Opinion ID: 2829153
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Juvenile System Civil Adjudication of Teenagers for Prostitution

Text: Is a Policy Decision Properly Left to the Legislature. B.W. was adjudicated delinquent under the Juvenile Justice Code for committing the offense of prostitution. She does not contest any of the facts constituting the offense, and, in fact, she stipulated to them in the juvenile court. Nor does she argue that any language in the Juvenile Justice Code provides an exemption to civil adjudication of minors aged thirteen in the juvenile system for prostitution. Instead, she contends that adjudicating her for prostitution would lead to an absurd result because thirteen-year-old minors cannot legally consent to sex in cases of statutory rape (a crime proscribed in the sexual assault statute), and therefore, the Legislature could not have possibly intended that a minor her age be adjudicated delinquent in the juvenile justice system for other sex offenses, like prostitution. Contrary to B.W.’s allegations, this is a type of conduct and category of delinquents the Legislature decided to permit treatment and rehabilitation through the Juvenile Justice Code. The text discloses legislative intent, and courts should apply statutory language literally unless enforcing the language of the statute as written would produce absurd results. See Entergy Gulf States, Inc. v. Summers , 282 S.W.3d 433, 437 (Tex. 2009); Boykin v. State , 818 S.W.2d 782, 785 (Tex. Crim. App. 1991); see also McIntyre v. Ramirez , 109 S.W.3d 741, 745 (Tex. 2003). Instead of subjecting minors to criminal prosecution, the Legislature created the juvenile justice system. See Tex. Penal Code § 8.07 (explaining that the Penal Code is not generally applicable to minors under seventeen); Tex. Fam. Code § 51.02(2) (explaining that a minor ten or older and younger than seventeen years old is subject to delinquency proceedings under the Family Code). Title three of the Family Code is the Juvenile Justice Code, and it vests juvenile courts with exclusive, original, civil jurisdiction to adjudicate minors so they may be appropriately treated and rehabilitated and the public protected. See id. §§ 51.01(2), .04(a). A juvenile may be adjudicated in the juvenile system for “delinquent conduct,” defined to include “conduct, other than a traffic offense, that violates a penal law of this state . . . punishable by imprisonment or by confinement in jail.” Id. § 51.03. Prostitution is a crime that violates Texas penal law and is punishable by confinement in jail. See Tex. Penal Code § 43.02(c). Commission of prostitution is thus delinquent conduct for which a minor may be adjudicated in the juvenile system. “A person commits [prostitution] if he knowingly: (1) offers to engage, agrees to engage, or engages in sexual conduct for a fee; or (2) solicits another in a public place to engage with him in sexual conduct for hire.” Id. § 43.02(a). “A person acts knowingly, or with knowledge, with respect to the nature of his conduct or to circumstances surrounding his conduct when he is aware of the nature of his conduct or that the circumstances exist. A person acts knowingly, or with knowledge, with respect to a result of his conduct when he is aware that his conduct is reasonably certain to cause the result.” Id. § 6.03(b). Thus, any “person” can commit prostitution if he or she does so “knowingly.” A “person” under the Penal Code “means an individual, corporation, or association.” Id. § 1.07(a )( 38). A “child” under the Juvenile Justice Code includes “any person” who is “ten years of age or older” and under seventeen. Tex. Fam. Code § 51.02(2). Thus, the age range of persons subject to delinquency proceedings for violating the prostitution statute includes teenagers like B.W. Neither B.W. nor the Court dispute that teenagers are persons under the Juvenile Justice and Penal Codes. On her own admission, the juvenile court adjudicated B.W. delinquent for the offense of prostitution. But the Court takes the position that B.W. cannot be charged with prostitution because, as a thirteen-year-old minor, she could not legally consent to sex. The Legislature proscribed sex with a minor under seventeen years old, in the sexual assault statute. Tex. Penal Code § 22.011(a )( 2). A minor’s consent is relevant to provide a defense only when: (1) the actor and minor were married at the time of the offense; or (2) the actor was no more than three years older than the minor who is at least fourteen years old. See id. § 22.011(e). As pointed out by the Court, “[t]here are no such defenses . . . when the child is under fourteen, irrespective of the child’s purported willingness.” ___ S.W.3d ___ (Tex. 2010) (emphasis added). The Court acknowledges that a fourteen-year-old may be adjudicated delinquent for prostitution, but asserts that a thirteen-year-old cannot because of the absence of a consent defense in the statutory rape statute. However, the lack of a consent defense to statutory rape does not change the prostitution statute.