Britons Split on Whether Prostitution Should Be Legal
Men are definitely more likely than women to support a move towards decriminalisation.
Polls RSS
(05/29/12) -
People in Britain are not particularly open to the idea of decriminalising prostitution in the country, a new Angus Reid Public Opinion poll has found.
The online survey of a representative sample of 2,015 British adults also shows that respondents believe that most of the activities that surround prostitution should continue to be outlawed.
The exchange of sexual services for money is not a crime in the United Kingdom. However, 71 per cent of respondents believe that this practice is currently illegal.
At least four-in-five Britons believe several activities that surround prostitution should continue to be illegal, such as buying sex from a person younger than 18 (94%), controlling prostitution for personal gain (86%), causing or inciting prostitution (84%), and soliciting sex on the street (also 84%). In addition, two thirds of respondents (67%) think it should continue be illegal to place adverts for sexual services in phone boxes, and half (49%) believe running a brothel should be illegal as well.
In some countries, existing regulations make it a criminal offence to buy services from prostitutes, and contemplate both fines and sentences to “clients” of prostitutes. Two-in-five Britons (39%) believe that both prostitutes and their “clients” should be punished, while the exact same proportion (39%) think nobody should be punished, and would like to see adults being able to engage in consensual prostitution.
One-in-five respondents (21%) believe prostitution should be prohibited entirely in the UK, while about one-in-four Britons (23%) would keep the status quo which criminalises some of the activities surrounding prostitution. Two-in-five respondents (40%) would decriminalise some of the actions that are currently illegal and allow adults to engage in consensual prostitution.
As was observed in a Canadian study on this topic conducted last year, there are some marked gender differences in Britain. Women are more likely to call for an approach that punishes both prostitutes and “clients” (44%) than to support a move towards consensual prostitution (30%). Conversely, men are more likely to believe that nobody should be punished (49% to 33%). The notion of decriminalisation is definitely more popular with men (52%) than women (29%).
Download Full Methodology Statement
Full Report, Detailed Tables and Methodology (PDF)
CONTACT:
Mario Canseco, Vice President, Angus Reid Public Opinion
+877 730 3570
mario.canseco@angus-reid.com
Methodology: From April 19 to April 20, 2012, Angus Reid Public Opinion conducted an online survey among 2,015 randomly selected British adults who are Springboard UK panelists. The margin of error—which measures sampling variability—is +/- 2.2%. The results have been statistically weighted according to the most current education, age, gender and region data to ensure samples representative of the entire adult population of Great Britain. Discrepancies in or between totals are due to rounding.
