Accused of being a pimp or pimp? Our criminal law and sex crimes lawyers may be able to reduce or deny accusations of pimping or pimping through a variety of legal defense strategies. We have offices in Los Angeles and throughout the state of California. In the United States, attempts have been made to prosecute pornographic film producers for pimping under state law. California v. Freeman in 1989 is one of the most striking examples in which a pornographic film producer/director was accused of pimping, arguing that paying performers for sex on camera was a form of prostitution that fell under a state anti-pimping law. The state Supreme Court rejected this argument, noting that California`s pimping law was not intended to cover the hiring of actors who would engage in sexually explicit but not obscene performances. It also concluded that only in cases where the producer paid the actors to satisfy themselves sexually or other actors could the producer be charged with pimping under state law. This case effectively legalized pornography in the state of California. [43] [44] [45] In 2008, the New Hampshire Supreme Court issued a similar decision (New Hampshire v. Theriault) stating that the production of pornography was not a form of prostitution under state law. [46] Procuring and pimping are so closely linked that it is extremely common for accused persons charged with one of the two offences to be charged with the other. However, they are legally different and have different elements.
In the United States, madams/pimps can be arrested and charged with pimping and are legally known as pimps. [10] This, combined with a tendency to identify pimping with African-American masculinity, may explain why about three-fifths of all “confirmed” traffickers in the United States are African-American men. [11] It has recently been argued that some of the extreme examples of violence cited in the following article stem primarily from such stereotypes supported by Hollywood screenwriters,[12] selective and decontextualized trial protocols and studies that have only interviewed parties to sex trafficking in rescue institutions, enforcement and punishment, rather than conducting rigorous field studies. [13] Rapper Nelly attempted to redefine the word “pimp” as an acronym for “positive, intellectual, motivated person.” He created a college scholarship called P.I.M.P. Juice Scholarship. Dawn Turner Trice of the Chicago Tribune argues that there is “something really disturbing, to say the least, about attaching such a vile word to a stock market” and worries about the glorification of the term. [27] In Canada, there was a legal challenge to prostitution laws, which ended in the 2013 decision in Bedford v. Canada. In 2010, Justice Susan Himel of the Ontario Superior Court struck down national laws banning brothels and supplies, arguing that they violate the Constitution and guarantee “the right to life, liberty and security.” [16] Since the Internet became widespread, prostitutes have increasingly used websites to solicit sexual encounters. This has circumvented the need for pimps in some contexts, while some pimps have used these sites to mediate their sex workers.
[40] Some academics and sex workers` rights advocates challenge the portrayal of third-party agents as violent and extremely committed to a pimp subculture, and find them to be inaccurate exaggerations used to promote harmful policies. [41] For example, one study found that pimps tend to enter and exit pimping, with some of their goals and identities classified as primarily common, others as primarily outside the mainstream, and others as a mixture of conventional and unconventional. [42] Some pimps in the United States are also documented gang members, which is of concern to police services in jurisdictions where prostitution is a significant issue. [36] Pimping competes with the sale of drugs as the primary source of funding for many gangs. Gangs need money to survive, and money is power and respect. While selling drugs can be lucrative for a gang, this activity often carries significant risks due to harsh legal penalties and strict mandatory criminal laws. However, pimping still earns gang members money, while prostitutes themselves bear most of the risks. Pimping has several advantages for the gang to which the pimp belongs. These benefits include helping the gang recruit new members because the gang has women available for sex, and the money brought in through prostitution allows gang members to buy cars, clothing, and weapons, which helps recruit younger members for the gang by increasing the gang`s reputation in the local gang subculture.