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Runnin' Ho's online is illegal too

Many people know that the places to go when you have junk to get rid of are eBay and Craigslist. Unlike eBay, Craigslist has some rather unsavory ads that run in its “erotic services” section.

The Chicago Tribune reports that ten people have been charged in an Internet-based prostitution ring that sold sex from classified ads placed in the Craigslist “erotic services” section. Four Chicago area men have been charged with employing prostitutes young as 15.

According to authorities, the prostitution ring ran in Illinois and Indiana and involved at least 11 women; some were only high school freshmen or sophomores. According to Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart, the arrests made earlier this week are a result of a three-month investigation.

The four men charged in the prostitution ring are Rodney “Mook” Williams, Eddie Wells and Terrance “Big T” Greenless Jr. from Chicago and Gregory Key of Ever Green Park. Six women were charged with prostitution and two juveniles were questioned and released without charges.

Chicago authorities state the men accused of operating the prostitution ring could face up to 30-years in prison. Dart told the Chicago Tribune, “The erotic services link on Craigslist provides a free advertising network for prostitutes and pimps, and it's unrealistic for us to believe company officials are unaware of these ads.”

Dart also says that his office has encouraged Craigslist to remove its “erotic services” section but the ads continue to run.  Likely, the Chicago ring only drew enough attention for litigation after it was discovered the network included minors.


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What are the Pros and Cons...
By Noya on 12/27/2007 4:02:49 PM , Rating: 2
of legalized prostitution? And why isn't it legalized here in the US?




RE: What are the Pros and Cons...
By BladeVenom on 12/27/2007 4:17:07 PM , Rating: 2
You think women should be allowed to choose what they do with their bodies?


RE: What are the Pros and Cons...
By amanojaku on 12/27/2007 4:19:45 PM , Rating: 2
No. I should be allowed to choose. Please? :-)


RE: What are the Pros and Cons...
By qwertyz on 12/27/2007 7:20:52 PM , Rating: 1
They should have buy some video cameras and instead of prostitution start making some cool porn movies, I'm sure everyone would have enjoy it even the judge that take this case and they would have not finish in prison but being world recognized and making big money.
They would have done pretty much the same thing but the consequences would be totally different, just think about it.


RE: What are the Pros and Cons...
By senbassador on 12/28/2007 1:42:46 AM , Rating: 1
Pros:

If it were legal, we would on average have a better idea whose selling and whose buying it. That means the priests and ministers would concentrate more on those people to "save" and leave everyone alone. So its a win-win.

Also, if more people had sex we would all get bored with it soon enough and not make as big a deal about it. Overtime in the long run the number of teens who abstain from sex until at least college will likely increase. Ironically, if anybody who should be in favor of legalizing prostitution is religious people.

It would also take some power away from Hollywood and the douchebags who run the porn and the strip club industry shoving down their idea of what a "perfect 10" is; since people's "value" would be more heavily weighed on how good they are in bed than how they look (sure, not really a huge improvement but thats besides the point).

A good number of criminals who work as pimps will have to go on and find other jobs when legitimate businesses take over. Ditto for drug dealers if drugs become legal.

People who are closet sex addicts will be exposed and treated.

Cons:

Easy money that doesn't require any actual work + no college degree = probably not a very good idea. Think how many dumb bimbos could have made something of themselves but decided to become strippers instead. Now multiply that by like 10.

That means we get hurt economically to some extent, if more people drop out of high school because they wish to chase after the big bucks and screw themselves in the long run, some of which will become future criminals and welfare queens. I sure hope you shred all your credit card offers.

Remember those pimps and thugs who theoretically would disappear and there be less crime. Well, they'd probably just move on to bigger things. So there goes that pipedream theory that crime will largely disappear if we legalize drugs and prostitution. Whats worse, they may do things that will eventually affect us "decent" people. To a certain extent, there may be a "conspiracy" among lawmakers to keep prostitution, drugs, and gambling illegal to contain the damage only to "degenerates." In a way, its a pretty slick idea: throwing our undesirables such as gambling addicts and prostitutes to the wolves as bait.

