Prostitution involves engaging in physical touching that is sexual in nature, sexual intercourse, or sexual behavior with another party in exchange for cash or any other form of compensation. Solicitation is offering money for sex or pimping. An arrest or charge for prostitution or solicitation can be embarrassing and stressful, not to mention that a guilty verdict attracts incarceration and hefty court fines. In addition to the penalties, a conviction for prostitution will adversely affect your social and career lives.

At the California Criminal Lawyer Group in Bakersfield, we understand that these charges can stem from false allegations from a party acting out of jealousy or pursuing revenge. Therefore, you do not have to worry about us judging you because of your actions. Our experienced sex crimes lawyers will represent you in court and compel the judge to dismiss or lessen your count.

Understanding California Prostitution and Solicitation Statutes

According to PEN 647(b), it is unlawful to engage in prostitution and solicitation. Per the statute, prostitution refers to swapping money or another form of compensation, products, or services for lewd conduct or sex. PEN 674(b) will still take effect even if you fail to engage in the lewd act. The acts prohibited by PEN 674(b) are:

  • Involvement in Prostitution

Engagement or involvement in prostitution refers to having sex or engaging in lewd conduct with another party for money or other considerations. When prosecuting the case, the district attorney (DA) must show that your conduct was willful and that no coercion or threats were involved. However, this should not imply that you must have intended to commit a crime. Also, it is not mandatory for you to have known your actions were unlawful. A simple misunderstanding of the law is sufficient to convict you.

A lewd or lascivious act for purposes of this statute refers to any conduct involving touching of an individual’s intimate parts, like buttocks or women's breasts when done for sexual satisfaction or arousal.

  • Solicitation of Prostitution

Soliciting prostitution refers to luring or persuading someone to be involved in prostitution. Soliciting is done with the goal of committing the actual crime of prostitution.

Parties that could face charges for soliciting prostitution include:

  1. A prostitute.
  2. A person trying to reach out to a prostitute.
  3. An individual attempting to have a person who has never been involved in a PEN 647(b) violation previously do so.

The prosecutor needs proof of payment to show you had specific intent to participate in prostitution. If evidence exists that you offered or received money or consideration for the lewd act, you will be guilty of soliciting prostitution.

Nevertheless, the judge will not consider whether the other party shared their motives. You will still be convicted of solicitation when you solicit any other party, but not as a prostitute for sexual intercourse or a lewd act. Besides, when you solicit an undercover police officer pretending to be a prostitute or a prostitute who rejects your offer, you will still be sentenced for solicitation.

Being at a location famous for prostitution or talking, waving, or nodding to a prostitute does not prove solicitation. Also, the prosecutor can claim that you were standing scantily dressed on a busy street, but this is insufficient proof of solicitation.

Again, the solicited party must receive or act on the solicitation. If they do not notice or act on it, it is challenging for the prosecutor to secure a conviction. However, you could still face attempted solicitation charges because the party you were trying to solicit did not receive the message. The benefit of the reduced count is that a conviction reduces your penalties by half.

It is worth understanding that the defendant in a solicitation charge can be the prostitute or the client, based on the party that initiated the conversation.

  • Agreeing to Participate in Prostitution

Merely agreeing to engage in an act of prostitution after someone solicits you can result in a conviction. Nevertheless, there should be sufficient proof that you intended to commit the action and that you did something in furtherance of prostitution. The elements the prosecutor must demonstrate in these cases are:

  1. You indicated you have agreed to participate in prostitution after solicitation.
  2. You had intentions to commit prostitution with another individual.
  3. After agreeing to the act, you engaged in another action in furtherance of or to complement the sex crime.

Agreeing to prostitution is the opposite of solicitation. The person offering to take part in prostitution faces solicitation charges, while the party that accepts the offer and approves of the act faces a PC 647(b) violation charge.

