Prostitution and escort services are controversial subjects that lead to debate and encourage myths. Is escorting lawful? How does escorting differ from prostitution? This article discusses the difference between the two in depth, the law governing prostitution, and the penalties of prostitution.
Escorts vs. Prostitutes
There is a lot of confusion surrounding the variation between prostitutes and escorts. They are not the same thing, but they can be depending on the case circumstances.
An escort offers companionship and can accompany clients to social gatherings, dinners, or events. Escorting services revolve around offering conversation, company, or emotional support. Escorts do not explicitly provide sexual services in return for money. Instead, they operate within the boundaries of paid companionship.
On the contrary, a prostitute engages in sexual behavior in return for compensation. Unlike an escort, their services feature the exchange of money for sexual conduct, and any conversation or companionship would be deemed incidental.
Sexual acts can include sexual touching, sexual intercourse, oral sex, and anal sex. You can also be prosecuted for prostitution if you engage in sexual acts, like touching either individual's breasts, buttocks, or genitals.
Compensation could be anything valuable, like money, property, helpful information, or drugs.
Escorting services are legal in Texas, provided an escort does not offer to engage in sex in exchange for money, they are not breaking the law.
Prostitution can occur through enterprises that claim to operate as legal escorting services, ostensibly providing conversation and companionship. It is an imperfect system for those purchasing and offering the services because the operation takes the form of lawful escorting services.
Many escort agencies that claim to run their business lawfully assume that discreetly wording the contractual agreement between the customer and the escort will provide legal protection. The agencies claim that the escort gets monetary returns for their time, not for offering a particular service, and what happens between the escort and customer is confidential to them. Courts probe the careful wording comprehensively and consider it prostitution under different terms.
If an escort is paid for having sex with a client, the escort could be charged with prostitution, and individuals operating the escort agency could face promoting prostitution charges.
The most effective way to operate lawfully as a paid escort is to avoid having sex with your clients. If, for instance, a client pays you to be their company at some party, that would be lawful, as long as you do not conclude the evening with sexual contact. Nevertheless, that occasionally occurs in ordinary life, and sex is almost always expected in escorting.
Other ways to avoid prostitution criminal charges as an escort include the following:
- Communicating to your clients that sexual activities are off-limits
- Avoid accepting requests or offers for sexual services
- Avoid exchanging sex for valuable items
- Document all interactions with your clients.
- Have a clearly defined written contract with every client.
- Establishing a network of support
Differences Regarding Communication and Intent
Another variation is what is said, how involved parties discuss payment, and what is implied. That is why even without direct offers of sex, winks, vague suggestions, or coded language could raise red flags. Law enforcement focuses on the whole picture: body language, timing, verbal exchanges, and text messages. In other words, if an escort implies that sex is a component of the arrangement even without saying it, they could face prostitution charges.
What is Prostitution Law?
According to PC 43.02, prostitution happens when a person commits a crime if, in exchange for receipt of a fee, the individual knowingly:
- Agrees to engage, offers to engage, or engages in sexual behavior
- Solicits somebody else in a public place to engage with the actor in sexual behavior for hire
A person also commits prostitution when they commit a crime if, based on the payment of a fee by the actor or somebody else on behalf of the actor, the individual knowingly:
- Agrees to engage, offers to engage, or engages in sexual behavior
- Solicits somebody else in a public place to engage in sexual conduct for hire
Violating prostitution law carries potential penalties like incarceration, fines, and adverse consequences for your professional and personal life. The penalties vary depending on the nature of the crime, your criminal history, and the existence of aggravating circumstances. A first-time prostitution conviction is a Class B misdemeanor punishable by a $2,000 fine and three days to six months. A second-time prostitution conviction is a Class A misdemeanor that attracts a $4,000 fine and a year in jail. If you have at least three previous convictions, your subsequent prostitution conviction will attract a state jail felony that carries a maximum fine of $10,000 and two years in state jail.
You do not require physical contact to face prostitution criminal charges. Responding to ads, messaging a person back, or discussing a basis for your arrest. Prosecutors depend on suggestive or vague language as proof and a conversation interpreted as demonstrating intent.
