Defending Against Prostitution Charges in New York

Welcome to Spodek Law Group. We're a premier criminal defense firm in New York City that represents clients facing all types of charges, including prostitution and related offenses. Our approach is different - we understand that prostitution arrests aren't just legal problems, they're threats to your entire life. Your career, your immigration status, your housing, your family. We focus on protecting all of that, not just winning in court. Call us at 212-300-5196 if you've been arrested or think you might be under investigation.

A prostitution charge in New York sounds minor. Like a ticket. Like something you pay a fine for and move on. That's what most people think until they're sitting in a holding cell at 3am realizing their employer has been calling for six hours and they cant answer. Here's what practioners know that the public dosent: a prostitution arrest isnt a violation, its a misdemeanor that creates a permanent criminal record categorized as a sex offense on background checks. The system treats consensual sex work and sex trafficking exactly the same at the arrest stage, which means actual victims get criminalized while prosecutors hold press conferences claiming they rescued people. One arrest triggers automatic consequences - immigration holds, professional license board notifications, housing denials, employment blacklisting - before you ever see a judge. Let that sink in.

The real trap is how the system disguises itself as helpful. Diversion programs, ACDs, "we just want to get you help" - all of it designed to look like second chances while creating permanent databases, monitoring systems, and failure conditions that most people cant meet. Your facing a system that arrests 90 sex workers for every 1 trafficker, spends millions on undercover stings for misdemeanor charges, and calls it "protecting victims." By the time your charged, you've already lost your job, your privacy, and potentially your immigration status. The conviction is just the formality.

What Actually Happens When You're Arrested for Prostitution in New York

The arrest dosent happen how people think. There's no raid, no dramatic scene. Usually its an undercover officer who responded to an ad or approached you on the street. You have a conversation. Money gets mentioned. A sex act gets mentioned. That's it - that's the entire case. The moment you agree to exchange sex for money, even in conversation, you've committed the offense under New York Penal Law § 230.00. No physical contact needed. No money needs to actually change hands. Just words.

Then the arrest happens fast. Your handcuffed, searched, put in a police car. Your phone gets taken. Your belongings get inventoried. If your in a massage parlor or apartment, they photograph everything - the room, the table, the sheets, the condoms. All of this becomes evidence even though the actual crime was just talking. Your brought to the precinct for processing - fingerprints, mugshot, background check. This takes 2-4 hours on average. During this time, your phone is ringing. Your employer, your family, your roommate - everyone calling wondering were you are. You cant answer.

Heres the thing: the arrest itself triggers consequences before you see a lawyer or a judge. If your not a US citizen, ICE gets notified automatically. If you have a professional license (teacher, nurse, therapist, social worker), the state licensing board gets notified. If your on probation or parole for anything else, your supervision officer gets notified. These notifications happen within 24-48 hours. By the time your arraigned and released, the damage has already started.

The arraignment happens 6-18 hours after arrest in NYC. Your brought to central booking, held in a cell with dozens of other people, waiting for your case to be called. When you finaly see the judge, the entire proceeding takes maybe 5 minutes. Prosecutor reads the charges, your lawyer (probably Legal Aid if you couldnt afford to call a private attorney) says your a first offender with ties to the community, judge sets bail or releases you on your own recognizance. This is when you first learn what your actually charged with - and whether its a B misdemeanor (up to 90 days jail) or a violation. Most people dont know the difference until this moment.

After release, your given a court date 3-6 weeks away. Your told to return for that date. What they dont tell you: your already in multiple databases. NYPD arrest database. New York State sex offender monitoring system (not the public registry, but the internal tracking system). FBI background check database. Your employer has probly already called your emergency contact asking were you are. If you work in healthcare, education, or any licensed profession, your licensing board has already opened an investigation file. If your an immigrant, ICE has already flagged your file for review.

The first 48 hours after arrest determine whether this becomes a manageable legal problem or a life-ending catastrophe. Most people make it worse by not calling a lawyer immediately. They think "its just prostitution, I'll handle it myself." By the time they realize how serious it is, theyve already missed the window to prevent some of the collateral consequences. Todd Spodek and our team at Spodek Law Group have handled hundreds of these cases, and the clients who fare best are the ones who call us from the precinct, not three weeks later after they've been fired.

