Kentucky PROSTITUTION LAWS

Kentucky Prostitution Laws | Revised Statutes – Chapter 529

Definitions – 529.010

The following definitions apply in this chapter unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) “Abuse or threatened abuse of law or legal process” means the use or threatened use of a law or legal process, whether administrative, civil, or criminal, in any manner or for any purpose for which the law was not designed, in order to exert pressure on another person to cause that person to take some action or refrain from taking some action;

(2) “Advancing prostitution” — A person “advances prostitution” when acting other than as a prostitute or as a patron thereof, he or she knowingly causes or aids a person to engage in prostitution, procures or solicits patrons for prostitution, provides persons or premises for prostitution purposes, operates or assists in the operation of a house of prostitution or a prostitution enterprise, or engages in any conduct designed to institute, aid or facilitate an act or enterprise of prostitution;

(3) “Commercial sexual activity” means:

(a) Any sex act, for which anything of value is given to, promised to, or received by any person;

(b) Participation in the production of obscene material as set out in KRS Chapter 531; or

(c) Engaging in a sexually explicit performance;

(4) “Debt bondage” means the status or condition of a debtor arising from a pledge by the debtor of his or her personal services or of those of a person under his or her control as a security for the debt, if the value of those services as reasonably assessed is not applied toward the liquidation of the debt or the length and nature of those services are not respectively limited and defined;

(5) “Forced labor or services” means labor or services that are performed or provided by another person and that are obtained through force, fraud, or coercion;

(6) “Force, fraud, or coercion” includes but is not limited to:

(a) The use or threat of force against, abduction of, restraint, or serious harm of an individual;

(b) The abuse or threatened abuse of law or legal process;

(c) Facilitating, controlling, or threatening to control an individual’s access to a controlled substance;

(d) Knowingly destroying, concealing, removing, confiscating, or possessing, or attempting to destroy, conceal, remove, confiscate, or possess any actual or purported passport or other immigration documents or any other actual or purported governmental identification documents of the person or family member;

(e) Use of debt bondage; or

(f) The use of an individual’s physical or mental impairment when the impairment has a substantial adverse effect on the individual’s cognitive or volitional function;

(7) “Human trafficking” refers to criminal activity whereby one (1) or more persons are subjected to engaging in:

(a) Forced labor or services; or

(b) Commercial sexual activity through the use of force, fraud, or coercion, except that if the trafficked person is under the age of eighteen (18), the commercial sexual activity need not involve force, fraud, or coercion;

(8) “Human trafficking victims fund” is the fund created in KRS 529.140;

(9) “Labor” means work of economic or financial value;

(10) “Minor” means a person under the age of eighteen (18) years;

(11) “Profiting from prostitution” — A person “profits from prostitution” when acting other than as a prostitute receiving compensation for personally rendered prostitution services, he or she knowingly accepts or receives or agrees to accept or receive money or other property pursuant to an agreement or understanding with any person whereby he or she participates or is to participate in proceeds of prostitution activity;

(12) “Serious harm” means any harm, whether physical or nonphysical, including psychological, financial, or reputational harm, that is sufficiently serious to compel a reasonable person to perform or to continue performing commercial sexual activity in order to avoid incurring that harm;

(13) “Services” means an ongoing relationship between a person and the actor in which the person performs activities under the supervision of or for the benefit of the actor;

(14) “Sexual conduct” means sexual intercourse or any act of sexual gratification involving the sex organs;

(15) “Sexually explicit performance” means a performance of sexual conduct involving:

(a) Acts of masturbation, homosexuality, lesbianism, bestiality, sexual intercourse, or deviant sexual intercourse, actual or simulated;

(b) Physical contact with, or willful or intentional exhibition of, the genitals;

(c) Flagellation or excretion for the purpose of sexual stimulation or gratification; or

(d) The exposure, in an obscene manner, of the unclothed or apparently unclothed human male or female genitals, pubic area, or buttocks, or the female breast, whether or not subsequently obscured by a mark placed thereon, or otherwise altered, in any resulting motion picture, photograph, or other visual representation, exclusive of exposure portrayed in matter of a private, family nature not intended for distribution outside the family; and

(16) “Victim of human trafficking” is a person who has been subjected to human trafficking.

Prostitution – 529.020

(1) Except as provided in KRS 529.120, a person is guilty of prostitution when he

engages or agrees or offers to engage in sexual conduct with another person in

return for a fee.

