In recent years, Maine prostitution defense attorneys have seen a major increase in prostitution enforcement. In 2013, Maine’s legislature created two new crimes: sex trafficking and aggravated sex trafficking. Aggravated sex trafficking is a serious felony crime charged agains those who promote prostitution in Maine by “compelling” a person to engage in prostitution. Compulsion is defined very broadly so that a wide range of defendants can be charged with the crime. A new law now uses that same definition to create a  defense for those charged with engaging in prostitution. [Read more…]

Sex trafficking became a crime in Maine in 2013. This law absorbs the old promotion of prostitution crime and uses many of the same terms and definitions. Compelling a person into prostitution has always been a serious felony in Maine, but the sex trafficking law expands the definition of “compelling” and provides many more ways for this conduct to be charged as a felony offense. That crime is now called aggravated sex trafficking and it has a 10 year maximum prison sentence. [Read more…]

Maine’s Prostitution Law is found in title 17-A, Chapter 35. The statutes there prohibit “Engaging in Prostitution,” Engaging a Prostitute” “Promotion of Prostitution” and “Aggravated Promotion of Prostitution.” Only aggravated promotion of prostitution can be charged as a felony; the remaining charges are misdemeanors. [UPDATE: See below. Promotion of prostitution has been subsumed by Maine’s Sex Trafficking Law]. While the penalties are often minor, the stigma of being charged is often the most significant sanction. [Read more…]