Why Your Prostitution Charge Shows Up as a "Sex Offense" on Background Checks

This is the part that destroys lives. When employers, landlords, schools, or immigration authorities run a background check, prostitution convictions are categorized under "sex offenses." Not separated. Not distinguished. Grouped with rapists, child predators, and violent sex criminals. The background check report dosent explain the context. It just shows: Sex Offense - Penal Law § 230.00. That's what the HR person sees. That's what the landlord sees. That's what the college admissions officer sees.

Why does this happen? Basicly, background check companies use broad categorization systems. New York Penal Law Article 230 covers prostitution offenses. Article 130 covers sex crimes like rape and sexual assault. But most background check databases categorize BOTH under "sex offenses" or "crimes of moral turpitude" without differentiating severity. The person reading your background check has no idea if your conviction was for agreeing to exchange sex for $200 or for assaulting someone. They just see "sex offense" and reject the application.

Employment is were this hits hardest. If you work in education, your terminated immediately. Schools have zero-tolerance policies for any sex offense on record. If you work in healthcare, most hospitals and care facilities have the same policy - automatic termination. If you work in finance, insurance, or any FINRA-regulated industry, your broker license gets revoked. If you work in anything requiring security clearance, your clearance is pulled. If you work in childcare, elder care, or disability services, your barred from the industry entirely. The conviction dosent just cost you your current job - it blacklists you from entire industries.

Housing applications are almost as bad. Landlords in NYC run background checks for anything beyond month-to-month rentals. When "sex offense" appears, the application gets denied. This is especially destructive if your already in the cycle of survival sex work - you need stable housing to get legitimate employment, but you cant get housing with the conviction, which pushes you back into sex work, which leads to more arrests. The system creates a trap with no exit.

College admissions and financial aid also run background checks. If your applying for admission, many schools ask about criminal history. If your already enrolled and get convicted, most schools have conduct codes that allow suspension or expulsion for "moral turpitude" offenses. Federal financial aid (FAFSA) can be denied or revoked for drug offenses and sex offenses. A prostitution conviction at age 19 can end your education before it starts.

Immigration consequences are severe and automatic. Under federal immigration law, prostitution is a "crime involving moral turpitude" (CIMT). Even a violation-level conviction can trigger deportation proceedings if your not a US citizen. It dosent matter if charges are reduced. It dosent matter if you complete a diversion program. If theres a conviction - even a conditional discharge or time served - immigration authorities can initiate removal proceedings. Green card holders lose status. Visa holders get deported. Asylum applicants get denied. There is no discretion. The law is mandatory.

OK so what about dismissals and ACDs? Don't those avoid the conviction? Yes and no. An ACD (Adjournment in Contemplation of Dismissal) means charges are dismissed after 6 months if you stay out of trouble. Sounds great. But the ARREST remains on your record. The arrest shows up on background checks. The arrest triggered the immigration hold. The arrest notified your licensing board. And if you violate the ACD conditions - get arrested for anything, even a traffic ticket in some cases - the original charges get reinstated and your convicted anyway. ACD is a trap for people who think it means "this goes away." It dosent.

Sealing and expungement help, but they take years. New York law allows sealing of certain convictions after 10 years (for misdemeanors) if you stay conviction-free. But that's 10 years of being unemployable in your field. 10 years of housing denials. 10 years of immigration vulnerability. By the time the record is sealed, the damage is permanent. Spodek Law Group fights to get cases dismissed outright or reduced to non-criminal violations specifically to avoid this categorization nightmare. Its not just about avoiding jail time - its about avoiding the scarlet letter that follows you for life.

The Diversion Program That 60% of People Fail

New York offers diversion programs for prostitution arrests - Project SAFE, STAR Court, Human Trafficking Intervention Courts. These programs are marketed as alternatives to prosecution. Complete the program, charges get dismissed. Sounds perfect. The problem is the completion rate: estimates range from 40-60% of participants actually finish. The rest get terminated from the program, their original charges get reinstated, and they end up with a conviction AND a record showing they failed a "help" program. That's actualy worse than just pleading guilty in the first place.

