PLEASE NOTE: Our office remains open at this time. To protect your safety in response to the threat of COVID-19, we are offering our clients and potential clients the ability to meet with us via telephone or through video conferencing. Please call our office to discuss your options. 

Attorney photo

Let Us Do The Worrying For You

The crime of prostitution

North Carolina residents should know that prostitution can have many forms. They can include escort services, streetwalkers, call-girls and working in a brothel. Individuals who agree to, offer or take part in a sexual act in return for compensation are in violation of prostitution laws.

With the exception of certain areas of Nevada, prostitution is illegal in the United States. In the areas in Nevada where it is legal, it is stringently regulated.

There are some state statutes that penalize the act of prostitution, while other state statutes make the acts of arranging prostitution, soliciting prostitution and operating a residence of prostitution crimes. On the federal level, there is the Mann Act, which makes it illegal to bring a person across state lines or out of the country in order to engage in prostitution or some other form of immoral acts.

In the majority of states, it does not matter whether the services were actually provided in order for the offering of or the agreement to provide sexual services in exchange for financial compensation is classified as prostitution. Also, in the majority of jurisdictions, the individual offering the sexual services is not the only person who can be accused of a crime. In a typical prostitution transaction, individuals who can be charged with offenses related to prostitution can include the person providing the services of prostitution, the person compensating the provider of the prostitution services and any individuals who are acting as intermediaries or middlemen.

A criminal defense attorney may work to protect the rights and interests of clients who have been charged with sex offenses, such as prostitution. The attorney may evaluate the factors of the alleged crime and the strength of the prosecution case and may recommend certain legal strategies to pursue to contest the charges and exonerate clients.