I’ve previously established my position with regards to the war on drugs. In any case, I mentioned prostitution a few days ago, and promised that I would address it. So I’ve been mulling it over, and I think that prostitution is even more defensible than drug legalization (which I believe is ultimately, constitutionally defensible, anyways.) I say this merely because the underlying elements to drug use/sale are currently illegal, whereas the underlying elements of prostitution are not. Explicit costs aside, I’m going to borrow the argument that I made regarding drugs: There is something seriously awry with a state that allows and/or encourages its peace officers to engage in “criminal behavior,” using as justification, the promise of bringing down more arbitrarily defined criminals.

So allow me to state my case, as plain as I am able: It is illegal to solicit a prostitute, or to solicit a “John,” yet vice cops routinely engage in both of these activities in order to arrest prostitutes or would-be “Johns.” Note that this method of “gathering evidence” is markedly different than acceptable forms of sleuthing, forensic detective work, and casual observation, which presumably leave a person’s freedom and right to self-determination in-tact.

But though prostitution is easy to define, it’s rather hard to differentiate in any meaningful manner from a host of legal activities and interactions between the genders. Consider: It is not illegal to have sex. It is not illegal to exchange money, or to give monetary gifts. This does not in any way depend on the rendering of a service or a good. I’m having trouble making the requisite logical leap to arrive at the determination that exchanging money for sex ought to be somehow illegal.

Ask yourself, is it illegal to throw a $35,000 wedding, so you can marry a woman, and have the exclusive privelege of engaging in “relations” with her? Is it illegal to take a lady to dinner, have a few cocktails, and do it like they do on the discovery channel later that night at your apartment? Even further, is it illegal to meet a girl at a club, drink yourself silly, and wake up naked on her couch after a night of sex-olympics? Advisable? Perhaps not, but illegal?

Presuming consent, not one of those examples is illegal. The only difference between our hooker/john scenario, and the above, is some sort of intermediary exchange – wedding vows (symbolic), dinner & movie, cocktails, etc. So is this the requirement? That there must be some sort of intermediary device? Ahhh, not so fast. You see, Hookers came up with a rather resourceful ruse: John approaches, asks for “directions.” Hooker claims she needs a ride. Hooker services John en route. John pays Hooker for the “directions.”

But this sort of transaction, despite the intermediate device of directions exchanged for a ride to/from, is also prohibited. Where is this line drawn? Is it the intent? Then you may presume it’s illegal to take a girl to dinner, if your intent is to woo her into your bed later that night. This is just an overreaching, evangelical attempt to legislate morality. What is ultimately required, is a completely subjective judgement evaluation as to the designs of the individuals involved, and thence; the merit of the decisions having been made and actions implemented.

We are outlawing, and misallocating scarce law-enforcement resources to deter and arrest people for engaging in what they, in their individual capacities, have determined to be a mutually beneficial, purely voluntary transaction. If you really want to criminalize intentions and motives, consider that in these circumstances, the officer is the one who’s lying; the hooker is the one who’s on the up-and-up.

Radley Balko has a nice take on this issue, “The only way to enforce [consensual crimes] is to put cops in the precarious, corruption-tempting position of going undercover to conduct sting operations. And that gives rise to sleazy scenarios like this one, where cops engage in acts of prostitution, then arrest the women they patronized….for engaging in acts of prostitution.”