Solicitation == Sex Crime?

[+ Hoover42]

While surfing the web the other night, I discovered a legal website that indicated that Solicitation (in Maryland) is considered a sex crime, a conviction for which requires registration as a sex offender.

 

Is this accurate?

 

Are johns now really in the same legal category as child molesters?

 

...Hoover

[trilingual]

Unless you were soliciting for the commission of a crime (i.e., a prostitute, a minor) it's unlikely that solicitation itself is a crime. Courts have ruled that it's not illegal to ask someone to engage in a legal act, even if the recipient of the solicitation finds it unwelcome or unappealing. It's a First Amendment issue! :o

[+ Hoover42]

Ah, I see. Thank You.

 

...Hoover

[uwsman2]

Simplistic answer. Yes, some courts have held it's a first amendment issue, like the California Supreme Court and the New York Court of Appeals (which dumped all over us yesterday with its illogical, irrational marriage decision), but some courts have said it can still be a crime to solicit sex in a public place like a park or highway restroom - like, for example, the Virginia Supreme Court within the past year.

Until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on such matters, each state can go its own way. So unless there is a highest court ruling in Maryland to the contrary, that reported solicitation law may be enforceable in that state.;(

[+ Hoover42]

Sigh. Well, I guess it's probably good (in that respect alone) that I never actually ask anyone for sex. :-(

 

I just hope the laws get thrown out before I get over my phobia.

 

...Hoover

[trilingual]

Thanks uwsman2 for clarifying things. People should find out for themselves what the law is in their own state. A gay friend who's a lawyer should be able to answer the question. Or a local gay rights or legal defense group. Better to be informed than find out the hard way if it's still a criminal offense in your particular state. :-(

[Guest Merlin]

Solicitation, in the statutes, usually refers to solicitation for prostitution, and that is probably what the Maryland statute is refering to.

[+ Hoover42]

Yes, that was the point of my posting. However, since no one realized that, I decided not to press it.

 

I thought people were sending me a signal that they didn't want to talk about it.

 

...Hoover

[uwsman2]

Solicitation in a criminal statute can involve any invitation to somebody to engage in criminal conduct, which prostitution is everywhere in the U.S. except some local option counties in Nevada where they have licensed brothels (heterosexual).

It can also refer to a public invitation to engage in legal conduct, where the jurisdiction has determined that publicly asking somebody to engage in sex is itself a potential public order problem. That's why folks keep getting arrested and prosecuted in places like Virginia, even when they are asking an undercover cop to go with them to a private place to have sex.

It should be protected speech to ask, so long as the act contemplated is legal, but not every state sees it that way, and the US Supreme Court has not addressed the issue.