• Prostitution is defined as performing or agreeing to perform a sexual act for hire. It is criminalized in all states, except Nevada, where a limited number of rural counties license legal brothels.

• In addition to criminalizing prostitution itself, every state does the same with solicitation, the act of securing a prostitute’s (or a suspected prostitute’s) agreement to participate in a sex act.

• Gambling, the act of making a bet involving monetary risk, is criminalized in some form or fashion in nearly every state.

• Pornography is a form of obscenity. There is no requirement that obscenity be of a sexual nature.

• Today, obscenity is defined in terms of the “portrayal of hard core sexual conduct for its own sake, and for the ensuing commercial gain.”

• The leading stand-alone alcohol-related offenses are driving under the influence (DUI; also called driving while intoxicated, or DWI); minor in possession (MIP), or consumption of alcohol by a minor; and public intoxication.

• Throughout American history, a number of laws have been enacted in an effort to criminalize the sale and possession of certain drugs. Examples include the Harrison Narcotics Tax Act, the Marijuana Tax Act, the Drug Abuse and Prevention Control Act of 1970, and more recently the Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act.

• Most state drug laws parallel federal law.

Questions:-

1. Should prostitution be illegal? Why or why not?
2. Should gambling be illegal? What about social gambling?
Defend your answer.
3. Has the Supreme Court adequately defined obscenity?
Why or why not?
4. Should the drinking age be raised, lowered, or kept the same? Why?