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Meanwhile, back in the States
Dec. 2nd, 2005 08:42 amBY way of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
iocaste I find the following, in opposition to the decision S. Africa announced yesterday.
A Virginia appeals court upheld the felony conviction of two men for soliciting sex with another man.
The guys (in a joined case) both tried to set up a blow-job in a bathroom (this is the same thing for which George Michael was arrested in LA, on a charge, IIRC of public lewdness). I'm not opposed to sex in bathrooms being a chargeable offense (no matter who is doing it) but a misdemeanor seems to be about the level of harm to which it rises.
What, one wonders does a Class 6 felony get one?
§ 18.2-10
Punishment for conviction of felony
The authorized punishments for conviction of a felony are:
(f) For Class 6 felonies, a term of imprisonment of not less than one year nor more than five years, or in the discretion of the jury or the court trying the case without a jury, confinement in jail for not more than twelve months and a fine of not more than $2,500, either or both.
For any felony offense committed on or after January 1, 1995, the court may impose an additional term of not less than six months nor more than three years, which shall be suspended conditioned upon successful completion of a period of post-release supervision pursuant to §19.2-295.2 and compliance with such other terms as the sentencing court may require. However, such additional term may only be imposed when the sentence includes an active term of incarceration in a correctional facility.
On the plus side, Virginia is one of only seven states which doesn't permanently revoke the right of convicted felons to vote.
The court rejected both the free speech argument (I'd have to look at the actual arguments, and know at what point in the negotiations the officer made the arrest, conspiring to perform a criminal act occurs when one party makes an overt attempt to carry out the crime. Then again, talking about it, in the abstract, and having a cop say, "let's go" and performing the arrest because the cop started moving to the place of assignation [I tried to write john, but that just looked wrong] seems a cheap way to pull that off) but more importantly the court held that Lawrence v Texas didn't apply because, Lawrence only addressed adult consensual intimacy in the home and explicitly noted that the case did not involve public conduct or prostitution — leaving Virginia free to prohibit sexual activity that occurs in public.
Which is all right, so far as it goes, but the question becomes one of enforcement.
The law in question reads, "§ 18.2-361 If a person carnally knows in any manner … any male or female person by the anus or by the mouth, or voluntarily submits to such carnal knowledge, he or she shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony."
I want to know how many guys who've been nabbed for trying to get a "half and half," or just a blowjob, from a prostitute were nailed or this (and how many prostitutes who offered one.
But I'll wager they get charged with something under
§ 18.2-346. Being a prostitute or prostitution.
A. Any person who, for money or its equivalent, commits adultery, fornication or any act in violation of § 18.2-361, or offers to commit adultery, fornication or any act in violation of § 18.2-361 and thereafter does any substantial act in furtherance thereof, shall be guilty of being a prostitute, or prostitution, which shall be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.
B. Any person who offers money or its equivalent to another for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts as enumerated above and thereafter does any substantial act in furtherance thereof shall be guilty of solicitation of prostitution and shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
To clarify
a. For Class 1 misdemeanors, confinement in jail for up to twelve months and a fine of up to $2,500, either or both.
Looking at the stature, prostitution can rise to the level of a class 6 felony, if oral or anal sex are included, but how many people are charged with it?
Virginia has also used the law to discriminate against homosexuals, on the odd idea that heterosexuals cannot be presumed to engage in violations of § 18.2-36, but a homosexual can be presumptively assumed to do so, and so (though one presumes such decisions are no void, in light of Lawrence v Texas could be denied parental rights. Bottom v Bottom wasn't an adoption case, it was the stripping of rights from the actual parent of a child, because of the presumptive criminal activity of the mother... merely because she was a lesbian.
And what of the question of, "public solicitation" for acts to be later performed in a home (and does a motel room count as a residence for the purpose of this question? One needs a warrant to search one, so I would think so, but...). If someone negotiates a blowjob back at thier place, can the public discussion of it be a felony, while the private act is legal?
Dyana Mason, executive director of Equality Virginia.,(a statewide, non-partisan lobbying, education and support network for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and straight allied (GLBT) communities in Virginia.) said, Equality Virginia will continue to work toward reform of the Crimes Against Nature law and that the organization would like to see public sodomy be reclassified as a misdemeanor like other public sex acts.
