Child Sex Trafficking in Arizona: ARS 13-3212 click for a free consultation

Posted on February 26, 2025 in Arizona Revised Statutes,sex crimes & prostitution

ARS 13-3212 explains the crime of child sex trafficking in Arizona. Child sex trafficking is typically a class 2 felony but can carry worse penalties if it is also charged as a “dangerous crime against children.” 

If you are charged with child sex trafficking, you can call us at (480) 456-6400 or use our contact form to speak with an experienced Arizona criminal defense attorney and to learn more about your legal options in a free initial consultation.

What is Child Sex Trafficking?

Simply stated, a person commits child sex trafficking by knowingly using a minor to engage in prostitution activity. This kind of crime happens more often than you might think; the average age of entry into the sex trade in Arizona is 14 years old. Law enforcement has seen girls as young as 9 sold for sex.

The Arizona statute that makes child sex trafficking illegal is ARS 13-3212. Subsection (A) of this statute identifies 10 specific ways a person can be charged with this particular crime:

1. Causing any minor to engage in prostitution.
2. Using any minor for the purposes of prostitution.
3. Permitting a minor who is under the person’s custody or control to engage in prostitution.
4. Receiving any benefit for or on account of procuring or placing a minor in any place or in the charge or custody of any person for the purpose of prostitution.
5. Receiving any benefit pursuant to an agreement to participate in the proceeds of prostitution of a minor.
6. Financing, managing, supervising, controlling or owning, either alone or in association with others, prostitution activity involving a minor.
7. Transporting or financing the transportation of any minor with the intent that the minor engage in prostitution.
8. Providing a means by which a minor engages in prostitution.
9. Enticing, recruiting, harboring, providing, transporting, making available to another or otherwise obtaining a minor with the intent to cause the minor to engage in prostitution or any sexually explicit performance.
10. Enticing, recruiting, harboring, providing, transporting, making available to another or otherwise obtaining a minor with the knowledge that the minor will engage in prostitution or any sexually explicit performance.

Child Sex Trafficking Does Not Always Require an Explicit Sexual Act

As you can see, a person can commit child sex trafficking without personally engaging in a sexual act with a minor. Facilitating child prostitution also qualifies, and even non-sexual acts like causing a minor to engage in a sexually explicit performance (under ARS 13-3212(M)) falls under the definition.

Punishments for Child Sex Trafficking in Arizona

Up to November 2024, a conviction for child sex trafficking that resulted in a class 2 felony sentence allowed judges to impose sentences between seven years to natural life in prison based on factors like the age of the minor victim, whether the crime could be considered a dangerous crime against a child under ARS 13-705, and whether the convicted person had one or more prior felony convictions.

However, after the passage of Proposition 313 that month, any conviction for child sex trafficking in Arizona, including for first-time offenders, would result in a natural life sentence without the possibility of parole.

Another difference that Proposition 313 has made is for cases where the defendant is convicted of more than one crime under the same set of facts. Under the old sentencing framework, the prison sentence for a conviction of child sex trafficking was to be served consecutively after any other sentence.

Now, however, because the child sex trafficking sentence is for life without parole, whatever other sentence might be applicable does not matter as much as it once did.

Defenses to a Charge of Child Sex Trafficking

Charges of child sex trafficking can be challenging to defend, but some possibilities exist. 

First, however, we consider what are likely ineffective lines of defense: that the alleged victim was not actually a minor but someone pretending to be as part of a police “sting” operation, and the defense that the alleged victim was fifteen years of age or older as a way of avoiding a dangerous crimes against children charge.

Police Sting Operations

Arizona law enforcement authorities sometimes conduct child prostitution and sex trafficking operations with undercover officers pretending to be minors, looking to see if someone will approach them to engage in prostitution activity or otherwise illegal behavior.

The police officer will usually frequent social media platforms where minors gather. If an adult engages the officer online and begins to exhibit signs of sexual interest, the officer will pretend to go along until, eventually, the adult will seek a personal meeting with the supposed child. Only instead of a minor, police officers will be waiting to make an arrest.

It is no defense against an attempted child sex trafficking charge to claim that since the police officer the defendant was communicating with was not a minor, then no crime occurred.

Distinguishing Minors Based on Their Age

Under the sentencing ranges that existed before the passage of Proposition 313, if a child sex trafficking defendant was charged with a dangerous crime against children, establishing that the alleged victim was at least 15 years old might be a way to avoid the enhanced sentencing that such a conviction would entail.

Now, however, because almost all child sex trafficking convictions will result in natural life sentences without parole, trying to make a distinction between “ordinary” sex trafficking and a dangerous crime against a child is largely meaningless.

Distinguishing Between a Class 2 Felony and a Class 5 Felony Conviction

One exception remains to the general mandatory life-without-parole sentencing requirement that Proposition 313 has created. If a person is convicted for the first time under ARS 13-3212(B)(3) for engaging in an act of prostitution with a minor between the ages of 15 and 17, then this is a class 5 felony. The life-without-parole sentence only applies to class 2 felony convictions.

Under a first-offense class 5 felony conviction, the child sex trafficking sentence can result in probation after serving at least 180 consecutive days in a county jail (although 90 days can be suspended if the convicted person completes a court-ordered education or treatment program).

If, however, the person has a prior conviction for child sex trafficking or attempted child sex trafficking, then the otherwise class 5 felony becomes a class 2 felony, and will result in a life sentence without parole.

Constitutional Rights Violations by the Police as a Defense

Standard civil rights-based constitutional and procedural defenses to most criminal charges can still apply to a child sex trafficking charge. Some of these defenses include:

• Illegal search and seizure-based defenses that seek to exclude improperly gathered evidence from consideration in court.
• Improper police handling of otherwise admissible evidence in their possession that raises a reasonable doubt about whether the evidence is tainted. This is also known as a chain of custody defense.
• Failure by the police to observe the defendant’s constitutional rights while the defendant is in police custody, such as failing to inform the defendant of the right to remain silent or to have a lawyer present during custodial questioning. These are known as Miranda-based defenses.

Have You Been Charged with a Sex Crime in Arizona?

At AZ Defenders, we are one of the only firms with multiple criminal law specialists in Arizona; so you can rely on us to do everything in our power to protect your future.

If you are facing a charge of child sex trafficking, the rest of your life is at stake. Don’t settle for a public defender. Call the Phoenix sex crimes defense lawyers at AZ Defenders today for a free initial consultation on your case.

Our legal team can take your call 24/7 at (480) 456-6400, or you can contact us online.