Decriminalizing Indoor Prostitution: Implications for Sexual Violence and Public Health. (20th December 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Cunningham, Scott; Shah, Manisha
• Is Part Of: Review of economic studies. Volume 85:Number 3(2018:Jul.)
• Page Start: 1683
• Page End: 1715
• Publication Date: 2017-12-20
• Subjects: Regulation -- Sex work -- Public health -- Crime; I18 -- J4 -- K42; Economics -- Periodicals; 330
• DOI: 10.1093/restud/rdx065
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0034-6527

Abstract

Abstract: Most governments in the world, including the U.S., prohibit sex work. Given these types of laws rarely change and are fairly uniform across regions, our knowledge about the impact of decriminalizing sex work is largely conjectural. We exploit the fact that a Rhode Island District Court judge unexpectedly decriminalized indoor sex work to provide causal estimates of the impact of decriminalization on the composition of the sex market, reported rape offences, and sexually transmitted infections. While decriminalization increases the size of the indoor sex market, reported rape offences fall by 30% and female gonorrhoea incidence declines by over 40%.