The reason I have in the title talking about today's society as far as prostitution cases go, it's because there has been a lessening up of punishment and a lessening up of ramifications — at least in Los Angeles County for the solicitation of prostitution cases.

The authorities seem more targeted in on trying to help the women that are involved in these offenses, and also trying to punish individuals who are pimps or pandering or procuring women to become involved in prostitution as I make this post.  That's where it seems to have gone.

See CALCRIM 1155 – Prostitution: Agreeing to Engage in Act, and CALCRIM 1154 – Prostitution: Soliciting Another.

First Offense Prostitution in California

If you have a solicitation case under California Penal Code 647(b) and it's a first offense and obviously you're worried.  It's very embarrassing.  You don't want to go to jail.  You don't want a criminal conviction and all of the other potential things and punishments that can come along with the solicitation of prostitution case is Los Angeles.

You've got to get to an attorney who has experience.  I've been doing this for 25 years so I've seen these sex crime cases evolve and fortunately, they've evolved into people getting an opportunity.  There are diversion programs available to those individuals who are first offenders.

If it's your second or third offense — you've got multiple offenses in the past — obviously that's going to make it a lot more difficult to just get a diversion program.  The prosecutors and judges won't be as forgiving in your particular situation, but you obviously still need an attorney because there's other bad ramifications that can come along that might be able to be avoided by way of damage control depending on what the circumstances are of your particular case.

Penalties for Solicitation of Prostitution

But in general, if we were to look at the potential punishments that somebody could get in a solicitation case, the first and worst would be jail time.  Usually, you're looking at up to 180 day in the county jail in Los Angeles.

You're typically not going to get prison for solicitation of prostitution.  That is not a realistic punishment unless there's some other things going on related to your offense, like a pimping and pandering situation where there's a minimum of three years in prison if you're involved in that, just to give you an idea of how harsh certain punishments can be in this body of law.

In addition to potential jail time, you'll usually not going to have to register as a sex offender with this type of offense, which is good.  Obviously, nobody wants to do that, so hopefully, you don't have any other charges in addition to the solicitation of prostitution so you get into that registration as a sex offender requirement.

You'll also have to take an AIDS test, that's kind of part and parcel of these type of cases.  You'll have to be put on probation for a period of time to make sure that you don't violate the law anymore.  You may have to take an AIDS education course, as an educational component to try to help you.

You may have to stay away from certain areas.  For example, in Los Angeles on Figueroa Street, there's an area where there's a lot of prostitution and solicitation of prostitution activity.  You may be ordered to stay away from there.

In the San Fernando Valley on Sepulveda Boulevard in certain areas there's a lot of prostitution activity there.  You may be ordered to stay away from there so that you are not tempted to commit any other offenses.

Resolving Prostitution Case Without a Criminal Conviction

I think in today's society as far as solicitation of prostitution goes, the news is good because there is the opportunity to try to work out some sort of a resolution where you don't end up with a criminal conviction.

Also, where you don't go to jail, where your reputation is not smeared to a degree where it affects your career, your home life, your criminal record and your reputation.  These are all the things that I'm looking to defend as I try to help my clients with solicitation of prostitution cases.

If you've got one of these cases I know it's embarrassing.  We have a completely free and confidential consultation so we can sit down.  Bring your paperwork that the police gave you when they let you go and we'll go over everything from A to Z and then we come up with a game plan to protect all of your valuable interests.

Hedding Law Firm is a criminal defense firm located in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles County at 16000 Ventura Blvd #1208 Encino, CA 91436. We are also located at 633 West Fifth Street Los Angeles, CA 90071. Contact us for a free case evaluation at (213) 542-0979.