While prostitution is banned in nearly every state, how people who pay for prostitutes are treated is not uniform. In Arizona, for example, prostitution is illegal under state and local laws while solicitation is not codified as a state criminal offense. This means that if you are arrested for paying for a prostitute, the penalties that you might face will depend on where the offense was committed in the state.
Solicitation of Prostitution occurs when someone offers money or something of value in exchange for another person to engage in a sexual act. There is no corresponding Arizona Revised Statute ARS but almost every individual city has their own municipal code outlawing Solicitation of Prostitution. The State of Arizona has said that the act of Prostitution is illegal, thus soliciting a prostitute is illegal too.
Every city in Arizona has the right to enforce their own statutes or city codes when it comes to Solicitation of Prostitution. The State of Arizona has stated that Prostitution itself is illegal and has allowed each city to monitor the area of solicitation themselves. Since Arizona leaves solicitation up to local governments, the laws against solicitation vary between the different cities. Under this code section, it is unlawful to either engage in an act of prostitution or to solicit or hire someone else for an act of prostitution.
By contrast, A. This means that if you are arrested for soliciting a prostitute, your case will be prosecuted in the city court in the city where the offense occurred. Solicitation of prostitution involves a situation in which a defendant offers money or something else that is valuable to someone else in exchange for a sex act such as intercourse or oral sex. Nearly all cities in Arizona have municipal codes that outlaw the solicitation of prostitution.
Most of these codes have the same elements and carry similar punishments. City police departments typically operate sting operations to try to catch people who are trying to solicit prostitutes. During these operations, some of the officers will go undercover to pose as prostitutes in areas in which prostitution is common. During huge events such as a Super Bowl or an NFL playoff game, the police may engage in large-scale prostitution sting operations.