Compelling Prostitution
You commit compelling prostitution of a minor when you knowingly cause a minor to engage in prostitution by any means, irrespective of whether you know the child's age at the time of the crime's commission. PC 43.05 also covers forcing, coercing, threatening, or manipulating a person to engage in sexual conduct.
The legal phrase "by any means" allows the state to prosecute offenses without proving threats of death or serious bodily injuries or that acts of violence happened to compel a minor into prostitution.
Compelling child prostitution is a first-degree felony punishable by the following potential penalties:
- Ten thousand dollars in fines
- Five to 99 years in prison
Compelling prostitution cases are mainly tied to trafficking investigations and involve law enforcement from different agencies. The law does not require physical violence, but fraud, mental manipulation, or abuse of authority to support the criminal charges.
Please note that consent is not a legal defense when a person with a disability or a minor is involved. Even when the person seemed to agree, the law considers it coercion by default.
Solicitation of Prostitution
Solicitation of prostitution refers to when an individual knowingly offers or agrees to pay a fee to another person in return for sex. Therefore, just offering to procure sex is a crime, even if the transaction does not happen; exchanging money for the act is all that is needed to charge you with solicitation of prostitution.
The degree of penalty for a solicitation charge depends on your prior convictions for similar offenses. An individual with previous convictions faces more severe penalties.
A first solicitation of prostitution offense is a Class B misdemeanor that is punishable by the following:
- A hundred and eighty days in jail
- A fine of two thousand dollars
A subsequent or second solicitation of prostitution conviction is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by:
- 12 months in jail
- Maximum fine of $4,000
If you are convicted of a third solicitation charge, it is a state felony, punishable by the following:
- 180 days to two years in state jail
- A maximum fine of ten thousand dollars
Soliciting Prostitution From a Minor
If your charge is soliciting a sexual act from a person below 18, the penalties become more severe and they include:
- Twenty years in state prison
- A fine of $10,000
Note that you cannot use the fact that you did not know the child was a minor as a legal defense when fighting charges of soliciting prostitution from a minor.
Promotion of Prostitution
Texas Penal Code Sec. 43.03 addresses the promotion of prostitution; this law aims to punish individuals who benefit from prostitution indirectly. Receiving part of the money, assisting in finding customers, or referring a person to a client can result in a promotion of prostitution charge.
A first-time charge attracts penalties that include the following:
- Two to ten years in prison
- A maximum fine of $10,000
If you have a previous conviction, the charge becomes a second-degree felony. It attracts the following penalties:
- Two to twenty years in state prison
- A fine not exceeding $10,000
If the offense involves a minor, it becomes a 1st-degree felony that carries the following.
- Five to ninety-nine years or life imprisonment
- A fine not exceeding ten thousand dollars
You may be prosecuted with a 1st degree felony in the first-degree even if you were not aware that the individual was below 18.
Online Promotion of Prostitution
Texas Penal Code Section 43.031 defines online promotion of prostitution as when an individual owns or runs a computer-based service with the motive to aid another individual’s prostitution or facilitate someone else to prostitute themself. Activities linked to this offense include developing online webpages, posting online adverts, and offering online chats to promote prostitution.
In Texas, this offense is a 3rd felony, but prosecutors can charge it as second-degree felony if:
- You hold a previous conviction for the same offense
- The alleged crime involved someone below 18 years, even if you did not know it.
Online promotion of prostitution becomes aggravated online promotion of prostitution if the offense involves at least five individuals. The charge is a second-degree felony, and it can be a first-degree felony if you:
- Have a prior conviction for aggravated online promotion of prostitution
- The alleged offense involved a person below 18, even if you did not know they were underage.
Sting Operations
A sting operation involves a police officer impersonating a prostitute or potential client in an attempt to secure an arrest. Typically, sting operations involve a law enforcer entering a place famous for prostitution activity. When the law enforcer is approached about a potential transaction, they will go along with the transaction until they reach an agreement and the target makes a significant step towards completing it.
Nowadays, police initiate the transactions online. The officer will make contact online, posing as a client. Since the interaction in itself is not adequate to break prostitution laws, the officer will set up an in-person meeting to arrest the prostitute in the act.
When Does a Sting Operation Become Entrapment?