Why do so many people fail? Because the programs require things that most sex workers dont have:

• Stable housing
• Reliable transportation
• Regular schedule availability
• Ability to pass drug tests
• Ability to attend weekly sessions for 6+ months

Project SAFE requires attendance at educational workshops, meetings with social workers, compliance with drug testing, and proof of employment or enrollment in job training. Miss one session, test positive for marijuana, get arrested for anything else - your terminated. There's almost no margin for error.

The drug testing requirement is were many people fail. Most diversion programs require random drug testing throughout the program period. Marijuana is still grounds for termination even though its legal in New York for recreational use. If you test positive for anything - cocaine, heroin, benzos, even prescription meds without a documented prescription - your out. For people who got into sex work because of substance abuse issues, this requirement is impossible to meet without inpatient treatment. But the diversion programs dont provide inpatient treatment. They provide weekly outpatient counseling. Its designed to fail.

The attendance requirement is the other major failure point. You have to attend every scheduled session - usually weekly, sometimes twice weekly, for 6 months or longer. If you have a job, you have to get time off. If your job has irregular hours (which is common for people doing survival sex work on the side), you cant guarantee attendance. If you dont have reliable childcare, you cant attend. If you dont have transportation money, you cant get there. One missed session can be excused with documentation. Two missed sessions and your probly getting terminated.

And heres the real kicker: while your in the diversion program, the original charges are still pending. Your not convicted yet, but your not free either. Your in legal limbo. If your an immigrant, ICE can still initiate removal proceedings based on the arrest alone. If your employer finds out about the arrest, they can still terminate you. If your licensing board is investigating, they dont wait for the diversion program to finish - they proceed with suspension hearings based on the arrest. So your trying to complete a demanding program while your life is falling apart around you.

The "success stories" the programs advertise are real - some people do complete the program and get their charges dismissed. But those are usually people with resources: stable housing, family support, ability to take time off work, no substance abuse issues, no childcare responsibilities. For everyone else, the program becomes another layer of the trap. You accept the diversion thinking its your way out. You struggle to meet the requirements. You fail. Now your convicted AND you have a record showing you couldnt complete a "help" program, which makes you look worse to judges in future cases.

Spodek Law Group evaluates whether diversion is actualy the best option for each client. Sometimes it is. Sometimes a straight plea to a violation is better. Sometimes fighting the case and forcing dismissal is the right move. It depends on your specific situation - immigration status, employment, housing stability, ability to meet program requirements. What we never do is automatically accept diversion just because the prosecutor offers it. We've seen too many clients get destroyed by programs that were supposed to help them.

How One Prostitution Arrest Destroys Professional Licenses

If you hold any professional license in New York - teacher, nurse, social worker, therapist, doctor, lawyer, CPA, real estate broker, insurance agent - a prostitution arrest triggers automatic notification to your licensing board. Not conviction. Arrest. The notification happens within 48 hours of arrest in most cases. By the time your arraigned and released, your licensing board has already opened an investigation file. This is were careers die.

The notification system works through automated database sharing. When your arrested and fingerprinted, the arrest data goes into the New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) database. Every professional licensing board in New York has access to this database and receives automated alerts for specific offense categories. Prostitution is flagged as a "moral character" issue, which triggers alerts to education licenses, healthcare licenses, counseling licenses, legal licenses - essentially everything except maybe a commercial drivers license.

Once the licensing board receives the alert, they open an investigation. You get a letter - usually within 2-4 weeks of arrest - stating that the board is aware of your arrest and requesting a written explanation. The letter gives you 30 days to respond. If you dont respond, your license can be suspended immediately for failure to cooperate. If you do respond, your admitting the arrest happened, which the board then uses to initiate formal disciplinary proceedings. There's no good option.

The disciplinary hearing is were your career ends. The board schedules a hearing - usually 3-6 months after the initial notification. You have the right to appear with an attorney. The board presents evidence of your arrest (the police report, court records, your written response). You have to explain what happened. Even if criminal charges are pending, even if you havent been convicted, the board can suspend or revoke your license based solely on the arrest if they find it demonstrates "lack of moral character" or "conduct unbecoming" of the profession.

