Study: Rhode Island Accidentally Decriminalized Prostitution, and Good Things Happened
Adrianna McIntyre, Vox: Study: Rhode Island Accidentally Decriminalized Prostitution, and Good Things Happened - Vox
“Indoor” prostitution refers to sex work that takes place through massage parlors, escort agencies, and most of the online market, compared to outdoor street-based prostitution.
The authors found evidence that, after decriminalization, size of the indoor sex market increased — as expected — and prices commensurately fell.
More surprising was the finding that forcible rape offenses fell by 31 percent in Rhode Island from 2004 to 2009, as decriminalized indoor sex work scaled up in the state. This translates to 824 fewer reported rapes. The majority of the reduction in rapes came from Providence, where the state’s sex work is concentrated.
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Using CDC data, the authors were able to determine that cases of female gonorrhea fell by 39 percent over the same time period. The sexually transmitted disease disproportionately affects prostitutes — 23% of women who engage in sex work report ever contracting gonorrhea, compared to 5% of the general female population.
The study doesn’t reach any conclusions why rape and std transmission fell but proposed some theories. Allowing sex workers to operate legally empowers them so they are not as easily victimized by pimps, johns and cops. So why is sex work still illegal, since we know its not going away anytime soon?