Solicitation of prostitution is illegal in forty nine (49) states including Florida. Florida Statutes section 796.07(2)(f) declares it unlawful to "solicit, induce, entice, or procure another to commit prostitution, lewdness, or assignation". The legislature recently enhanced the punishments for engaging or soliciting a prostitute and instituted a mandatory civil penalty of $5,000.
Solicitation of Prostitution Fine Found Constitutional
Criminal but Civil Penalty - Solicitation of Prostitution
In August 2014 I wrote about a Florida Court finding that in criminal cases of solicitation of prostitution the mandatory civil penalty ($5,000) is unconstitutional. Since then the matter has continued to be fought in courts. People who picked up charges of soliciting could still have imposed this penalty but depending on their representation, the sentencing court could have deferred imposing the penalty, left open the possibility of removing the fine or refused to impose the penalty all together.
Child pornography
Recent headlines regarding sex crimes and child pornography charges brought on 71 people in a state other than Florida reminds us that sex offenders come from all walks of life. All but one of those people arrested on charges of trading child pornography were men. The overwhelming majority of sex offenders are men, there is no other pattern. In that case there was a rabbi, a police chief, a police officer, a paramedic and a Boy Scout leader/little league coach.
