§712-1204  Promoting prostitution in the
third degree.  (1)  A person commits the offense of promoting prostitution
in the third degree if the person knowingly advances or profits from
prostitution.



(2)  Promoting prostitution in the third degree
is a misdemeanor. [L 1972, c 9, pt of §1; gen ch 1993]



 



COMMENTARY ON §§712-1201 TO 1204



 



  These four sections deal with the non-prostitutes who derive
financial gain from the work of prostitutes.  The real danger presented by this
class of people is that its members have a motive to coerce women or men into
prostitution.  Through their promotion of prostitution activities they magnify
the extent to which prostitution is practiced.  Aside from coercion into and
the promotion of prostitution, these promoters often gain a vicious hold over
the prostitutes under their control.



  Section 712-1201 defines the types of conduct which are the
gravamen of the offense of promoting prostitution.  These types of conduct are
termed "advancing prostitution" and "profiting from prostitution." 
The sections following, §§712-1202, 1203, and 1204, delineate various degrees
of the offense of promoting prostitution.



  Promoting prostitution in the first degree, as defined by
§712-1202, is the most serious offense in this trilogy.  The aggravating
circumstances are the criminal coercion of the prostitute or the young age of
the prostitute.  The offense is a class B felony.



  Section 712-1203, promoting prostitution in the second
degree, deals with two less serious aggravating circumstances in this type of
activity:  (a) advancing or profiting by operating or owning a house of
prostitution or a prostitution business or enterprise involving prostitution by
two or more prostitutes, or (b) advancing or profiting from prostitution of a
person less than 18 years of age.  This section provides penalties against the
"madam" of a house of prostitution, those persons who run and control
"call girl rings", and lessors and owners of real property who
knowingly rent or permit premises to be used for prostitution purposes.  It
also penalizes those who take under their control for prostitution purposes
girls under the age of 18 years.  Promoting prostitution in the second degree
is made a class C felony.



  Section 712-1204 defines the offense of promoting
prostitution in the third degree, that is, knowingly advancing or profiting
from prostitution.  This section strikes at the small scale promoter.  The
taxicab driver who pimps for a prostitute, the bartender who sets up customers
for a prostitute, and the hotel clerk who regularly furnishes the prostitute
and his or her customer with accommodations would all come within the ambit of
this provision.  Of course, if any of the aggravating attendant circumstances
previously discussed exist, §§712-1202 or 1203 would apply.  Promoting
prostitution in the third degree is a misdemeanor.



  The previous law dealt both with the criminal coercion of a
person to become a prostitute as well as what is commonly referred to as
"procuring" a person for the practice of prostitution.[1]  The
sanction provided was roughly equivalent to a class C felony.  These sections
also consider other factors, namely the youth of the prostitute and the number
of prostitutes involved in the operation.  In addition, it provides for three degrees
of the offense; the highest degree, presenting the most serious aggravations,
is made a class B felony, a more severe sanction than that provided by prior
law.  The least serious case, promotion in the third degree, is a misdemeanor,
the same sanction provided for what was previously termed
"soliciting."  The best that can be said for the former statutes in
this area is that they were inartfully drawn.  They probably bordered on
vagueness which may have been unconstitutional.  The Code achieves greater
clarity than the previous law and provides for sanctions which are more
realistically addressed to the circumstances involved in the offenses.



 



SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY ON §§712-1201 TO 1204



 



  Act 130, Session Laws 1993, amended §712-1202 to raise, from
fourteen to sixteen, the age of exploited minors that would subject a
perpetrator to a first degree charge for the offense of promoting
prostitution.  The act also amended §§712-1202 and 1203 to make the language in
these sections gender neutral.  The legislature found that there was a need to
enlarge the scope of persons subject to increased criminal penalties for
promoting teen-age prostitution.  Conference Committee Report No. 62.



  Act 147, Session Laws 2008, amended §712-1202 by adding a
reference to "force, threat, or intimidation" and deleting
"criminal coercion".  Act 147 also applied the offense to a person
who knowingly advances or profits from prostitution of a person less than
eighteen, rather than sixteen, years old.  The legislature strengthened the
laws on prostitution and related offenses to deter and punish sexual
exploitation of minors, including obscenity-related activities.  Conference
Committee Report No. 38-08.



  Act 147, Session Laws 2008, amended §712-1203(1) by adding a
reference to "prostituted persons".  Conference Committee Report No.
38-08.



 



__________



§§712-1201 To 1204 Commentary:



 



1.  H.R.S. §768-56.



 



2.  Id. §§768-53, 768-54.