Remember those "legitimate" businesses that would move in. Well, what do you think are the chances they'll lobby the government to put limits on the number of licenses in circulation to squeeze the mom and pop brothels out of existence? Hey, the casinos did it. Wouldn't be a very free market, would it? People like to bitch at the churches, but we don't like large corporations either. Well, do we really want large corporations controlling people's sex lives instead of churches. To a certain extent, your busy-body religious folks telling us what we can and don't do with our bodies might be the lessor of the two evils.

More people will become sex addicts.

People who aren't sex addicts but like to consume the service A LOT will be falsely branded sex addicts.

Some douchbags in the mental health industry will try to make money by coining up some bullshit sex related complexes and make millions "treating" it.

OVERALL, I think legalizing prostitution would do more good than harm. However, I can clearly see legitimate counter-arguments to that as well.


RE: What are the Pros and Cons...
By FITCamaro on 12/28/2007 10:44:30 AM , Rating: 3
I think you missed a big one.

STD rates would go sky high. Do you really want the US to be the next Africa. Not to mention the insane number of pregnancies that will come as a result of this. We've got enough young single moms out there who are leaching off the welfare system because of their bad decisions. Do we need to add a few hundred thousand or million more?

Sure you can require prostitutes to get checked on a routine basis. But who's going to pay for it? Them? Hell no. They'll just say they did and you won't know.

And do we really need one more moral degradation of our society? I'm not even talking about religious views here. I'm saying do we really want it to be ok for women to sell themselves for sex? You can spout "women's right to choose" crap all you want. If you were a father how would you feel about your 19 year old daughter being a slut? Didn't think so.


RE: What are the Pros and Cons...
By FastLaneTX on 12/28/2007 11:34:39 AM , Rating: 4
Nevada has legalized prostitution, but heavy regulations on the practice, and the result is that since they started testing there have been zero cases where one of the women turned up positive. I bet the number of pregnancies is also zero, since they all use condoms and are required to be on some other form of birth control. Really, any sane hooker would -- and the not-so-sane ones are already out there hooking and catching diseases and/or getting pregnant today anyways.

I do agree that what you describe is somewhat more likely if we were to decriminalize prostitution, which means no regulation. But, honestly, I'm not even sure of that. Once you subtract out the prostitutes who are drug addicts (who would become a tiny minority once non-addict hookers became available), they're the smartest and most safe-sex-aware segment of our population. They're sure as heck better at it than most amateurs, who are convinced of such idiocy as "he looks clean, we don't need condoms" or don't insist on condoms because they're hoping to get knocked up and thus a free ride on child support.


By senbassador on 12/28/2007 4:10:03 PM , Rating: 2
The STD and pregnancy increase is a good point. Making sure they get checked wouldn't be too hard though if it were part of their licensing agreement. So overall, it be a close call.

As to your other points,

#1) Technically women wouldn't be the only ones prostituting themselves, so this wouldn't really be a women's rights issue in the first place.

#2) I think your "would you want your 19 year old daughter" argument is a bit of an appeal to emotion. Keep in mind that stripping is already legal, which is about one step away from prostitution. You could say we've already opened the Pandora's box on that one. I wouldn't have wanted my potential future 19-year-old becoming a stripper either, but its still legal and I don't see too many arguments in favor or making it illegal. To a large extent, keeping your kids from becoming strippers / prostitutes is about good parenting, not legislation. I don't think that the government should be doing parent's jobs because they don't know how to raise their kids.

I also wouldn't my future kids majoring in liberal arts (not necessarily a moral issue) but I don't think there should be a law against colleges offering liberal arts as a major.

Like I said earlier, its a close calls and obviously theres got to be a point where society draws a line whats legal and whats not. The current system seems pretty reasonable, having stripping being the cut-off. All I am saying is that I would draw the line one step further.


RE: What are the Pros and Cons...
By mdogs444 on 12/27/2007 4:21:29 PM , Rating: 2
Actually, it is somewhat legal in Las Vegas city limits.

