escort services could be a great revenue all around if done right.And alot of women are very independent,responsible, and secure enough mentaly to deal with what some people have no idea about.

They should ignore it only if they are offered some kick-backs, yes?

This whole discussion is classically classist.
We want worker centered discussion on this issue.
We don't want legalization.
Legalization is like instituting jim crow laws for hookers.

While admittedly, like Professor Weitzer, I too have called for moratoria on enforcement in the past, it is clearly only a temporary situation, and is not a stable or satisfactory situation, since such discretion could suddenly switch to enforcement without warning and can create a misleading sense of security. However, since indoor sex work is much safer, anything that gives sex workers more choice of location is welcome. But even in a situation of non-enforcement the harm of stigmatisation and marginalisation remains.

Farley's understanding of criminology is a matter of serious concern. It is not a question of who considers themselves an expert, but of the empirical evidence. Harsher sentences achieve nothing except to make certain sectors of the population and policy makers feel better at other people's expense.

To criminalise the purchase of sex makes no sense, it is not inherently harmful, but we make it so, like so many other things, by adopting a prohibitioniist stand. Criminalisation confuses some people's personal sense of morality with crime, the infliction of harm to person or property - they are quite distinct.

No they shouldn't ignore it plus, do you think that prostitution in any form should tolerated. C'mon it's not right. No matter if both people are consenting, you're selling a part of yourself to someone you don't even know or even like. When the reality is that every person man or woman that sells themself to someone else is morally wrong, physiclly wrong, and probably going to hell.

Legalize it. We need a major review of all other sex laws as well that involve victimless sex crimes and mutually consenting sexual activities. Too many are predicated on society's attempts to legislate and force it's sex morals onto others. At least homosexuals have finally been given legal freedom to make their own choices. When I was young, all kinds of similar arguments were applied towards them as they were carted off to jail.

Our police resources could then be better utilized focusing on real criminals who steal and threaten us all with real bodily harm.

The oldest profession will never leave us as long as women are desperate and men are horny.

I really don't care one way or the other. I'm just tired of seeing it in the news.

Indoor sex.......hu......what about sex outdoors on the beach? This is great news. Keep up the investigation.....and keep it in your pants/panties.

Why ignore just "high end" prostitution?
Are we all equal in this country or is that one more thing that has fallen by the way side?
I can't even believe that someone would be so insensitive to the common person as to ask something like this!

So how would you feel if you raised a beautiful, smart girl, nurtured her through high school and college, and then she became a prostitute? Really?

Every prostitute is someone's daughter. Why is it o.k. to buy other people's daughters but you don't want the same for your own?

There is no way you can convince me that having strangers inside your body multiple times a day is not bad for you psychologically. It is a hit on your self esteem - you are obviously being used. And many of those men are not all that pleasant behind closed doors. In fact they are psychologically and physically brutal.

Just because abuse happens in a nice room, that doesn't make it o.k.

Prostitution is illegal for a reason. It hurts people.

So now we are seeing the thought process behind the ABC News decision not to release the names of Pentagon and Whitehouse and other government officials who (illegally) used Palfrey's prostitutes.

The upscale gentlemen have decided that "discreet" prostitution amongst wealthy men and educated prostitutes is not as illegal as prostitution amongst the poor.

Just the fact that ABC is asking this question shows how far down the road of privilege they have gone.

And what do you mean by "high-end" prostitution anyway? Does it mean rich johns, or just prostitutes who dress in Ann Taylor?

The police are not supposed to ignore certain crimes based on the income level of the criminal!

Shame on ABC for even bringing this up as a legitimate idea. You all need to get out of your ivory tower. And while you are at it, take a quick look at the constitution and amendments, specifically the parts that require equal treatment under the law. It's kind of a basis for our whole democracy.

To Tam and others opposed to decriminalizing prostitution on the basis that it harms those who CHOOSE to do the work-

How much experience do you have in the sex industry. Do you know any sex workers? Have you ever exchanged sex for money? Have you ever used sex to control your husband or boyfriend?

Prostitution is only illegal if you get caught making a specific agreement to exchange sex for money. So in reality, it's illegal to negotiate your boundaries verbally, while the actual sex act is rarely the focus of enforcement.

Do you know any women who've gone to jail for prostitution? Have you ever been to jail yourself?

Yes, unfortunately I do know women in prostitution and women formerly in prostitution. So yes I do know what I'm talking about. Prostitution hurts everyone it touches.

Let me ask YOU a question, Karly. Are you one of the new wave of pro-prostitution spokespeople, paid by the stripping and pimp industry, located in lovely San Francisco which is rapidly becoming the center of trafficking of women into prostitution and into the rest of the country?

The Wayne Madsen Report claims Cheney is the former CEO who used the DC Madam service--"while he was the CEO and maintained a residence off Chain Bridge Road in the Ballantrae neighborhood in McLean, Virginia, a few blocks from the headquarters of the CIA." Meanwhile, millions of poor women and children are forced to contract and die of STDs and unwanted pregnancies because of impossible "abstinence-only" policies by the ADULTEROUS Bush and Cheney CRIME families. ABC should find a way to release the numbers and names through a second or third party. If a Clinton or Kennedy name appeared, you can be sure ABC would make it headline news. Secrecy and hypocrisy are public health menaces.

Prostitution can be both right and wrong.
As somebody who spent a year in a massage parlour while going through school and has been a part time independent for 2 years now, I have seen both sides. I have seen women who don't like it and shouldn't be there - but I have also seen women like me for whom it was an informed choice that awarded both erotic self-realization and income supplement.

You know, not everybody speaking for prostitution does it because they are "paid by the pimps". I oppose trafficiking and economic coercion forcing a woman to do something she feels strongly against. But I also want to be left alone to do what I choose and what I believe is right for me - and the same philosophy usually applies to all independent escorts.

And most people seem to have trouble getting their heads around the idea that there are BOTH types of women involved in the industry.

ok enough about the prostitution.Honestly what annoys me is that both the men and women are participants, yet the guys never suffer! I think legalized prostitution is a good idea, keeps women from risking their lives on the streets, and in a controlled environment could maybe help reduce the rapes that happen on the streets if it were readily available. The big issue is women "must" want to be doing what they do......NOONE should be forced, so therein lies another issue......

It is well documented that the primary reason that there are "victims" in this trade is because it is "illegal." When our puritanical handicaps and the substantial "Law Enforcement Bureaucracy" can be put behind us and regulation and taxation is a real option, only then will the "Criminal" element be eradicated.

it's so convenient to point the finger at prostitution, while overlooking child abuse and other forms of terrrorism. If high-end prostitution is not between consenting adults, then what is? How many people who want prostitution punished are going to run out and buy a copy of Playboy magazine?