Economics of Prostitution In Amsterdam
In major cities around the world, both time and money are being wasted in the fight against prostitution. Not only are politicians constantly devising new methods of eliminating the prostitutes, but also the mayors of these cities are continuously squandering precious amounts of money in trying to rid the streets of prostitutes. What the politicians do not realize however is that no matter how hard they try, they will never fully eradicate prostitution. Sex is essential to the human being; if one is willing to pay for it, someone else will always be willing to perform it. Moreover, if sex is legal, and paying for services is also legal, then why shouldn't paid sex be legal? In Amsterdam, Holland, prostitution has been legalized. Not only does this allow the city to focus on more important issues as homelessness and criminal activity, it also brings in a large profit from the tourists who come to Amsterdam for the sex. There are those who claim that establishing brothels in a city will lower the market values of neighboring residential properties. They further maintain that these lower value properties will attract the attention of lower-income people, thereby bringing in the "wrong" types of
Opponents of the legalization of prostitution assert that prostitution may be eliminated through the use of 12-step programs for johns and prostitutes. These programs supposedly teach these "miscreants" about the evils of prostitution, and would slowly back them away from it. They further maintain that if they continually use the police force to push prostitutes off the streets, the prostitutes would eventually become discouraged, and not return to the streets. However, there is not one city in the world that has successfully eliminated prostitution. Moreover, when one craves sex, one will not take "no" for an answer, even after one has been taught the evils of commercial sex. As the world's oldest profession, prostitution, like a faithful dog, will not leave its owner's side. The owners will continue to call on it even if it is made illegal. In trying to vacuum the streets of prostitutes, the government would just waste increasing amounts money and time into more police officers. In fact, the average arrest, court, and incarceration costs amount to approximately $2,000.00 per arrest. Moreover, cities spend an average 7.5 million dollars a year on prostitution control (PENet: Prostitution Issues: Statistics, 2). By legalizing prostitution, as in Amsterdam, the government could not only save itself 7.5 million dollars a year, but could make a profit off prostitution. In fact, in Amsterdam, the average prostitute charges $50 for a fifteen-minute encounter (World Sex Guide Document: Amsterdam_report1, 2). If this prostitute had 7 customers a day, and wo
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Approximate Word count = 1051
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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