Easy Targets

            By committing the crime of prostitution, one is not only subjecting oneself to a degrading lifestyle, but more importantly continuously placing oneself in life-threatening situations for profits.  Female prostitutes have the highest homicide victimization rate amongst any sample of women studied. In the United States, from 1982 until 2000, 2.7% of female homicide victims were prostitutes. Homicide is not a foreign occurrence in the world of prostitution where prostitutes are most often killed by their clients, clients are primarily killed by prostitutes, and pimps are victimized by fellow pimps (Brewer 2006).

            Violence is an overbearing theme present each day in the life of a prostitute. Whether the female sex worker is subjected to sexual and physical abuse from her pimp and clients, or lured into the illicit drug trade by companion prostitutes, she is constantly engrained in a violent society. Active and passive surveillance conducted in Canada, Kenya, the United Kingdom and the United States demonstrated that homicide is the leading cause of death in the prostitute population (Brewer 2006). Despite common assumptions, the death of prostitutes is not entirely at the hands of pimps and drug dealers. Recent homicide investigations have identified that 62-64% of prostitute homicides in Canada and the United Kingdom were committed by clients (Brewer 2006).   A study conducted in the red light area based in Mumbai India discovered that victimization of prostitutes is at the hands of a male who is first her client, then her intimate partner, and finally her coercive pimp (Karandikar 2010).   It is crucial that, regardless of bias and judgment that prostitutes are allowing themselves to become easy targets through their risky method of income, the homicide investigators take the time, effort, and resources to carry out focused investigations rather than simply jumping to conclusions that the pimps got angry.

            Focused investigations will not only ensure that justice is found for the deceased prostitute, but additionally  they are  beneficial in reducing the likelihood of future homicides. Serial perpetrators are quite common in the context of prostitute homicide. Serial perpetrators of prostitute homicide were responsible for over one-third of prostitute victims in the United States between the 1980s and 2000.   An overwhelming majority of the serial perpetrators who committed these heinous acts were clients. (Brewer 2006).  Serial perpetrators often discard of the bodies in distant cities making it difficult for police to track the murders and connect the victims to a single perpetrator. The data on prostitute homicide is  easily skewed by bodies that are never located, and by prostitutes severely decomposed at the point of discovery that it is impossible to identity the victim by the decayed remains. It is also not uncommon for victims to be identified but not recognized as prostitutes (Brewer 2006). Prostitutes may be appearing to be asking for trouble, and placing themselves in harm’s way, but nevertheless the prostitutes are human beings whose violent victimization is never justified.

            The violent victimization of prostitutes peaked in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.  A likely cause of the increase in prostitute homicides during this time period was the upsurge in crack cocaine use by prostitutes and others residing in the United States (Brewer 2006).  Prostitutes become especially vulnerable while under the influence of crack cocaine because they indiscriminately solicit while high, and the propensity for violence increases through their increased desire and desperation for money and cocaine. Cocaine causes elevated aggression thus resulting in violence between clients and prostitutes if both parties are using the drug.  Cocaine use has also been linked to inhibited male sexual function.   Inhibited male sexual ability results in the male becoming angry and directing his aggression towards the prostitute because he believes it is her fault that he is unable to rise to the occasion (Brewer 2006). Drugs clearly play a vital role in the demise of prostitutes since they not only contribute to a female turning towards the life of prostitution in order to support her drug habit, but can also end her life of prostitution when a client under the influence of drugs loses his cool and snaps her neck.

            Fortunately, not all prostitutes who endure a beating at the hands of a violent client, pimp, or drug dealer are killed. Unfortunately, the battle does not end once they survive the assault. Victimization is linked to worse outcomes in future well-being, and increasingly risky sexual behavior (Vanwesenbeeck 1995). This is because  victimization results in reduced self-esteem. The destroyed self-image contributes to the victims  becoming less likely to protect themselves against HIV and STDS.  The survivors fear violent victimization if they insist that their clients use condoms (Vanwesenbeeck 1995). Prostitutes who survived a vicious attack may not be so lucky when battling a deadly sexually transmitted disease.  Once again they are victimized, only this time through a fatal disease rather than a beating, but both are perpetrated by violent men.

Works Cited

Brewer, D. D., Dudek, J. A., Potterat, J. J., Muth, S. Q., Roberts, J. M., & Woodhouse, D. E.       (2006). Extent, Trends, and Perpetrators of Prostitution-Related Homicide in the United    States. Journal Of Forensic Sciences (Blackwell Publishing Limited), 51(5), 1101-1108.   doi:10.1111/j.1556-4029.2006.00206.x

Karandikar, S., & Próspero, M. (2010). From Client to Pimp: Male Violence Against Female Sex Workers. Journal Of Interpersonal Violence, 25(2), 257-273.

Vanwesenbeeck, I., & de Graaf, R. (1995). Professional HIV risk taking, levels of victimization, and well-being in female prostitutes. Archives Of Sexual Behavior, 24(5), 503.