2023 Tennessee Code › Title 39 - CRIMINAL OFFENSES (§§ 39-1-101 — 39-17-1812) › Chapter 13 - OFFENSES AGAINST PERSON (§§ 39-13-NEW — 39-13-1004) › Part 3 - KIDNAPPING AND FALSE IMPRISONMENT (§§ 39-13-301 — 39-13-316) › Section 39-13-309 - Trafficking for commercial sex act

(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
).
Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1115, s 13, eff. 7/1/2022.
Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1115, Secs.s14, s21 eff. 7/1/2022.
Amended by 2022 Tenn. Acts, ch. 1089, s 4, eff. 7/1/2022.
Amended by 2019 Tenn. Acts, ch. 123, s 2, eff. 7/1/2019.
Amended by 2019 Tenn. Acts, ch. 123, s 1, eff. 7/1/2019.
Amended by 2016 Tenn. Acts, ch. 634, s 1, eff. 3/23/2016.
Amended by 2013 Tenn. Acts, ch. 465, s 2, eff. 7/1/2013.
Acts 2008 , ch. 1140, § 3; 2012, ch. 1075, § 2.