For teachers, this is especially brutal. New York Education Law § 305 allows the State Education Department to suspend or revoke teaching licenses for "moral character" violations. Prostitution arrests are considered per se evidence of moral character issues. Even if you complete a diversion program and charges are dismissed, the education department can still revoke your license based on the arrest alone. The standard isnt "were you convicted" - its "do you possess the moral character required to teach children." A prostitution arrest, even without conviction, fails that standard in their eyes.

Nurses face the same issue under New York Education Law § 6509 and § 6510. The Office of Professional Discipline (OPD) can suspend or revoke nursing licenses for "unprofessional conduct," which includes prostitution arrests. It dosent matter if your nursing skills are excellent. It dosent matter if the arrest had nothing to do with your job. The board considers prostitution evidence that you lack the character to practice nursing. Suspension hearings often result in license revocation or multi-year suspensions, effectively ending your nursing career.

Social workers, therapists, and counselors are hit just as hard. The social work licensing board considers prostitution arrests disqualifying because the profession requires "trustworthiness and moral fitness." If your a therapist working with vulnerable populations - domestic violence survivors, sexual abuse survivors, at-risk youth - a prostitution arrest is treated as automatic disqualification. Your clients confidential information is at risk, they argue, because your judgment is compromised. Never mind that consenting adults engaging in sex work has nothing to do with your ability to provide therapy. The board dosent care.

Lawyers face professional discipline through the Attorney Grievance Committee. Under New York Rules of Professional Conduct, attorneys must report arrests within 30 days. Failure to report is itself a violation. If you report it, the committee investigates. If you dont report it, they find out anyway through database monitoring, and now your facing discipline for the arrest AND for failure to report. Either way, your likely facing suspension or censure. Even if criminal charges are dismissed, the attorney discipline can proceed independently.

The worst part is the timing. Your employer finds out about the license investigation before you can control the narrative. The licensing board sends notices to your employer asking for employment verification and character references. Your boss gets a letter saying "we're investigating your employee for a prostitution arrest - please provide documentation of their job performance and character." At that point, your probly getting fired regardless of the outcome. The employer dosent want the liability, the publicity, or the association. Your gone.

Todd Spodek has represented multiple professionals facing license revocation proceedings connected to criminal charges. The key is immediate action - responding to the licensing board strategically, coordinating the criminal defense with the administrative defense, and controlling the narrative before the board makes up its mind. Waiting to "see what happens in criminal court" is a mistake. By the time criminal charges resolve, the licensing board has already suspended you, and getting reinstated is nearly impossible.

Why Prostitution Convictions Trigger Automatic Deportation

If your not a US citizen, a prostitution conviction can end your life in America. Permanently. This is the consequence that most people dont know about until its too late. Under federal immigration law, prostitution is classified as a "crime involving moral turpitude" (CIMT) under INA § 237(a)(2)(A)(i). Any conviction - even a violation, even a conditional discharge, even an ACD that gets violated and converts to a conviction - makes you deportable. There's no discretion. There's no waiver for first offenses. There's no "it was only prostitution." Your removable.

The law treats prostitution as moral turpitude because it involves "base, vile, or depraved" conduct according to federal court interpretations. This is the same category as fraud, theft, and assault. The logic is that prostitution demonstrates a lack of moral character that makes you unfit to remain in the United States. It dosent matter if sex work is decriminalized in other contexts. It dosent matter if you were a trafficking victim. It dosent matter if your conviction was 20 years ago. One conviction is enough.

Green card holders are especially vulnerable. You spent years getting lawful permanent resident status. You built a life here. You have family, employment, property. Then one prostitution arrest - maybe you were desperate for money, maybe you were coerced, maybe you didnt even realize it was illegal - and immigration authorities can revoke your green card and deport you. The case that triggers this is usually a random ICE audit or a background check for naturalization. You apply for citizenship, thinking your eligible after 5 years as a permanent resident. Immigration pulls your criminal history. They see the prostitution conviction from 3 years ago. Now instead of becoming a citizen, your in removal proceedings.