But if it was put to a public vote - I think you'd be hard pressed to even pull a 10% vote in favor of legalizing it.


RE: What are the Pros and Cons...
By BMFPitt on 12/27/2007 4:34:53 PM , Rating: 5
From what I understand, it's legal to sell your own body in the UK, but illegal for others to profit off of it. Sounds like a great system to me. Not that we'd ever adopt a great system here.


RE: What are the Pros and Cons...
By mdogs444 on 12/27/2007 4:48:08 PM , Rating: 1
I think part of the reason for it is that its a cash based business. There is no way to prove that you made any money, or how much you made - therefore are not paying city, state, or federal taxes.

If this person is selling their body, and has a high risk of getting an STD or other disease, and states no income, then should it really be the taxpayers burden to supply that person with health insurance & welfare checks?


RE: What are the Pros and Cons...
By TomZ on 12/27/2007 5:16:19 PM , Rating: 2
There are lots of other cash-based businesses whose incomes are already effectively taxed by city, county, state, and federal authorities, e.g., retail stores, barber shops, pizza delivery, etc.

No, the issue is that most people/businesses engaging in prostitution are doing so illegally, and people who engage in illegal activities for money don't generally file tax returns for risk of prosecution.


RE: What are the Pros and Cons...
By BMFPitt on 12/27/2007 5:29:12 PM , Rating: 5
quote:
I think part of the reason for it is that its a cash based business. There is no way to prove that you made any money, or how much you made - therefore are not paying city, state, or federal taxes.
So all cash-based businesses should be illegal?
quote:
If this person is selling their body, and has a high risk of getting an STD or other disease
Lots of people do the same things for free. What makes them different?
quote:
then should it really be the taxpayers burden to supply that person with health insurance & welfare checks?
It was my understanding that tax evasion was already illegal and quite frowned upon by the authorities.


RE: What are the Pros and Cons...
By mdogs444 on 12/27/07, Rating: -1
RE: What are the Pros and Cons...
By BMFPitt on 12/28/2007 7:33:23 AM , Rating: 2
So allow me to summarize your point then: You think prostitution should be illegal purely on moral grounds, but don't want to admit that so you tried to make up a bunch of other flimsy excuses that can be applied to thousands of other occupations but shouldn't be according to you.

Sound about right?


RE: What are the Pros and Cons...
By Bioniccrackmonk on 12/28/2007 10:20:13 AM , Rating: 1
Actually, I think that you are completely off on what Mdogs was trying to say. From what I get from his posts is that in order for a system like that to work here, voters would have to make it happen, which we all know will never pass.

Also,the examples you gave about cash businesses don't compare because there are actual receipts for the merchandise/pizza and you can pay via credit card or check as well as cash. Much more trackable then a prostitute who works off cash alone and doesn't have any proof of income, which allows them to claim no income, since they have no W2, hence no taxes. The only way it would be trackable is if we have something similar to what Amsterdam does in their Red Light district.

And I also completely agree about the insurance premiums as well.


RE: What are the Pros and Cons...
By BMFPitt on 12/28/2007 12:54:13 PM , Rating: 4
So your entire argument is predicated on believing that legal prostitution would work in exactly the same way that illegal prostitution currently does?

By the way, has any of this stuff you've theorized actually happened in the areas in Nevada where prostitution is legal?


By Bioniccrackmonk on 12/28/2007 1:31:41 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
So your entire argument is predicated on believing that legal prostitution would work in exactly the same way that illegal prostitution currently does?


No, nothing legal works the same way when its illegal.

quote:
By the way, has any of this stuff you've theorized actually happened in the areas in Nevada where prostitution is legal?


Has any of it not happened?

quote:
From what I understand, it's legal to sell your own body in the UK, but illegal for others to profit off of it. Sounds like a great system to me. Not that we'd ever adopt a great system here.


I do believe this is what you were talking about at first anyway, comparing the US to the UK and about how we would never adopt it. It's easy to single out one state that is progressive in their ideas, good luck with this on a national scale.


RE: What are the Pros and Cons...
By mdogs444 on 12/28/07, Rating: 0