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While the State of Texas has had a law that classifies all forms of prostitution as felonies on the books for nearly a year, the Harris County District Attorney’s (DA) Office rarely netted convictions, according to a report from Houston CBS affiliate KHOU.
The Lone Star State became the first in the nation to make buying sex a felony when the state legislature passed House Bill (HB) 1540 unanimously.
According to HB 1540’s chief sponsor, State Rep. Senfronia Thompson (D-Houston), the station reported, the first-of-its-kind measure sought to put Texas “way ahead of every state.”
Per LegiScan, the law stemmed from a bipartisan bill that Gov. Greg Abbott signed on June 16, 2021 during the 87th session of the Texas Legislature.
KHOU reported that since the law went into effect on Sept. 1, 2021, Harris County saw the filing of 518 felony solicitation of prostitution cases.
Two hundred thirty-two of these have been disposed of, but among them, just 11 yielded felony convictions, court records show, the report said.
Many of the disposed cases end in pretrial diversion in which the defendant agrees to enroll in a decision-making class, as well as pay a fine or make a charitable donation to the Houston Area Women’s Center in exchange for the expungement of the offense, KHOU reported.
Caroline Roberts, a staff attorney for the nonprofit organization Children at Risk, questioned the purpose of diversion.
“My question there is: ‘What does that diversion mean?'” Roberts said, according to KHOU. “Is it a very robust, well-vetted, evidence-based program that is done weeks and weeks and weeks?”
Nathan Beedle, a trial bureau chief with the DA’s office, told KHOU that the low felony conviction rate doesn’t mean prostitution is a lesser priority.
“We have to prioritize exactly what we’re going to be devoting most of our resources to,” Beedle said.
Formerly a Class B misdemeanor, prostitution is now a felony that carries a two-year sentence in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) and a $10,000 fine.