Solicitation is a misdemeanor in California and also has tiered sentences, meaning prior charges can increase the penalties for the current charge. However, for a second offense, you can be placed in jail for a minimum of 45 days, and 90 days for a third offense.
There are also more serious charges if a defendant is accused of soliciting a minor, committing lewd conduct in public, or facilitating an act of prostitution. One of the most common defenses in soliciting cases is entrapment. Entrapment is a situation where a citizen is induced to commit a crime they otherwise would not have, often due to fraud, force, fear, intimidation, or threats.
To argue entrapment, your attorney must prove two elements:. In solicitation cases, entrapment can apply when a defendant is tricked or pressured into paying for sexual acts when they ordinarily would not have. Entrapment might also be a valid defense if the attorney presents evidence that shows the law enforcement agent actively promoted a crime occurrence.
Responsible agents may face fines, suspensions, or termination. Your attorney may be able to argue entrapment as a valid defense. That said, there must be evidence that the agent induced you to commit a crime.
Sharp in Houston at to schedule an initial case evaluation now. The Law Office of Matthew D. Sharp is a criminal law firm built around the basic goal of achieving the most positive results for our Texas clients. Our practice is founded on the principle of combining the undivided attention of a small law firm with the full-service abilities of a large firm.
This post considers whether prostitution sting operations are considered entrapment. In a word, yes. A criminal record can impact your future education, employment, and personal prospects.
Entrapment occurs when: An officer uses persuasion or coercion to prompt a citizen to commit a crime. Otherwise, they run the risk of entrapping people to commit crimes, and this provides those accused of crimes with a valid defense.
Below is an overview of what you need to know about prostitution sting operations in Washington. Prostitution is the act of engaging or agreeing to engage in sexual conduct with an individual in exchange for a fee.
Solicitation is a term that is used to describe several acts, including:. Soliciting a Prostitute is is also referred to as Sexual Exploitation in several jurisdictions in Washington. It can also be called Patronizing a Prostitute. These terms are all interchangeable ways of describing the act of paying someone to engage in sexual conduct for a fee or making an agreement for payment in exchange for sexual conduct.
In addition, other costs and penalties may be involved, including probation, community service, and mandatory classes. Regardless, courts throughout the country have routinely rejected challenges to prostitution stings, including when the challengers have argued that these practices discriminate against women.
In fact, police officers are not only allowed to conduct sting operations—they are afforded considerable discretion in executing them. Knowing that police officers go undercover to catch them, sex workers often ask potential "clients" to engage in some degree of sexual contact, which the workers think will prove that they are not undercover officers workers are counting on an officer's refusal.
Accordingly, officers argue that effective policing sometimes requires that they participate in limited sexual contact to convince sex workers that they are not police. Although courts have consistently allowed sexual contact in this context, there are limits to what they will accept. In a Minnesota case, the appellate court reversed a sex worker's prostitution conviction on the grounds that the investigating officer's behavior was so outrageous that it violated her due process rights.
State v. Burkland , N. While discussing the possibility of purchasing sexual services from the defendant, the officer initiated and escalated sexual contact by fondling the defendant's breasts. The court distinguished this conduct from acceptable undercover behavior because it did not occur in response to a demand by the defendant and was unnecessary to the investigation. In another case, this one in Pennsylvania, the police employed—quite literally—a citizen to accumulate evidence of sexual impropriety at a health spa.
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