Elevates severity of patronizing a prostitute and permitting prostitution, and makes certain provisions of promoting prostitution violent felonies

Section two of the bill makes a conforming amendment to reflect changes made by this bill.

Section three of the hill raises the current penalty for the crime of patronizing a prostitute in the third degree from a class A misdemeanor to a class E felony.

Section four of the bill raises the current penalty for patronizing a prostitute in the second degree from a class E felony to a class 0 felony.

Section five of the bill raises the current penalty for patronizing a prostitute in the first degree from a class D felony to a class C felony.

Section six of the bill raises the current crime of permitting prostitution from a class B misdemeanor to a class A misdemeanor and redesignates this offense as permitting prostitution in the second degree.

Section seven of the bill creates a new class E felony of permitting prostitution in the first degree which is deemed to occur when a person has possession or control of a premises which he or she knows are being used for prostitution purposes including the prostitution.

Section eight of the bill amends provisions of the Sexual Offender Registration Act to require registration as a sex offender of those persons convicted of the new felony of permitting prostitution in the first degree.

Section nine establishes the effective date of this law as November 1 after the bill becomes law.

Existing law

Existing law defines the offense of patronizing a prostitute in the fourth degree as a class B misdemeanor. This crime is raised to a class A misdemeanor when the person patronized is less than seventeen years of age, to an E felony when the person patronized is less than fourteen years of age and to a D felony when the person patronized is less than eleven years of-age, The current offense of permitting prostitution which is deemed to occur when a person has possession or control of a premises which he knows is being used for prostitution, and fails to make efforts to halt such use, is defined as a class B misdemeanor. There is no higher offense defined than permitting prostitution when the persons serving as prostitutes are minors. The current offense of promoting prostitution is defined as occurring when a person advances or profits from prostitution, and is designated a class A misdemeanor. This offense is raised to a class D felony when the person is promoting the prostitution of a person less than nineteen to class C felony when the person is promoting the prostitution of a person less than sixteen and to a class B felony when the person promotes the prostitution of a person less than eleven years of age. None of the current prostitution offenses are defined as violent felony offenses. Persons convicted of these felony offenses will be eligible for a sentence of probation or could be sentenced to an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment with parole after serving the minimum term of imprisonment imposed by the sentencing court.

Justification

The NYS Division of Criminal Justice Services reports that arrests for sex offenses against children have risen in every year since 1999. In 2000, New York enacted the Sexual Assault Reform Act which increased penalties for sex offenses and revised definitions of sex offense crimes. However, no changes were made to the penalties for or the definitions of the offenses regarding prostitution, penalties for prostitution offenses remain the same as they were when first defined in 1978.

These penalties do not adequately reflect the seriousness of crimes involving the prostitution of our children. Increases in penalties are needed to assure that persons that are convicted of these offenses will be appropriately punished and then supervised so that children will be protected from the risk of further offenses by these persons.

Legislative history

S.5279 of 2003 - passed Senate.

S.5279A of 2004 - passed Senate.

S.6559 of 2006 - passed Senate.

Fiscal implications

None.

Local fiscal implications

None.

Effective date

November 1 after the bill becomes law.