Introduction
The word “Victimless” crime typically refers to crimes that are prohibited, but no direct injury is involved to the non-participants. Prostitution is one of the examples of victimless crimes. Today, prostitution has turned out to be a global industry where sex is now being traded for drugs, clothing, food, favors, shelter and money. Many reasons force people to partake in this activity despite the many dangers involved. The government should interfere with victimless crimes (such as prostitution) so that the dangers associated with them can be controlled.
Causes of Prostitution
There are many factors that cause prostitution to thrive in the society. The causes can be categorized into economic causes, psychological causes, and social causes.
In terms of economic causes, poverty, underage-unemployment, and corruption endear many women to the prostitution industry. Among the three, poverty is believed to be the main economic factor that leads to prostitution. Women who are semiliterate and illiterate find it tough to get a job in many institutions (Sharma 54). This may force them to engage in prostitution to fulfil the major requirements such as food, clothing and shelter. Also, those that have children but are not married may engage in prostitution so that they can educate their children. The second economic factor is underage employment. Many females employed at a young age find lust-seekers misleading them. Prostitution in industries is the third economic factor. Some institutions have been marred by corruption, making it difficult for some women to secure jobs thus driving them to prostitution.
The desire to live a luxurious life is also another contributor to prostitution. Some women find it hard to sustain themselves using the little earnings they get. The meagre salaries their husbands and parents get cannot enable them to buy the luxuries they desire. To meet their desires, some of these women are forced to turn into regular prostitutes.
Psychological causes also drive a significant number of women to prostitution. Those women who are frigid find themselves becoming desperate. They start trying many men who are available in the society. Because of being frigid, experiencing pleasure becomes difficult to some of them. This is what later causes them to engage in prostitution.
Social factors are the third major causes of prostitution. Family causes, bad neighbourhood and illegitimate motherhood are the examples of social factors that lead to prostitution. When a child grows without receiving love from her parents, either because they live separately or because their relationship is not in a good state, this may force that child to involve herself in prostitution later. Children who grow in the environment where sex trade exists later accept it to be a normal occurrence. In addition, those women who give birth to unplanned children and cannot carry out abortion, they may be forced to get into prostitution. That happens because they may fail to get someone to marry them after seeing them. That is what later forces these women to turn into regular commercial sex workers so that they can feed themselves and their children.
Dangers of Prostitution
The first risk of prostitution is that it has made many prostitutes to be violated by their pimps or their customers. It has been realized that relationships between the prostitutes and the pimps are always based on drug abuse, physical abuse, financial abuse and sexual abuse. The aim of pimps is to ensure that they get the money that most prostitutes earn. According to Flowers, in her book The Prostitution of Women and Girls, pimps work hard to make sure that the prostitutes are bringing the money they get from prostitution (132).
The second disadvantage of prostitution is risk of indulging in the abuse of drugs. Many prostitutes abuse drugs so that they can help them deal with the humiliation and pain of prostitution. They use both legal and prohibited drugs such as alcohol, heroin, and speed. Alcohol is used because it slows the prostitute’s ability to think. Long-term use of alcohol damages the liver. Speed (which is also known as Methamphetamine) is used because of its capacity to give an individual an energy rush. However, long-term use of this drug damages the mind.
The third danger of prostitution is that prostitutes are at the risk of being killed by their customers who in one way or another may also be drug addicts. For example, Mariana Popa, a Romanian prostitute, was stabbed to death on October 28 by one of her customers just because the women had been allowed to work on their own (BBC NEWS).
The other danger of prostitution is that it has an impact on the health of the prostitute. Sexual Transmitted Diseases such as Chlamydia, HIV/AIDs, gonorrhoea, syphilis, and herpes are alarmingly very high among the women who get involved in prostitution. Prostitution also has an emotional impact on the prostitutes. The emotional impacts include stress, depression, trauma, eating disorders and trauma.
Why the Government Should Interfere with Prostitution Despite it being between Two Consenting Adults
The first reason as to why the government should interfere with prostitution is so that the sexually transmitted illnesses can be controlled. Most of the regular prostitutes suffer from venereal diseases and, therefore, engaging in sexual activity with uninfected individuals spreads the disease, and this might even lead to death (Attwood 34).
Protection of the individuals participating in prostitution is another reason as to why the government should interfere. The participants of prostitution (mainly women) find themselves at the risk of being beaten and murdered by their clients. According to Flowers in her book, Prostitution in the Digital Age: Selling Sex from the Suite to the Stree, “five streetwalking sex workers met violent deaths at the hands of the serial killer who became known as Jack the Ripper” ( 64). Also, those women who depend on the pimps find themselves being violated and denied whatever they earn.
Prevention of other crimes is also another reason for government interference. If the government can succeed in controlling prostitution, then it will also have succeeded in the control of those who sell drugs to these prostitutes and those who use the same prostitutes in selling the drugs to their clients.
How the Government can Control Prostitution
The government can control prostitution by encouraging the commercial sex workers to find other ways of earning other than engaging in prostitution. The prostitutes may be given some amount of money as capital to start small businesses that may give them money to cater for their basic needs.
The government may also assist in controlling sex trade by keeping the sex workers out of the streets. Those who are involved in creating the demand for prostitution should be deterred from doing so. In addition, those organizers of the prostitutes and those who earn from the prostitutes should be penalized.
Conclusion
The government should interfere with the victimless crimes such as prostitution. Prostitution has been depicted as a very dangerous business. It leads to suffering of the participants, particularly the females. They are beaten and murdered by their clients. Also, the sale of drugs in the streets continues because of prostitution. Government interference will ensure all the challenges associated with prostitution and other sexual activities will be controlled.
Works Cited
Attwood, Nina. The Prostitute's Body: Rewriting Prostitution in Victorian Britain
The Body, Gender and Culture. Routledge, 2015.
BBC NEWS. "Farooq Shah Jailed For Ilford Sex Worker Murder." BBC NEWS 2014. Web. 15 Apr. 2016.
Flowers, Ronald B. The Prostitution of Women and Girls. Jefferson, NC. [u.a.: McFarland, 1998. Print.
Flowers, R B. Prostitution in the Digital Age: Selling Sex from the Suite to the Street. Santa Barbara, Calif: Praeger, 2011. Print.
Sharma, Rajendra K. Criminology and Penology. New Delhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 1998. Print.