Agreeing to the solicitation or a verbal offer and having the intent to commit the crime is not sufficient to convict you. There should be proof that you added to the sex offense. Acts that add to or further the crime are:

  1. Handing over the compensation agreed upon for the services.
  2. The customer and the prostitute traveling to the place where the lascivious act or sexual intercourse was to happen.
  3. The defendant withdrew cash from an ATM to give to the soliciting party.
  4. Speech or instructions to the party that approved the solicitation to undress.

Underage Persons Cannot Face PEN 647(b) Violation Charges

Senate Bill (SB) 1322 brought many changes to PEN 647(b). After the bill was appended into law by Governor Jerry Brown in 2016, children under 18 cannot engage in prostitution. Any child arrested in the act is not deemed to be engaging in a PEN 647(b) violation. Instead, the law considers them to be victims of sexual molestation. The judge places them in custody or a detention hall. Later, the court declares them court dependents and sends them to provisional custody.

While in provisional custody, the judge can pronounce itself or issue another directive, placing the minor in an emergency shelter. Alternatively, the judge can place them with immediate family for 15 days.

Prostitution and Solicitation Penalties

A PEN 647(b) violation is a misdemeanor whose conviction attracts misdemeanor penalties. The punishment you will face hinges on the act you were engaging in during arrest, whether it was involvement in prostitution, soliciting prostitution, or agreeing to participate in prostitution.

If it is your first violation of the statute, you risk incarceration in the county jail for no more than half a year and a financial court-imposed fine not exceeding $1,000. However, with the help of an experienced lawyer, you can compel the court to reduce the charges. If the court reduces your counts to attempted prostitution solicitation, you will pay a fine of at most $500 and serve a jail term of no more than three months.

For a second or subsequent PC 647(b) violation, the penalties are:

  1. A compulsory jail incarceration of no less than forty-five days for the second sex crime.
  2. An obligatory minimum jail term of three months for a third offense.

The penalties for prostitution increase with each subsequent conviction because it is a priorable offense. Also, apart from jail incarceration and payment of court fines, a guilty verdict for a PEN 647(b) violation will dent your reputation. The conviction record will be available to the general public, and anyone who runs a criminal background check on you, particularly a potential employer, will come across the prostitution conviction and can discriminate against you based on it.

So, a guilty verdict for this misdemeanor offense can hamper your efforts to obtain employment. Again, prostitution is associated with shame and social stigma, even after serving jail time and paying court fines. Therefore, when you complete your sentence, you should talk to an experienced lawyer to expunge a criminal record and avoid the disabilities associated with a sex crime conviction.

A PEN 647(b) Violation in a Car

You will face additional penalties if the act of prostitution happens in a vehicle or residential area. For this statute, a residential area is 1,000 feet of a home. When a PEN 647(b) violation occurs in an automobile, the court will withdraw or suspend your driving privileges for at least 30 days or restrict the license for at most half a year. The special permit lets you drive to or from specific places like school, work, or a court-imposed program. In some instances, the government can even seize your car for participating in prostitution inside it.

Sex Offender or Predator Registration

Even though prostitution and solicitation are sex crimes, a conviction does not automatically come with the obligation to enlist as a sexual offender. The judge has total discretion in imposing the duty to register as part of your sentence. Judges hardly impose this obligation on persons convicted of prostitution despite having the choice. However, you could be required to register when you have an existing record for other related crimes.

Your name being on the Megan’s Law website can have devastating collateral consequences for your life. Again, if the court imposes this obligation and you refuse to comply, you risk felony charges with harsh penalties.

When you face a PEN 647(b) violation charge, you must understand that the penalties of a guilty verdict can include sex offender registration. Therefore, you should talk to the California Criminal Lawyer Group in Bakersfield to guide you through the case and prevent the penalties and disabilities associated with a conviction.

Prostitution Defenses

You do not want to have a criminal record for a PEN 647(b) violation. The social stigma and shame that come with an arrest or guilty verdict for the crime are worse than the legal penalties. Therefore, find yourself a competent sex crimes lawyer to contest the charges.

