the affair. It is punishable by law (Dobbert, 2004). Other sex crimes may involve those that take psychological forms such as sexual harassment and human trafficking. Others may be in the form of generic conditions, whereby pedophilia is one of them. Pedophilia refers to a condition whereby adults have a huge appetite to engage in sexual activities with minors. All these crimes are punishable by law.
There is a general view that sexual crimes and underage prostitution are evils in the society that should be prevented at all costs. As such, the offenders are viewed with a lot of criticism and always hated in the society. This is because of several reasons. For instance, the effects that can be created from such offences are very disturbing. Due to the sex crimes, a victim to the offence faces uncertainty in their lives. Rape, for instance, has several negative effects to the victim. For instance, it can lead to physical impacts such as vaginal or anal bleeding (La, 2005). The victim may also contract deadly diseases such as HIV/AIDS. Early pregnancy is another result of rape, totally changing the life of the victim negatively. The psychological effects of rape are also disturbing in the lifetime of the victim. They may feel traumatized in their entire life and develop a negative attitude towards people of the opposite gender. Similarly, they may end up using drugs as a mechanism to help them forget the ordeal. In most cases, guidance and counseling is encouraged to heal the wounds. However, this plays a minimal role in the actual healing of the victims. As such, it the community at large plays a role in ensuring that the evils are either stopped or prevented from taking place.
Most states have laws that bar or illegalize the sex crimes and the underage prostitution. Failure to follow these laws may lead to hefty punishments, with other crimes attracting life imprisonments to the offenders. O some extent, these laws, tend to work in reducing the sex crimes where there is no consent. However, they tend to be difficult in the manner that they can be enforced in cases where there is consent between the parties. As much as underage prostitution is highly condemned, sometimes the minors play a big part in promoting it. As such, it becomes a difficult task for the law-enforcement officers to know when the offence has been done (Stone, 2011). This is because of the role that the underage prostitutes play in concealing the acts in order to make extra money. Most of the offences go unnoticed, and as such, coercion and punishment do not seem to be the best mechanisms of preventing and ending child prostitution and sex offences. As much as coercion plays some role, proper mechanisms need to be instituted to address the issue. Nevertheless, increasing the law enforcement engagement remains to be a legal solution to solving the evils in the society.
Essentially, another possible mechanism to prevent the crimes is through developing necessary partnership geared towards promoting responsible entertainment. One of the reasons why sex crimes and underage prostitution exist is because of the exposure that people have towards pornographic materials and other indecent TV programs. As such, they encourage the youth and other evil-minded people to engage in the activities that they see in the programs. Through censoring the television programs before they are aired, then there is a big chance to select the programs that are educative in nature and promote good morals in the society (Sax, 2009).
The manner in which the children are brought up also plays a role in determining whom they will grow up to become. For instance, a child brought up in a hostile environment will probably grow up to become violent. Parents need to bring up children in a way that encourages self-respect and respect for other people. As such, there will be no need to have regulations since there will be nobody committing the offences. Self-esteem is another factor that sometimes encourages these offences (Laws, 2009). People suffering from low-self esteem always find it difficult to look for sexual partners. As a result, they end up committing some of the sex crimes in order to satisfy their thirst. As such, the parents play a major role in guiding the children to become morally upright people in the society when they grow up.
References
Dobbert, D. L. (2004). Halting the sexual predators among us: Preventing attack, rape, and lust homicide. Westport, Conn: Prager.
Iles, G. (2010). The devil's punchbowl. New York: Pocket Star Books.
La, F. J. (2005). Preventing sexual violence: How society should cope with sex offenders. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
Laws, D. R., Hudson, S. M., & Ward, T. (2000). Remaking relapse prevention with sex offenders: A sourcebook. Thousand Oaks, Calif: Sage Publications.
McClintock, K. A. (2004). Preventing sexual abuse in congregations: A resource for leaders. Herndon, Va: Alban Institute.
Sax, R. (2009). Predators and child molesters: What every parent needs to know to keep kids safe : a sex crimes DA answers 100 of the most asked questions. Amherst, N.Y: Prometheus Books.
Smallbone, S., Marshall, W. L., & Wortley, R. (2008). Preventing child sexual abuse: Evidence, policy and practice. Cullompton, Devon: Willan Publishing.
Stone, E. (2011). Flesh & blood. Frisco, TX: Dreamspinner Press.
