TO:	Honorable Harold V. Dutton, Jr., Chair, House Committee on Juvenile Justice & Family Issues
FROM:	Jerry McGinty, Director, Legislative Budget Board
IN RE:	HB1059 by Thierry (Relating to a prohibition on prosecuting or referring to juvenile court certain persons for certain conduct constituting the offense of prostitution, to the provision of services to those persons, and to the prosecution of related criminal offenses.), As Introduced

The bill would remove the offense of prostitution from the offenses constituting delinquent conduct or conduct indicating a need for supervision and prohibit the referral of a child to a juvenile court for such conduct. The bill would prohibit prosecution for an offense of prostitution that the person committed when younger than 17 years of age. The bill would establish that it is not a defense to prosecution for the offense of trafficking of persons or certain offenses related to soliciting or promotion of prostitution that the person who engaged in conduct constituting the offense of prostitution may not be prosecuted for that conduct as provided by the provisions of the bill.

In fiscal year 2022, there were no individuals formally referred to a juvenile probation department, placed on juvenile probation supervision, or admitted to a juvenile state correctional institution for the offense of prostitution. There were 968 individuals arrested, 193 individuals placed on adult community supervision, and 31 individuals admitted into an adult state correctional institution for the offense of prostitution, though none of these cases involved offenses that were committed when the individual was younger than 17 years of age.