At the California Criminal Lawyer Group in Bakersfield, we have experienced legal representatives who will evaluate your case thoroughly to formulate defenses. The common viable defense tactics we will apply for a charge dismissal or acquittal are:

You were Entrapped

Police entrapment is prevalent in PEN 647(b) violation cases when officers posing as prostitutes or clients behave in a manner that causes you to commit a sex offense that you could not have engaged in. When your arrest happens during a sting operation where an undercover police officer posing as a client or prostitute offers a prostitution deal, your lawyer can argue that the undercover police entrapped you. However, you must back up your allegations with evidence that the officer’s conduct was overbearing. Acts by police that constitute entrapment are:

  1. Badgering.
  2. Coaxing.
  3. Persistent requests.
  4. Friendship request.
  5. Offering more than the usual benefits.
  6. Assertion that the conduct is lawful and the law enforcement authorities will not be notified.

Once your lawyer raises the entrapment defense, the burden of proof shifts to you, the defendant. You should demonstrate that you are a law-abiding citizen lured into an offense you were never inclined to commit. If you can prove this, the court will find you innocent. Nevertheless, when you have a previous record of prostitution or another sex offense, it will be challenging for the lawyer to convince the court that you were entrapped to engage in the violation.

Lack of Willfulness or Intent

For the court to find you guilty of prostitution involvement, solicitation, or agreeing to solicitation, they must prove that you possessed the willfulness or intent to commit the offense. Sexual conduct only counts as prostitution if you deliberately engage in it, well aware that it is in exchange for money or consideration. If you honestly believed no money was involved, you were innocent.

Police typically use conversations with the alleged prostitute as proof of intent or willfulness. Nevertheless, the prosecutor cannot present your location, clad and hand gesture, nodding, or waving to prove intent to participate in prostitution. Again, responding to an “escort service” ad looking for a date would not amount to solicitation, even if it turns out the escort company deals with prostitution.

Unreliable Evidence

Prostitution or solicitation happens in secret, and there are barely any records to prove the violation. It becomes difficult for the prosecutor to demonstrate their case beyond moral certainty, particularly if your lawyer points out that the proof presented is unreliable. Lack of reliable evidence raises red flags about the charges against you and can lead to a favorable outcome.

Similarly, when an arrest happens in a sting operation, the court wants recorded proof of the PEN 647(b) violation. If the officer were to wear a wire during the crime but did not, your defense lawyer can convince the court that the proof presented is unreliable. The lawyer will ask why there is no recording of the conversation if it was convicting, and if the officer is trying to conceal something by not producing the recording. With unreliable evidence, the judge will drop your charges.

Insufficient Evidence

The DA must prove the case before the court beyond a reasonable certainty for you to be guilty of prostitution. The proof in the case can be physical, witness testimony, or circumstantial. If the DA has only part of the proof necessary for a guilty verdict, it will create reasonable doubt in the jurors' minds, leading to a not-guilty judgment.

Prosecutors have problems proving these cases because most hinge on proof from sting operations, where the evidence is usually an officer’s testimony. Also, proving intent to engage in a PEN 647(b) violation is difficult. Therefore, the law court will drop the charges if the prosecutor lacks the facts required to meet the evidentiary standard for criminal cases.

False Allegations

It is common for people to face PEN 647(b) violation charges because of false allegations. Someone can accuse you of the offense out of jealousy, revenge, or spite. Also, you can be falsely accused of a crime because of a mistaken identity. Luckily, you can prevent a wrongful conviction by hiring a defense lawyer. An experienced legal representative will scrutinize the case’s facts to unearth the truth and prove you are unjustly accused.

Reduced Charges

Even with proper legal representation, sometimes it can be challenging to avoid a conviction entirely. However, your lawyer can still convince the prosecutor or court to lower your charges to a lesser offense with more lenient penalties.

