Legalization of prostitution made rape and STD infections DROP significantly on Rhode Island

The laws were accidentally taken off the books in the early 1980s and not discovered changed until nearly 20 years later

Rape rates dropped 31 per cent and STD infections rates nearly 40 per cent from 2003 to 2009, a study found

Instances of rape rose slightly in 2009 after prostitutes were once again forced back into the shadows

Lawmakers in Rhode Island found a novel way to reduce rape and sexually transmitted diseases when they accidentally decriminalized prostitution.

Instances of rape dropped almost by one-third, and gonorrhea infection rates among women have dropped nearly 40 per cent after legislators revealed in 2003 they had effectively legalized the exchange of sex for money.

The findings are detailed in a National Bureau of Economic Research paper, and show a sharp drop in instances of those events until state once again made prostitution illegal in 2009 – and then realized a significant jump in rapes.

Marked change: The number of rapes reported in Rhode Island declines after the red line, which denotes the moment officials publicly acknowledged prostitution was no longer illegal

Researchers Scott Cunningham, of Baylor University, and Manisha Shah, of UCLA, believe their findings prove conclusively that legalizing prostitution lowers instances of rape and of STD, they told the Washington Post.

The discovery was made during a 2003 court case in which a judge ruled that laws then on the books were not sufficient enough to prosecute a suspected prostitute, according to the Post.

Lawmakers had accidentally made the change by deleting too many words from statutes back in the 1980s and only made the discovery nearly 20 years later.



The public announcement set off a wave of women being trafficked into the state to be used as sex slaves, opponents argued to the paper.

But it also resulted in a sharp decline in the number of rapes being reported. Statistics show instances of rape hitting an all-time high before dropping 31 per cent during the six-years prostitution was effectively legal.

Correlation: Legalizing prostitution appears to have reduced rapes in Rhode Island, according to at least two researchers

Cunningham and Shah insist that 824 rapes were prevented by men having easier access to prostitutes. This finding held true across three separate methods of looking at the data.

‘I think we have convinced ourselves that we have done everything we can do rule out alternative explanations,’ said Cunningham.

But this also raises a troubling question not addressed by the two men about whether prostitution is rape.

‘Women in prostitution generally describe it as paid rape. That’s what if feels like to them,’ psychologist Melissa Farley told the Post.

Kristen Berg, an expert with Equality Now, also argued that legalizing the sex work led to more women being brought in to Rhode Island against their will.

‘Demand fuels trafficking,’ said Berg. ‘With the demand for commercial sex, there's an incentive for traffickers to traffic women and girls to these locations. With increased demand, you’d expect to see increased supply.’

Cunningham and Shah discovered the majority of the women deciding to enter the world’s oldest profession were Asian and White.

They also insisted to the Post that prices dropped and the incentive for organized crime to enter the racket diminished – until the state once again made prostitution illegal.