Legal Figleaf

[Guest ncm2169]

I'm sure it's been discussed here before, but I can't seem to locate it in a search. I just saw yet another "disclaimer" on an escort's website:

 

< This site does not represent an offer for prostitution. Money exchanged is for time and companionship only. Time together may include services such as erotic dancing and modeling. Anything else that may occur is a matter of personal choice between two or more consenting adults of legal age, and is not contracted for, nor is requested to be contracted for, or compensated for in any manner. >

 

What if any legal protection does this disclaimer provide? I'm interested in educated legal opinions here, not just conjecture. :+

[woodlawn]

>I'm sure it's been discussed here before,

 

No kidding.

 

 

>What if any legal protection does this disclaimer provide?

 

Protection from a charge of solicitation of a specific client? None. If the actual communication between the escort and client (in emails or conversation) satisfies the elements of the crime of solicitation, the fact that the escort posted this disclaimer means nothing.

 

If the disclaimer is posted on a website on which the escort is offering his services it may protect him from a charge relating solely to the advertising of his services (as opposed to a charge relating to interaction with a specific client) provided that there is nothing on the website that contradicts the disclaimer. If there is other material on the website that indicates the escort is offering sexual contact in return for money, the trier of fact in such a case could well determine that the disclaimer should be disregarded.

[Rick Munroe]

"Legal Figleaf"

 

Nice alliteration.

[FrancoDiSantisxxx]

Sigh

 

>

>What if any legal protection does this disclaimer provide?

>I'm interested in educated legal opinions here, not just

>conjecture.

 

Thus far, you have obtained a comment and you have obtained conjecture. This issue has been discussed before and if you are genuinely interested, I would suggest a simple search in the DELI and ASK THE ESCORT forums using, among other search terms: prosecution, legal, disclaimer, warning and any other suitable terms you might find as you perform these searches.

 

However, this would vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction and if you wanted a genuinely comprehensive and informed survery, I would do some research on pandering, solicitation, prostitution, disclaimers and several other areas of legal discourse for the jurisdiction in which you are most concerned.

 

Good luck.

[woodlawn]

Despite Franco's customary attempt to pretend he knows something about the law, when in fact he knows nothing other than what he has gleaned from watching syndicated episodes of "Law and Order," there is a very simple principle at work here. The concept of a "disclaimer" has relatively little meaning in the realm of criminal law. No matter how elaborately and how often one may disclaim criminal intent, the trier of fact in a criminal case is still entitled to judge from the totality of the evidence presented what the real intent of the defendant was. This is a principle that does NOT vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.

 

For this reason, your use of the term "fig leaf" is very apt. It refers to something that is meant to conceal what would otherwise be apparent. That is exactly the purpose of the verbiage you quoted.

 

There are many threads on this board in which posters chat about whether there are any "magic words" that one can use (or avoid) in order to protect oneself from criminal liability when one hires (or is hired as) a prostitute. If you enjoy idle and uninformed speculation, go read them by all means. If you just want the answer, here it is: there are no such magic words. The only way to avoid liability for a crime is not to do the crime. And sometimes even that doesn't work.

[Guest ncm2169]

Thanks Woodlawn for providing a clear and concise answer to my question. I was pretty sure of the answer, but couldn't seem to bring up the old threads on the subject. x(

[pierrot]

So if there is no real protection for client or escort, why is the hiring of escorts so widespread and prosecutions seemingly rare? Is it just that the legal authorities of the moment aren't interested? Or are there too many complications to prosecuting? "Escorting" at least in the metropolitan areas seems pretty open, and we only very occasionally hear of anyone being arrested. Are we just lucky?

Is it possible or likely that one day the police will suddenly crack down and start pursuing us all, escorts and clients?

[Guest fukamarine]

>Is it possible or likely that one day the police will suddenly

>crack down and start pursuing us all, escorts and clients?

 

That probably depends on how much time Asscroft has on his hands on any given day, and how much Shrub feels like being an obnoxious prick.

 

fukamarine

[woodlawn]

>So if there is no real protection for client or escort, why

>is the hiring of escorts so widespread and prosecutions

>seemingly rare?

 

The key word is "seemingly." Since prostitution is a clandestine business, I know of no way to compare the number of arrests to the number of transactions and come up with a figure showing how often the crime results in an arrest in any given metropolitan area. Any statement about the number of prostitutes working at any given time or the number of transactions they engage in in a given period is, like the numbers you keep reading in the paper about the amount of money spent on illegal drugs each year, just a guess.

 

 

>Is it just that the legal authorities of the

>moment aren't interested? Or are there too many complications

>to prosecuting? "Escorting" at least in the metropolitan areas

>seems pretty open, and we only very occasionally hear of

>anyone being arrested. Are we just lucky?

 

It is probably true that prostitution rarely results in a prosecution because (i) law enforcement expends relatively few resources on adult prostitution and (ii) virtually all arrests are resolved by plea deals rather than trials, since for most defendants the penalties involved are usually less onerous than the publicity that would result from a trial.

 

>Is it possible or likely that one day the police will suddenly

>crack down and start pursuing us all, escorts and clients?

 

One hears about hotel and internet sting operations snaring adult prostitutes from time to time. These usually happen as a result of citizen complaints -- complaints by hotel management or guests that a given hotel is being used by prostitutes or complaints from people who stumble on internet sites about prostitutes while surfing, respectively.

[+ deej]

>One hears about hotel and internet sting operations snaring

>adult prostitutes from time to time. These usually happen as

>a result of citizen complaints -- complaints by hotel

>management or guests that a given hotel is being used by

>prostitutes or complaints from people who stumble on internet

>sites about prostitutes while surfing, respectively.

 

Don't forget the blatantly political motivation: re-election.

 

How many times have we seen "sweeps" by law enforcement when a DA is up for re-election and wants to be on the front page? Prostitution which went otherwise ignored for his entire term becomes A Big Deal when it's time to get voter attention.

 

OH MY GOD! THERE'S HOOKING GOING ON!

 

(Need to dig out the "Best Little Whorehouse in Texas" CD -- "TEXAS HAS A WHOREHOUSE IN IT!" :+ )

[Guest ncm2169]

< How many times have we seen "sweeps" by law enforcement when a DA is up for re-election and wants to be on the front page? Prostitution which went otherwise ignored for his entire term becomes A Big Deal when it's time to get voter attention >

 

God knows the system can easily be manipulated that way x( , but seriously is there any record, or even any anecdotal evidence, of that occurring as a result of an online connection?

[J-Man]

>

>That probably depends on how much time Asscroft has on his

>hands on any given day, and how much Shrub feels like being an

>obnoxious prick.

>

 

I'm the last person to defend Messrs. Ashcroft and Bush, but I don't think that prostitution is a Federal offense.

[+ deej]

>God knows the system can easily be manipulated that way x( ,

>but seriously is there any record, or even any anecdotal

>evidence, of that occurring as a result of an online

>connection?

 

None that I know of. But that's hardly surprising, for reasons well stated by woodie above.

 

Remember that the internet is a fairly recent phenomenon, and law enforcement has only recently shown signs of catching up.