Re:Rhode Island unintentionally decriminalized indoor prosti...
by vacri on Friday July 18, 2014 @10:52PM
(#8056505)
It's legal here in Melbourne as long as the prostitution takes place within a registered brothel. This allows the police to do spot checks and confirm that things are above board, including health checks. Streetwalking is still illegal. It's still not perfect, for example, a trafficking ring was broken up a few years ago by the police, but it seems to have struck a happy balance.
That said -- and it's amazing how many people are so stupid -- it's very difficult to successfully ban transactions that are, if not morally voluntary (ie the whore could be trafficked), at least voluntary in the moment. The same applies to drugs, prostitution, and sex. As Bill Hicks said: We had a war on drugs, and drugs won. (Though most republicans don't even believe their own bullshit; the number that have smoked a joint or who look the other way when it's their daughter knocked up at 17 or their mistress or their wife is pretty astounding).