Prostitution Laws

The “oldest profession” has achieved a degree of acceptance in some circles, but prostitution remains a crime almost everywhere in the United States. (Nevada permits the activity in licensed brothels.) It tends to be less serious than some sex offenses, but a conviction still may result in jail time and a criminal record. This can cause problems down the road in areas such as getting a job or finding housing. If you think that you may be suspected of prostitution or a related crime, you should not talk to the police or prosecutors on your own. Instead, you should get a lawyer on your side as soon as possible.

What Is Prostitution?

At its core, prostitution involves engaging in sexual activity for a fee. Customers of prostitutes and certain people who get involved with prostitution may face related charges.

Elements of Prostitution

States usually prohibit performing a sexual act in exchange for money or something else of value, as well as offering or agreeing to engage in this type of transaction. For example, Massachusetts prohibits engaging, agreeing to engage, or offering to engage in sexual conduct with another person for a fee. California prohibits soliciting or engaging or agreeing to engage in a "lewd act" with the intention to receive anything of value from another person. (Under some laws, such as the California statute, a charge like agreeing to engage in prostitution requires proof of a separate act furthering the agreement.)

Solicitation and Third-Party Offenses

Someone who buys sex, or who offers or agrees to buy sex, may be charged with solicitation of prostitution or a similar offense. Meanwhile, someone other than a sex worker or a customer could face charges for activities involving prostitution. Two common examples of these charges are pimping and pandering. Pimping may involve sharing the earnings of a prostitute, or getting paid to facilitate the work of a prostitute. Pandering may involve procuring a person for prostitution, or encouraging, inducing, or persuading someone to go into the sex industry. (The definitions of these crimes vary by state, and some states use other terms for this conduct.) Further third-party crimes might include operating a prostitution business or renting a place to be used for prostitution.

Examples of Crimes Involving Prostitution

Here is a look at how a sex worker, a customer, or a third party might run afoul of the law:

Prostitution: Priscilla offers to give John a blowjob if he pays for her dinner. Even if John refuses, Priscilla could be charged with prostitution in many states because she offered to perform a sex act in exchange for something of value.

Solicitation: Phil stops his car, rolls down the window, and calls out to a woman on the sidewalk. An officer sees Phil make an obscene gesture at the woman while brandishing a fistful of bills. Depending on the circumstances, this might be enough to arrest Phil for solicitation.

Third-party offense: Penelope starts meeting up with men for sex as an extra source of income. Her unemployed boyfriend, Paul, approves of the idea and collects a share of her earnings. While Penelope could be charged with prostitution, Paul could be charged with an offense like pimping.

Offenses Related to Crimes Involving Prostitution

Other offenses that could be charged in some situations similar to those supporting a prostitution charge include:

• Indecent exposure: this often involves exposing intimate body parts in public, such as a prostitute flashing a prospective customer
• Statutory rape: this could be charged when someone has sex with an underage prostitute

If the same situation supports multiple charges, a prosecutor might reach a plea bargain with the defendant in which they plead guilty to one or more charges in exchange for dropping the rest of the case.

Defenses to Charges Involving Prostitution

A potential defense strategy might involve arguing that sex occurred without compensation. Or perhaps an officer misunderstood a scene that they observed. If they saw a man talking to a scantily clad woman in an area known for prostitution, they might infer an agreement to engage in prostitution when the man might merely have asked the woman for directions. In another situation, a defendant might have gone out to dinner with someone who has a history of sex work without necessarily agreeing or intending to have sex with them later.

Constitutional violations during an investigation may undermine a charge. For example, if the police failed to provide Miranda warnings when required, a prosecutor might not be able to use incriminating statements elicited afterward. If the police seized a notebook listing transactions between a sex worker and their customers, this might not be admissible if the search resulting in the seizure violated the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution. Getting key evidence excluded on procedural grounds can prevent a prosecutor from proving a charge.

A defendant charged with a third-party offense involving prostitution might have distinctive defense strategies. For example, someone charged with sharing the earnings of a prostitute might not have known about the source of the money. Or perhaps a prostitute falsely accused them because of a personal grudge. If a crime requires an intent to promote prostitution, meanwhile, a defendant might argue that they did not have the required intent. Someone might have set up a friend on a date with another person, not realizing that the friend planned to sell sex to that person.

Penalties for Crimes Involving Prostitution

Prostitution itself is generally a misdemeanor, which makes it a relatively minor sex crime. Here are some examples of possible jail terms:

• California: up to 6 months
• Colorado: up to 10 days
• Florida: up to 60 days
• Illinois: less than 1 year
• Massachusetts: up to 1 year
• Nevada (outside licensed brothels): up to 6 months
• New York: up to 3 months
• Texas: up to 180 days

Penalties may be different and potentially tougher for solicitation or third-party offenses involving prostitution. For example, California imposes three, four, or six years in prison for pimping or pandering. Promoting prostitution in New York carries up to one year of imprisonment. In Florida, solicitation or renting a place for prostitution carries up to one year in jail. Massachusetts imposes up to two and a half years for solicitation and two years for “keeping a house of ill fame.”

Last reviewed July 2024