Minimum Sentence Crimes against Prostituted Children

Under current law, various crimes related to child prostitution are class 3 felonies. These crimes include soliciting for child prostitution, one type of pandering of a child, procurement of a child, keeping a place of child prostitution, pimping of a child, inducement of child prostitution, and patronizing a prostituted child. The bill requires a court to sentence a person convicted of one of these crimes to the department of corrections for a term of at least the minimum of the presumptive range for a class 3 felony, which is 4 years. Under current law, the crime of pandering of a child is either a class 2 or a class 3 felony, depending on the conduct involved. Pandering that uses menacing or criminal intimidation to induce a child to commit prostitution is a class 2 felony. The bill requires a court to sentence a person convicted of this type of pandering to the department of corrections for a term of at least the minimum of the presumptive range for a class 2 felony, which is 8 years. (Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)