Which seems perfectly reasonable to me.
iocaste I find the following, in opposition to the decision S. Africa announced yesterday.A Virginia appeals court upheld the felony conviction of two men for soliciting sex with another man.
The guys (in a joined case) both tried to set up a blow-job in a bathroom (this is the same thing for which George Michael was arrested in LA, on a charge, IIRC of public lewdness). I'm not opposed to sex in bathrooms being a chargeable offense (no matter who is doing it) but a misdemeanor seems to be about the level of harm to which it rises.
What, one wonders does a Class 6 felony get one?
§ 18.2-10
Punishment for conviction of felony
The authorized punishments for conviction of a felony are:
(f) For Class 6 felonies, a term of imprisonment of not less than one year nor more than five years, or in the discretion of the jury or the court trying the case without a jury, confinement in jail for not more than twelve months and a fine of not more than $2,500, either or both.
For any felony offense committed on or after January 1, 1995, the court may impose an additional term of not less than six months nor more than three years, which shall be suspended conditioned upon successful completion of a period of post-release supervision pursuant to §19.2-295.2 and compliance with such other terms as the sentencing court may require. However, such additional term may only be imposed when the sentence includes an active term of incarceration in a correctional facility.
On the plus side, Virginia is one of only seven states which doesn't permanently revoke the right of convicted felons to vote.
The court rejected both the free speech argument (I'd have to look at the actual arguments, and know at what point in the negotiations the officer made the arrest, conspiring to perform a criminal act occurs when one party makes an overt attempt to carry out the crime. Then again, talking about it, in the abstract, and having a cop say, "let's go" and performing the arrest because the cop started moving to the place of assignation [I tried to write john, but that just looked wrong] seems a cheap way to pull that off) but more importantly the court held that Lawrence v Texas didn't apply because, Lawrence only addressed adult consensual intimacy in the home and explicitly noted that the case did not involve public conduct or prostitution — leaving Virginia free to prohibit sexual activity that occurs in public.
Which is all right, so far as it goes, but the question becomes one of enforcement.
The law in question reads, "§ 18.2-361 If a person carnally knows in any manner … any male or female person by the anus or by the mouth, or voluntarily submits to such carnal knowledge, he or she shall be guilty of a Class 6 felony."
I want to know how many guys who've been nabbed for trying to get a "half and half," or just a blowjob, from a prostitute were nailed or this (and how many prostitutes who offered one.
But I'll wager they get charged with something under
§ 18.2-346. Being a prostitute or prostitution.
A. Any person who, for money or its equivalent, commits adultery, fornication or any act in violation of § 18.2-361, or offers to commit adultery, fornication or any act in violation of § 18.2-361 and thereafter does any substantial act in furtherance thereof, shall be guilty of being a prostitute, or prostitution, which shall be punishable as a Class 1 misdemeanor.
B. Any person who offers money or its equivalent to another for the purpose of engaging in sexual acts as enumerated above and thereafter does any substantial act in furtherance thereof shall be guilty of solicitation of prostitution and shall be guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor.
To clarify
a. For Class 1 misdemeanors, confinement in jail for up to twelve months and a fine of up to $2,500, either or both.
Looking at the stature, prostitution can rise to the level of a class 6 felony, if oral or anal sex are included, but how many people are charged with it?
Virginia has also used the law to discriminate against homosexuals, on the odd idea that heterosexuals cannot be presumed to engage in violations of § 18.2-36, but a homosexual can be presumptively assumed to do so, and so (though one presumes such decisions are no void, in light of Lawrence v Texas could be denied parental rights. Bottom v Bottom wasn't an adoption case, it was the stripping of rights from the actual parent of a child, because of the presumptive criminal activity of the mother... merely because she was a lesbian.
And what of the question of, "public solicitation" for acts to be later performed in a home (and does a motel room count as a residence for the purpose of this question? One needs a warrant to search one, so I would think so, but...). If someone negotiates a blowjob back at thier place, can the public discussion of it be a felony, while the private act is legal?
Dyana Mason, executive director of Equality Virginia.,(a statewide, non-partisan lobbying, education and support network for the gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and straight allied (GLBT) communities in Virginia.) said, Equality Virginia will continue to work toward reform of the Crimes Against Nature law and that the organization would like to see public sodomy be reclassified as a misdemeanor like other public sex acts.
Which seems perfectly reasonable to me.
