In my country, prostitution is a crime. The men who take office in my country understand that legality implicitly. They have no excuse.
not in Nevada it isn't, except in Las Vegas. Not in Rhode Island it isn't.
In the United States, each state has the power to decide whether or not prostitution is legal in that state or part of that state. In all but two U.S. states (Nevada and Rhode Island), the buying and selling of sexual services is illegal and usually classified as a misdemeanor.
In Rhode Island (see Prostitution in Rhode Island), the act of prostitution (performing sexual activity in exchange for money) is legal because there is no law to define it and make it illegal, however operating a brothel, pimping and street prostitution are illegal. Prostitution is not regulated in any way.
In Nevada (see Prostitution in Nevada) there are legal brothels in 8 out of the 16 counties. Prostitution is prohibited by state law in counties with over 400,000 residents (only Clark County which contains Las Vegas meets this number); counties with under 400,000 residents may choose either to allow the licensing of brothels or to prohibit all forms of prostitution. Prostitution outside licensed brothels is illegal throughout the state (which means that, contrary to popular belief, prostitution is illegal in Las Vegas and its metropolitan area). Currently 4 Nevada counties and the independent city of Carson City prohibit brothels, 1 county neither permits nor forbids the licensing of brothels (and has no brothels), 3 counties allow brothels but at present have none and 8 counties have active brothels in some areas or cities.
(from Wiki)