720 ILCS 5/11-14.3 – Promoting Prostitution
This law makes it a crime to help, make money from, or encourage prostitution.
This law says that anyone who knowingly helps another person engage in prostitution, makes money from it, or sets it up can be charged with promoting prostitution. The punishment depends on what exactly the person did and where it happened.
(a) A person commits the crime of promoting prostitution if they knowingly do any of the following:
- Help or support prostitution in any way.
- Make money from prostitution by:
- Forcing or pressuring someone to become involved in sex work.
- Setting up or offering to set up situations where prostitution can happen.
- Making money from others’ prostitution by any other means, including from a customer who pays for sex. This rule does not apply if the person making money is under 18 or if they are only involved in their own acts of prostitution.
(b) Sentence:
- If a person breaks the rule in paragraph (a)(1), it is a Class 4 felony. If it happens within 1,000 feet of a school, it becomes a Class 3 felony. A second offense or related convictions also make it a Class 3 felony.
- If a person breaks the rule in paragraph (a)(2)(A) or (a)(2)(B), it is a Class 4 felony. If it happens within 1,000 feet of a school, it becomes a Class 3 felony.
- If a person breaks the rule in paragraph (a)(2)(C), it is a Class 4 felony. If it happens within 1,000 feet of a school, it becomes a Class 3 felony. A second or related offense also becomes a Class 3 felony.
If the court orders a fine, the money collected goes to a special fund that helps victims of human trafficking.
Contact us online or call (314) 900-HELP to talk with a Southern Illinois criminal defense lawyer.
