Prostitution in a busy Murfreesboro neighborhood - Prostitution is UP in Tennessee

Jul 27, 2017 at 08:44 am by bryan


Murfreesboro Police were called to East State Street at around 6:15 Thursday morning for an odd call. Evidently, someone called dispatch to advise them that a female was walking the street while trying to solicit herself.

While prostitution is often described as the oldest profession, it is hard to crack down on what often happens behind closed doors. However, when the subject behind prostitution solicits customers on a neighborhood street it makes it a tad easier for police to crack down on it. At the same time, it shows the prevalence of crime in local neighborhoods that some neighborhoods may not face.

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The person who called in the complaint on Thursday told police the woman was wearing a white dress and she was described as a white female. But, when police arrived on East State Street, she was nowhere to be found.

According to a past report filed by the TBI, prostitution related arrests are not even close to disappearing. In 2015, there were 1,116 prostitution arrests in Tennessee. In addition to that, there were 107 arrests made for promoting prostitution in the Volunteer State. Another 45 arrests were made for persons who "Purchased" prostitution in Tennessee during their study just 3 years ago.

Looking back to 2013, another study by the TBI found that multiple counties outside of Nashville had 16 or more cases involving the sex trafficking of minors. Rutherford County at the time had over 51 cases of juvenile sex trafficking under their belts. Nearby Coffee County had over 100 such incidents during the same time period.

Many have suggested in the past that prostitution is a victimless crime, however that is not the case. Especially when you factor in sex trafficking of juveniles. Instead of being a crime that is victimless, it is a crime against men, women and children in the setting of a commercial enterprise that often includes forced drug ingestion, assaults, exploitation, rape and sexual harassment.

While not in America, but a valid point worldwide, the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women reported in 2007 (Australia), "The connection between rape and prostitution is that women are turned into objects for men's sexual use; they can be either bought or stolen. A culture in which women can be bought for use is one in which rape flourishes."

BELOW: Video describing the ongoing problem of sex trafficking in Tennessee and beyond by EndSlaveryTN.org:

Read more below:

  • TBI 2015 Study on Crime HERE
  • TBI 2013 Sex Trafficking Study HERE
  • Pros and Cons of Prostitution HERE
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