Tennessee PROSTITUTION LAWS

Tennessee Prostitution Laws | § 39-13-512

39-13-512. Prostitution — Definitions.

As used in §§ 39-13-512 — 39-13-515, unless the context otherwise requires:

(1) “House of prostitution” means any place where prostitution or the promotion of prostitution is regularly carried on by one (1) or more persons under the control, management or supervision of another;

(2) “Inmate” means, within the meaning of this part concerning prostitution, a person who engages in prostitution in or through the agency of a house of prostitution;

(3) “Patronizing prostitution” means soliciting or hiring another person with the intent that the other person engage in prostitution, or entering or remaining in a house of prostitution for the purpose of engaging in sexual activity;

(4)

(A) “Promoting prostitution” means:

(i) Owning, controlling, managing, supervising, or in any way keeping, alone or in association with others, a business for the purpose of engaging in prostitution, or a house of prostitution;

(ii) Procuring an inmate for a house of prostitution;

(iii) Encouraging, inducing, or otherwise purposely causing another to become a prostitute;

(iv) Soliciting a person to patronize a prostitute;

(v) Procuring a prostitute for a patron; or

(vi) Soliciting, receiving, or agreeing to receive any benefit for engaging in any of the activities defined in subdivisions (4)(A)(i)-(v); and

(B) “Promoting prostitution” does not include a person who solicits, procures, induces, encourages, or attempts to cause another to patronize a prostitute if:

(i) The person promoting the prostitute and the prostitute being promoted are the same person; and

(ii) The intent of the promotion is the solicitation of business for only the prostitute engaging in the promotion;

(5) “Promoting prostitution of a minor” means engaging in any of the activities described in subdivision (4) when one (1) or more of the persons engaged in prostitution is less than eighteen (18) years of age or has an intellectual disability;

(6) “Prostitution” means engaging in, or offering to engage in, sexual activity as a business or being an inmate in a house of prostitution or loitering in a public place for the purpose of being hired to engage in sexual activity; and

(7) “Sexual activity” means any sexual relations including homosexual sexual relations.

39-13-513. Prostitution — Defenses.

(a) A person commits an offense under this section who engages in prostitution.

(b)

(1) Prostitution is a Class B misdemeanor.

(2) Prostitution committed within one hundred feet (100′) of a church or within one and one-half (1½) miles of a school, such distance being that established by § 49-6-2101, for state-funded school transportation, is a Class A misdemeanor.

(3) A person convicted of prostitution within one and one-half (1½) miles of a school shall, in addition to any other authorized punishment, be sentenced to at least seven (7) days of incarceration and be fined at least one thousand dollars ($1,000).

(c) As used in subsection (b), “school” means all public and private schools that conduct classes in any grade from kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12).

(d) Notwithstanding any provision of this section to the contrary, if it is determined after a reasonable detention for investigative purposes, that a person suspected of or charged with a violation of this section is under eighteen (18) years of age, that person is immune from prosecution for prostitution as a juvenile or adult. A law enforcement officer who takes a person under eighteen (18) years of age into custody for a suspected violation of this section shall, upon determination that the person is a minor, provide the minor with the telephone number for the Tennessee human trafficking resource center hotline, notify the department of children’s services, and release the minor to the custody of a parent or legal guardian or transport the minor to a shelter care facility designated by the juvenile court judge to facilitate the release of the minor to the custody of a parent or legal guardian.

(e) It is a defense to prosecution under this section that a person charged with a violation of this section was so charged for conduct that occurred because the person was a victim of an act committed in violation of § 39-13-307 or § 39-13-309, or because the person was a victim as defined under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (22 U.S.C. § 7102).

39-13-514. Patronizing prostitution — Unacceptable defenses.

(a) A person commits an offense under this section:

(1) Who patronizes prostitution; or

(2) When a person patronizes prostitution where the subject of the offense is a law enforcement officer or a law enforcement officer eighteen (18) years of age or older posing as a minor.

(b)

(1) Patronizing prostitution is a Class A misdemeanor.

(2) Patronizing prostitution within one and one-half (1.5) miles of a school shall, in addition to any other authorized punishment, be punished by no less than seven (7) days of incarceration and by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars ($1,000).

(3)

(A) Patronizing prostitution from a person who is younger than eighteen (18) years of age, has an intellectual disability, or is a law enforcement officer posing as a minor is punishable as trafficking for commercial sex acts under § 39-13-309.

(B) Nothing in this subdivision (b)(3) shall be construed as prohibiting prosecution under any other applicable law.

(c) As used in subsection (b), “school” means all public and private schools that conduct classes in any grade from kindergarten through grade twelve (K-12).

(d) It is not a defense to a violation of this section that:

(1) The subject of the offense is a law enforcement officer;

(2) The victim of the offense is a minor and consented to the offense; or

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

39-13-515. Promoting prostitution — Unacceptable defenses.

(a) A person commits an offense under this section:

(1) Who promotes prostitution; or

(2) Who promotes prostitution where the subject of the offense is a law enforcement officer or is a law enforcement officer eighteen (18) years of age or older posing as a minor.

(b) Except as provided in subsection (c), promoting prostitution is a Class E felony.

(c) Promoting prostitution of a person more than twelve (12) years of age but less than eighteen (18) years of age or a person with an intellectual disability as defined in § 33-1-101 is a Class A felony.

(d) It is not a defense to a violation of this section that:

(1) The subject of the offense is a law enforcement officer;

(2) The victim of the offense is a minor and consented to the offense; or

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

39-13-516. Aggravated prostitution.

(a) A person commits aggravated prostitution when, knowing that such person is infected with HIV, the person engages in sexual activity as a business or is an inmate in a house of prostitution or loiters in a public place for the purpose of being hired to engage in sexual activity.

(b) For the purposes of this section, “HIV” means the human immunodeficiency virus or any other identified causative agent of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome.

(c) Nothing in this section shall be construed to require that an infection with HIV has occurred in order for a person to have committed aggravated prostitution.

(d) Aggravated prostitution is a Class C felony.