No this is not a question asked from experience. just curiousity.
What exactly is arrestible under prostitution or solicitation laws. Intercourse, oral, anal, and handjobs are obviously covered. But whatabout some of the other stuff people want. Like paying someone to watch masturbation. Or domination without sexual content. Or a fully clothed spanking. Could you get arested if you had a bad itch and gave a offered a prostitute 10 bucks to scratch your back. For the legal and cop types out there, where is the line usually drawn?
In Virginia, if you, for money or its equivalent, carnally know any person by the anus or by or with the mouth, or if you engage in sexual intercourse with another person, you have committed the crime of prostitution.
Handjobs, then, are not covered under the prostitution law in Virginia, and neither are observing masturbation, domination without sexual content, and back scratches.
There are other laws – “keeping or residing in a bawdy place” that might cover a wider range of activites; a “bawdy place” is any place within or without any building or structure which is used or is to be used for lewdness, assignation or prostitution.
As Handy said the definition will vary depending on where you are. Here in Japan (as I understand the laws, IANAL) the definition prostitution is strictly genital coitus. So oral sex, sodomy, and a variety of other practices are openly available for money in what is often called the “ejaculation industry”.
I have heard that solicitation, pandering, and operating a brothel are illegal but the exchange of sex for money is actually legal, but can’t vouch for the accuracy of that.
I am trying to picture you explaining this to a cop - “No, really, officer, I just wanted her to scratch my back!” “Yeah, right, get out of the car.”
I imagine there’s a lot of assumptions that cops have to make to arrest someone for soliciting prostitutes, unless they actually SEE the act. Like the Seinfeld episode where Jerry sees his maid along the side of the road and tries to pay her, thus the appearance of solicitation and the subsequent arrest.
Since answers vary by jurisdiction, I will answer for California.
DISCLAIMER: This OPINION should not be taken as legal advice. It is neither an offer nor an acceptance of legal representation…
In California, it’s a crime to “Engage in or solicit another for any lewd act.” Lewd is not explicitly defined in the code, but, IIRC, there are exceptions for peep shows, etc.
So, scratching your back is not lewd, but paying someone to masturbate while you watch is (See Rev. Swaggart)…
As to the rest, it all depends on what the jury thinks you were getting out of it…
Actually, in most big cities, it’s almost never prosecuted, period. In SF, the only cases that even get to the DA are stings. The officer is wearing a wire, and the entire conversation is recorded. Generally, if the words “sex” (or some more graphic substitute), and an amount of money are not clearly audible, it gets dismissed at arraignment. If they are, defendants are STRONGLY encouraged to accept diversion: a class on how bad prostitution is, how it exploits women, etc. There have been three trials in SF even regarding prostitution (to my knowledge) in the last five years…one prostitute, one john, and one pimp. All three were convicted, tho’.
The definition of sexual conduct and other useful definitions:
On preview, I’ll disagree with the bard. Around these parts, prostitution is targeted and prosecuted. It is almost never recorded, and the DA will pursue cases even if the entire conversations (as reported by the cops) is something along the lines of, “Do you want a date? / Sure, how much? / $20.” And this is a big city.
Sorry, I wasn’t clear enough. “Date” would be enough to prosecute IF IT’S AUDIBLE, even in SF. I should not have been so broad in my statements (and considered it right after hitting Submit). Many large cities have a reputation for keeping the whole thing hush-hush, mostly, IMHO, to protect tourism. Few cities except Las Vegas want to be known as unfriendly to the family market. The police in SF rarely sting prostitutes because they know the system well enough to push where it will make the city uncomfortable. However, the customers are fair game. No more than a ferw percent of those arrested will see the inside of a courtroom because SF has an informal diversion program, as described above. If you sign up for the program upon arrest, you generally aren’t cited, and you can leave without it showing up on your record. Your chances of prosecution should you decline are still somewhat low, but the likelihood that you’ll spend the night in jail go up somewhat.
Once it gets to the DA, no cases go to trial. If the DA has a slam-dunk, the Defense Attorney (usually Public Defender) will browbeat the defendant into a deal (almost always diversion, unless the defendant has been convicted of this before). If the DA doesn’t have a slam-dunk, it’s dismissed.
Obviously, this is all SF. Dunno about (Houston? Dallas? Austin?). I’d be willing to bet that NY, DC, and LA do it this way as well. I stand by “most,” but perhaps not an overwhelming “most.”
And IME, small towns treat this very differently (and more seriously).
just curiousity.