Visa holders lose status immediately. If your on a student visa, work visa, or any temporary status, a prostitution conviction violates the terms of your visa. Your visa gets revoked. Your given a deportation order. You have to leave the country, usually within 30-60 days. Theres no appeal. Theres no waiver. You can consult an immigration attorney, but the law is clear - prostitution convictions make you inadmissible and removable. The only question is how fast the removal happens.

Asylum applicants and refugees face an even worse situation. If your seeking asylum based on persecution in your home country, a prostitution conviction can be used to deny your application on "moral character" grounds. You fled your country because of violence or persecution. You arrived in the US and applied for protection. While waiting for your asylum hearing - which can take years - you were arrested for prostitution. Now immigration argues your not a person of good moral character deserving of asylum. Your application gets denied. Your deported back to the country you fled. The prostitution conviction just sentenced you to potential death or imprisonment in your home country.

The automatic ICE notification is what makes this so dangerous. When your arrested for prostitution in NYC, the arrest data is shared with federal databases. ICE has access to these databases. If your not a citizen, ICE can place a detainer on you - meaning when your released from NYPD custody, your immediately transferred to ICE custody for deportation processing. This happens in the same 24-hour period as your criminal arraignment. You think your going home after seeing the judge. Instead your being transferred to an immigration detention center.

The criminal court judge cant help you. Immigration consequences are considered "collateral" - meaning they're not part of the criminal case. The judge can dismiss your criminal charges, but that dosent stop ICE from proceeding with removal based on the arrest alone. The judge can offer you ACD, but if your already in ICE custody, you cant comply with the ACD conditions anyway because your detained. The criminal case and immigration case proceed on parallel tracks, and the immigration case is usually faster and more severe.

Family separation is the cruelest part. If you have US citizen children, they dont get deported with you. They stay here. You get sent back to your home country. Now your children are in foster care or with relatives, and your fighting to return from thousands of miles away with no legal status. If your spouse is a US citizen, they can petition for you to return, but that process takes years - sometimes 5-10 years - and theres no guarantee of approval. The prostitution conviction makes you inadmissible, which means even a family-based petition can be denied.

Spodek Law Group works with immigration attorneys on every case involving non-citizens. We coordinate the criminal defense strategy with immigration strategy. Sometimes that means fighting the case to verdict instead of accepting a plea. Sometimes it means negotiating for a non-criminal violation that dosent constitute a conviction under immigration law. Sometimes it means getting charges dismissed entirely before ICE is notified. What we never do is accept a "good deal" in criminal court that destroys your immigration status. Ive seen too many defense attorneys plead clients guilty without even asking about citizenship. By the time the client realizes they're being deported, its too late to undo the conviction.

The System Arrests 90 Sex Workers for Every 1 Trafficker

Heres the stat that exposes how the system actualy works: for every human trafficking arrest in New York, there are approximately 90 prostitution arrests of sex workers and 9 arrests of buyers. The system is designed backwards. Its supposed to target traffickers and protect victims. Instead, it criminalizes the victims and ignores the traffickers.

Why does this happen? Because prostitution arrests are easy. An undercover officer responds to an ad, arranges a meeting, has a conversation, makes an arrest. Total time investment: 2-4 hours. Total cost: one officers overtime. Conviction rate: 85-90% because the evidence is just the officers testimony about what was said. These arrests produce statistics, clear cases, and good numbers for the department.

Trafficking investigations are hard. They require months of surveillance, coordination between agencies, wiretaps, financial analysis, witness cooperation. The targets are organized, careful, and well-funded. The victims are terrified to testify. The cases are complex. Conviction rates are lower because defense attorneys actually fight them. So police departments focus on easy prostitution arrests instead. They can arrest 90 sex workers in the time it takes to investigate one trafficking organization.

The media plays along. Police departments hold press conferences announcing "major sex trafficking bust - 45 people arrested." The headlines say "trafficking ring dismantled." Then you read the actual charges: 43 arrested for prostitution, 2 arrested for promoting prostitution. The 43 people are sex workers. The 2 people might be traffickers, or they might be roommates who split rent. But the press conference called it a "trafficking rescue operation," so everyone thinks victims were saved. In reality, victims were arrested.