Entrapment happens when an individual is encouraged or coerced to commit a crime they would not otherwise commit. Using entrapment as a legal defense can lead to a case acquittal. The availability of the entrapment defense goes down to the issue of whether the officer offered you a chance to violate the law or whether they coerced you into acting so.
To use entrapment as a legal defense, you should prove that you were not willing or inclined to violate the law, and the law enforcer used inappropriate ways, like persistently contacting you after you refused, making false promises to encourage your engagement in prostitution, or harassing you. To establish this, you can use the following strategies:
- Proving the police officer exceeded the permissible limits of a sting operation
- Proving you did not have the intention to engage in prostitution
Being presented with a chance to engage in prostitution does not amount to entrapment. A skilled defense lawyer can help you develop a strong case defense and work aggressively to obtain the best possible case outcome.
Sex-Oriented Businesses in Texas
As a way to combat prostitution, the state has added new laws (Houston’s Sexually Oriented Business Law: Chapter 28, Article VIII) for people working in sex-oriented businesses like adult bookstores, webcam agencies, overtly sex shops, and strip clubs. Here is how the employee should conduct themselves:
- It is illegal for an entertainer to touch a client or a client's clothing while engaging in entertainment or while exposing specified areas, or engaging in specified sexual conduct.
- It is illegal for an entertainer to be less than three feet from a client while engaging in entertainment or while exposing specified areas or engaging in specified sexual conduct.
- It is a crime for an employee to engage in entertainment or to expose specified anatomical areas or engage in specified sexual activities in the presence of a client in a different space within an enterprise to which access or entry is obscured or blocked by a barrier like a door or curtain separating entry to the area from other areas of the business venture.
Violating this law is a 2nd-degree felony that carries the following penalties:
- A maximum fine of $1000000
- Two to twenty years in prison
Legal Defenses to Prostitution Criminal Charges
Your seasoned defense lawyer can review your case facts to develop a defense plan to help you mitigate the consequences of prostitution criminal charges or an acquittal. Common legal defenses and strategies include the following:
Lack of Probable Cause
Sometimes, a police officer could be sitting in an unmarked vehicle watching for unlawful criminal activity. The accused could approach a car to speak with the individual inside. Suddenly, the law enforcer arrests both individuals for suspicious prostitution. The arrest could be unlawful.
Before the judge convicts you of prostitution, the prosecution team must establish beyond a reasonable doubt that the accused planned to engage in prostitution. The prosecutor should present strong evidence that fulfills a high degree of proof, like a video where the defendant agreed to commit prostitution for a fee.
Absence of Intent
Before convicting you, the prosecutor should prove all facts of the crime, including showing intent. The prosecution cannot prove prostitution charges without establishing that there was an understanding or agreement of exchanging sexual conduct for compensation.
Police Made a Mistake
Police can make a mistake in judgment when arresting individuals for prostitution, even when the arrest happened in a region famous for prostitution, an individual without intent to engage in sexual activity did not violate the law. Your defense lawyer should comprehensively explain what happened as your legal defense.
The Police Violated Your Rights
If the police violated your legal rights during your arrest or investigation, your defense lawyer should bring a motion to suppress all evidence acquired. If the judge grants your request, the illegally obtained evidence becomes admissible in court. It will weaken the prosecutors' case against you and result in the dismissal. The breach can include failing to read you your Miranda rights, illegal search and seizure, and arresting you without probable cause.
Plea Bargain
If the prosecution has a strong case against you, your defense attorney can engage in plea bargain negotiations to reduce the severity of your potential penalties. A plea bargain involves you, the defendant, pleading guilty to a less severe crime in return for the prosecutor offering you leniency. Before accepting the prosecutor's offer, ensure the agreement suits your needs.
Find a Seasoned Defense Attorney Near Me
While prostitution and escorting are often used interchangeably, they are different. Escorting involves a person offering clients companionship without sexual acts, while prostitution is the exchange of sexual conduct for money. Nevertheless, the line between the two can be blurry since some escorts engage in sexual conduct. If you have been charged with prostitution in Fort Worth, please contact Andrew Deegan Criminal Attorney at Law, at 817-689-7002. Our qualified attorneys can collect evidence and review your case facts to develop the best case defense and help you obtain the best possible case outcome.