Your lawyer secures a charge reduction during plea bargaining, where they agree with the prosecutor for you to take a guilty plea for a lesser offense like criminal trespassing or disturbing peace. These offenses are not related to prostitution. They only explain why the police can suspect you of prostitution. Even though you will plead guilty, a criminal record for these violations is not as embarrassing as that of prostitution.

Related Offenses

Five offenses can be charged with or in place of prostitution. These are:

  • Pimping or Pandering

According to PC 266h, pimping refers to willfully generating part or all of your income from a prostitute’s income. Also, it means obtaining a share of a prostitute’s income by finding them a client. You risk these charges if you manage a brothel or offer security to prostitutes in exchange for a share of their earnings.

When prosecuting these charges, the DA must demonstrate that:

  1. You knew that an individual was exchanging lewd acts for money.
  2. You made a living out of the person’s prostitution.

A conviction for pimping attracts 72 months of incarceration. The judge can also impose formal probation. If a child under 18 is involved, your sentence is increased to eight 96 months in prison and an obligation to enlist as a sexual predator.

On the other hand, pandering under PEN 266i is defined as recruiting or inspiring someone to join or stay in prostitution or avail an individual for prostitution. Also, it refers to the use of physical violence, promises, or intimidation to encourage an individual into prostitution or issuing or obtaining funds for another party to be a prostitute.

An unsuccessful attempt to lure another party into prostitution amounts to pandering and attracts no more than six years and $10,000 in court fines upon conviction.

  • Human Trafficking

Per PEN 236.1, human trafficking happens when you deny an individual their liberty with the motive of violating pimping or pandering statutes. Therefore, denying a person freedom and compelling them to participate in commercial sex work amounts to a PEN 236.1 violation.

Unlike prostitution, human trafficking is a felony that attracts life incarceration.

  • Loitering to Engage in Prostitution

PEN 653.22 criminalizes the act of loitering in a public place with the plan to engage in prostitution. Before July 2022, police could arrest you or issue a citation for being in a place open to the public, even if you did not exchange money for a lewd act or engage in actual conduct. The penalties for a PEN 653.22 violation are the same as those for prostitution and include no more than half a year of jail incarceration and court fines of at most $1,000.

After July 2022, it is no longer a crime to loiter in public to commit prostitution, although prostitution is still a sex crime. PEN 653.22 is no longer a crime because its enforcement unfairly targets transgender people and people of color.

Because a PEN 653.22 violation is no longer a crime today, you can petition the court to dismiss the case and expunge your record if you were convicted before July 2022.

  • Supervising or Assisting Prostitution

As per PEN 653.23, it is forbidden to supervise or advise another individual to partake in prostitution, as well as to acquire or obtain funds from an individual who is involved in prostitution. Acts that the prosecutor can use as evidence of a PEN 653.23 violation are:

  1. Persistent communication with a prostitute.
  2. Watching prostitutes.
  3. Conversing with drivers and pedestrians to try to solicit prostitution.
  4. Obtaining compensation for acts of prostitution.

A PEN 653.23 violation is a misdemeanor that attracts the same penalties as those of prostitution and solicitation.

  • Lewd Act

Per PEN 647a, a lascivious or lewd act refers to touching your genitals or those of someone else while engaging in prostitution or during solicitation. The judge will convict you of lascivious behavior in public if the touching of the genitals happens in public and with the intent of sexual satisfaction or arousal. The offense is classified as a misdemeanor and attracts the same penalties as prostitution.

Find a Competent Sex Crimes Defense Lawyer Near Me

When you face a prostitution and solicitation count, the stakes are high because of the expensive fine and a criminal record with severe disabilities. Under particular circumstances, a guilty verdict can come with the requirement to enlist as a sexual predator. Thankfully, a prostitution charge does not make you automatically guilty. With the help of an experienced lawyer, you can contest the count to minimize the impact of a conviction or prevent one. At the California Criminal Lawyer Group in Bakersfield, we can protect your rights and freedom. Call us today at 661-750-8230 to discuss your case.