2019 Hawaii Revised Statutes
TITLE 37. HAWAII PENAL CODE
712. Offenses Against Public Health and Morals
712-1203 Promoting prostitution.
§712-1203 Promoting prostitution. (1) A person commits the offense of promoting prostitution if the person knowingly advances or profits from prostitution.
(2) Promoting prostitution is a class B felony. [L 1972, c 9, pt of §1; am L 1993, c 130, §3; am L 2008, c 147, §9; am L 2011, c 145, §4; am L 2016, c 206, §15]
Case Notes
Statements made by women constituted verbal acts and were admissible against defendant charged under subsection (1)(a). 59 H. 401, 581 P.2d 1171 (1978).
Section 701-109(1)(d) prohibits conviction under both this section and §842-2(2), as both this section and §842-2(2) seek to redress the same conduct--the control of an enterprise involved in criminal activity. In such case, this section, the specific statute, governs over the general statute, §842-2(2). 88 H. 19, 960 P.2d 1227 (1998).
Cited: 58 H. 299, 568 P.2d 504 (1977).
SUPPLEMENTAL COMMENTARY ON §§712-1201 TO 712-1204
Act 206, Session Laws 2016, amended §712-1201 by amending the section heading to conform to amendments made to other sections in the Hawaii Revised Statutes by Act 206.
Act 206, Session Laws 2016, amended §712-1202, among others, to establish a victim and survivor-centered approach to comprehensive anti-sex trafficking laws. Specifically, Act 206 amended §712-1202 by: (1) replacing the offense of promoting prostitution in the first degree with sex trafficking, a class A felony and violent crime; and (2) specifying that the offense of sex trafficking requires proof of negligence with respect to the victim's age when the victim of sex trafficking is under eighteen years of age. The legislature found that the existing laws relating to prostitution and promoting prostitution may not have been suitable to address certain circumstances in which coercion or other inability to consent is present. Act 206 allowed Hawaii to join other states that had adopted comprehensive anti-sex trafficking legislation. Conference Committee Report No. 147-16, Senate Standing Committee Report No. 3450.
Act 206, Session Laws 2016, amended §712-1203 to change the offense of promoting prostitution in the second degree to the offense of promoting prostitution. Senate Standing Committee Report No. 3450.
