Learn About The Law
Get help with your legal needs
FindLaw’s Learn About the Law features thousands of informational articles to help you understand your options. And if you’re ready to hire an attorney, find one in your area who can help.
Current as of January 02, 2024 | Updated by Findlaw Staff
(a) A person commits the offense of trafficking a person for a commercial sex act who:
(1) Knowingly subjects, attempts to subject, benefits from, or attempts to benefit from another person's provision of a commercial sex act;
(2) Recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides, purchases, or obtains by any other means, another person for the purpose of providing a commercial sex act; or
(3) Commits the acts in this subsection (a) when the intended victim of the offense is a law enforcement officer or a law enforcement officer eighteen (18) years of age or older posing as a minor.
(b) For purposes of subdivision (a)(2), such means may include, but are not limited to:
(1) Causing or threatening to cause physical harm to the person;
(2) Physically restraining or threatening to physically restrain the person;
(3) Abusing or threatening to abuse the law or legal process;
(4) Knowingly destroying, concealing, removing, confiscating or possessing any actual or purported passport or other immigration document, or any other actual or purported government identification document, of the person;
(5) Using blackmail or using or threatening to cause financial harm for the purpose of exercising financial control over the person; or
(6) Facilitating or controlling a person's access to a controlled substance.
(c)(1) A violation of subsection (a) is a Class B felony, except as provided in subdivision (c)(2).
(2) A violation of subsection (a) is a Class A felony if the victim of the offense is a child more than twelve (12) years of age but less than eighteen (18) years of age.
(d) It is not a defense to a violation of this section that:
(1) The intended victim of the offense is a law enforcement officer;
(2) The victim of the offense is a minor who consented to the act or acts constituting the offense;
(3) The solicitation was unsuccessful, the conduct solicited was not engaged in, or the law enforcement officer could not engage in the solicited offense; or
(4) The person charged was ignorant or mistaken as to the age of a minor.
(e) Notwithstanding this section to the contrary, if it is determined after a reasonable detention for investigative purposes that a victim of trafficking for a commercial sex act under this section is under eighteen (18) years of age, then that person is immune from prosecution for prostitution as a juvenile or adult. A law enforcement officer who takes a person under eighteen (18) years of age into custody as a suspected victim under this section shall, upon determination that the person is a minor, provide the minor with the telephone number for the Tennessee human trafficking resource center hotline, notify the department of children's services, and release the minor to the custody of a parent or legal guardian or transport the minor to a shelter facility designated by the juvenile court judge to facilitate the release of the minor to the custody of a parent or guardian.
(f) It is a defense to prosecution under this section, including as an accomplice or co-conspirator, that a minor charged with a violation of this section was so charged for conduct that occurred because the minor is also a victim of an act committed in violation of this section or § 39-13-307, or because the minor is also a victim as defined by the federal Trafficking Victims Protection Act (22 U.S.C. § 7102).
Cite this article: FindLaw.com - Tennessee Code Title 39. Criminal Offenses § 39-13-309 - last updated January 02, 2024 | https://codes.findlaw.com/tn/title-39-criminal-offenses/tn-code-sect-39-13-309/
FindLaw Codes may not reflect the most recent version of the law in your jurisdiction. Please verify the status of the code you are researching with the state legislature before relying on it for your legal needs.
A free source of state and federal court opinions, state laws, and the United States Code. For more information about the legal concepts addressed by these cases and statutes, visit FindLaw’s Learn About the Law.
Get help with your legal needs
FindLaw’s Learn About the Law features thousands of informational articles to help you understand your options. And if you’re ready to hire an attorney, find one in your area who can help.
Search our directory by legal issue
Enter information in one or both fields (Required)