(2) Prostitution is a Class B misdemeanor.

Promoting prostitution – 529.040

(1) A person is guilty of promoting prostitution when he knowingly advances or profits from prostitution.

(2) Promoting prostitution is a Class A misdemeanor unless the person managed, supervised, controlled, or owned, either alone or in association with others, a house of prostitution or a prostitution business or enterprise involving prostitution activity by two (2) or more prostitutes, in which case it is a Class D felony.

Corroboration – 529.060

(1) No person shall be convicted of prostitution solely on the uncorroborated testimony of a patron.

(2) No person shall be convicted of promoting prostitution solely on the uncorroborated testimony of a person whose prostitution activity he is alleged to have advanced or from whose prostitution activity he is alleged to have profited.

Permitting prostitution – 529.070

(1) A person is guilty of permitting prostitution when, having possession or control of premises which he knows or has reasonable cause to know are being used for prostitution purposes, he fails to make reasonable and timely effort to halt or abate such use.

(2) Permitting prostitution is a Class B misdemeanor.

Loitering for prostitution purposes – 529.080

(1) Except as provided in KRS 529.120, a person is guilty of loitering for prostitution purposes when he loiters or remains in a public place for the purpose of engaging or agreeing or offering to engage in prostitution.

(2) Loitering for prostitution purposes is a:

(a) Violation for the first offense;

(b) Class B misdemeanor for the second offense and for each subsequent offense.

Person convicted required to submit to screening for HIV infection – Prostitution or procuring prostitution with knowledge of sexually transmitted disease or HIV – 529.090

(1) Any person convicted of prostitution or procuring another to commit prostitution under the provisions of KRS 529.020 shall be required to undergo screening for human immunodeficiency virus infection under direction of the Cabinet for Health and Family Services and, if infected, shall submit to treatment and counseling as a condition of release from probation, community control, or incarceration. Notwithstanding the provisions of KRS 214.420, the results of any test conducted pursuant to this subsection shall be made available by the Cabinet for Health and Family Services to medical personnel, appropriate state agencies, or courts of appropriate jurisdiction to enforce the provisions of this chapter.

(2) Any person who commits prostitution and who, prior to the commission of the crime, had tested positive for a sexually transmitted disease and knew or had been informed that he had tested positive for a sexually transmitted disease pursuant to KRS 214.410 and that he could possibly communicate such disease to another person through sexual activity is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor. A person may be convicted and sentenced separately for a violation of this subsection and for the underlying crime of prostitution.

(3) Any person who commits, offers, or agrees to commit prostitution by engaging in sexual activity in a manner likely to transmit the human immunodeficiency virus and who, prior to the commission of the crime, had tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus and knew or had been informed that he had tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus and that he could possibly communicate the disease to another person through sexual activity is guilty of a Class D felony. A person may be convicted and sentenced separately for a violation of this subsection and for the underlying crime of prostitution.

(4) Any person convicted of procuring another to commit prostitution in a manner likely to transmit the human immunodeficiency virus and who, prior to the commission of the crime, had tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus and knew or had been informed that he had tested positive for human immunodeficiency virus and that he could possibly communicate the disease to another person through sexual activity is guilty of a Class D felony.

Treatment of minor suspected of prostitution offense – 529.120

(1) Notwithstanding KRS 529.020 or 529.080, if it is determined after a reasonable period of custody for investigative purposes, that the person suspected of prostitution or loitering for prostitution is under the age of eighteen (18), then the minor shall not be prosecuted for an offense under KRS 529.020 or 529.080.

(2) A law enforcement officer who takes a minor into custody under subsection (1) of this section shall immediately make a report to the Cabinet for Health and Family Services pursuant to KRS 620.030. Pursuant to KRS 620.040, the officer may take the minor into protective custody.

(3) The Cabinet for Health and Family Services shall commence an investigation into child dependency, neglect, or abuse pursuant to KRS 620.029.

Conditions that are not a defense in prosecution involving commercial sexual activity – 529.180

In any prosecution under KRS 529.100 or 529.110 involving commercial sexual activity, it shall not be a defense that:

(1) The defendant was unaware of the minor’s actual age;

(2) A minor consented to engage in commercial sexual activity;

(3) The intended victim of the offense is a law enforcement officer posing as a minor as part of a criminal investigation or operation;

(4) The solicitation was unsuccessful, the conduct was not engaged in, or the law enforcement officer could not engage in the solicited offense; or

(5) The victim is charged with an offense.