Is This Proof That Legalising Prostitution Could Decrease Rape?

Rhode Island accidentally decriminalised prostitution and, actually, some good things happened

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by Sophie Cullinane |
Published on

The arguments about legalising prostitution are long and complicated and often centre around the well-being of the sex workersthemselves. Should we make prostitution legal so that the people who decide to sell sex aren’t forced underground, where they are at greater risk of violence? Should sexual work be unionised and should sex workers be liable to pay tax and be protected by employment law? These arguments are all compelling, but very little has been said about what might happen to the rest of society if prostitution was made legal. Would sex-crazed monsters suddenly roam the streets, brazenly picking up prossies without fear of retribution? Would crime increase? And the kids – what would happen to the kids?

Well, if this accidental experiment is anything to go by, very little because it looks like legalising prostitution might actually decrease crime. It all began in 2003, when Rhode Island unintentionally decriminalised prostitution. The state’s legislature amended a law in 1980 because they believed it outlawed some forms of consensual sex between adults. The amendment created an unintentional legal loophole, which was unnoticed until 2003, when a District Court judge realised the amendment meant that paying for consensual sex was not a criminal offence in Rhode Island if it took place privately indoors. It wasn’t until 2009 that the loophole was closed, meaning that prostitution was legal in Rhode Island for six years – acting like a natural experiment allowing teams of researchers to look into the casual effects of decriminalising sex work.

The research has been published in a new paper from the National Bureau of Economic Research. Economists Scott Cunningham and Manisha Sha analysed the six years when the residents of Rhode Island were aware that prostitution was a crime and they found some surprising results – during the period both forcible rape offences and incidences of gonorrhoea actually declined. Forcible rape offences dropped by an enormous 31 per cent between 2004-2009, which translated as 824 fewer reported rapes. What’s more, this reduction was seen the most in the Providence region, where the majority of the state’s sex work takes place.

Before you call ‘coincidence!’ (is calling coincidence a thing?!), no other crimes experienced anywhere near the sharp decline that rape did during that period, so it’s not as if everyone in Rhode Island had a sudden burst of conscience or that there’d been a massive increase in policing.

But why did this happen? Erm, the researchers don't actually know. ‘While we would like to say something conclusive about the mechanisms post-decriminalisation which lead to the observed decreases in rape offenses and gonorrhoea incidence, we are careful to note that this discussion on pathways is merely suggestive,' they wrote. 'We are not claiming to have identified the causal channels which link the change in decriminalization to the behavioural outcomes of interest.’

However, they did make some suggestions – firstly, that legalised sex work could improve prostitutes bargaining power, and that legalising sex work allows for more money to be in circulation for security. So far, so good. But, more worryingly, researchers also suggested the possibility that some men view prostitutes as rape ‘substitutes’, so men who would ordinarily go out and rape someone get their ‘fix’ by visiting prostitutes. Yeah. Not really a glowing report of the male sex that, is it? ‘While speculative, there is anecdotal evidence for this,' they explain. 'In the 2010 documentary Happy Endings, which is about the efforts of Rhode Island to re-criminalize indoor sex work, there is a scene where a sex worker claims that she believes the men she services would have raped other women had they not come to see her.’

While it's unclear if this accidental experiment tells us anything about what legalising prostitution would do to other countries or even states, it certainly makes an interesting addition to the debate about legalising sex work. Something to think about, right?

Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophiecullinane

Picture: Ada Hamza

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.

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