The 2021 law changes in New York were supposed to fix this. New York decriminalized being a victim of trafficking - meaning if you can prove you were trafficked, your prostitution charges can be vacated. Sounds great. The problem is proving you were trafficked. You need evidence of coercion, force, fraud. You need corroborating witnesses. You need documentation. Most trafficking victims dont have any of that. Their trafficker controlled their documents, their money, their communication. So they get arrested for prostitution, claim they were trafficked, and the prosecutor says "prove it." They cant. So they get convicted anyway.

The distinction between "sex worker" and "trafficking victim" is impossible to determine at arrest. The cop who arrests you dosent know if you chose this work or were forced into it. They dont ask. They dont investigate. They just make the arrest based on the exchange agreement. You get processed as a prostitution defendant. Later - maybe weeks later, maybe never - someone asks if you were trafficked. By then your already convicted, already in the system, already facing deportation or license revocation. The "protections" for trafficking victims come too late to matter.

Meanwhile, actual trafficking organizations operate with minimal interference. Massage parlors that everyone knows are fronts for trafficking stay open for years. Why? Because shutting them down requires extensive investigations, coordination with federal agencies, financial seizures, and prosecutions that take years to resolve. Its easier to arrest the women working there for prostitution and call it a "rescue operation." The organization just reopens under a new name. The women get deported. Nothing actually changes.

The buyer arrest stats are even more telling. New York's "End Demand" law (Penal Law § 230.04) makes patronizing a prostitute illegal - the idea being that arresting buyers reduces demand and helps sex workers exit the industry. But buyer arrests are rare compared to sex worker arrests. Why? Because buyers are harder to catch. They respond to ads, arrange meetings, then dont show up if anything seems suspicious. They use encrypted communication. They're careful. Sex workers, on the other hand, need clients to survive - they cant afford to screen as carefully, which makes them easier targets for undercover stings.

The system knows this. Prosecutors know this. Defense attorneys know this. But the incentive structure dosent change. Police departments are measured by arrest numbers and clearance rates. Prostitution arrests are easy clearances. Trafficking investigations are hard, risky, and time-consuming. So the system keeps arresting sex workers, calling them "rescues," and ignoring the actual traffickers. Its not incompetence - its design. The system works exactly as intended: it produces statistics while avoiding difficult work.

When clients come to Spodek Law Group after a prostitution arrest, one of the first questions we ask is: were you working independently, or was someone controlling you? If theres any indication of trafficking - someone else controlled your money, your schedule, your clients, your living situation - we immediately start building a trafficking victim defense. That defense can get charges dismissed entirely. But it requires evidence, corroboration, and often cooperation with federal investigators. Most public defenders dont have the time or resources to develop that defense. So people who were genuinely trafficked end up convicted of prostitution because nobody investigated the full story.

What Happens to Your Case (And How to Avoid Permanent Consequences)

Most prostitution cases in NYC resolve without trial. The prosecution offers a plea deal, usually to a reduced charge or an ACD, and the case disappears from the court system within 2-3 appearances. The question is: what happens to YOUR case, and what can you do to avoid the permanent consequences we've been talking about?

First, understand the typical case trajectory. After arraignment, your case gets adjourned 3-6 weeks for a conference. At the conference, your attorney meets with the prosecutor to discuss possible resolutions. For a first-time offense with no aggravating factors, the prosecution usually offers one of three things:

• ACD (charges dismissed after 6 months if you stay out of trouble)
• Plea to a violation (non-criminal, like a traffic ticket)
• Plea to a reduced misdemeanor with conditional discharge

If you accept the ACD, charges get adjourned for 6 months. You have to stay arrest-free during that time. After 6 months, charges are dismissed and sealed. Sounds good. The problems: (1) the arrest record still exists and can affect employment/immigration, (2) if you get arrested for anything during the 6 months, the ACD is violated and original charges are restored, (3) some licensing boards treat ACD as evidence of guilt even though its not a conviction.

If you accept a violation plea, you get convicted of something like "loitering" (Penal Law § 240.35) instead of prostitution. This is better than a misdemeanor conviction because violations dont carry jail time and arent considered "crimes." But violations still appear on background checks, and some employers/landlords still reject applicants with any criminal record. For immigration purposes, a violation is usualy not deportable, but ICE can still use the arrest as a negative factor in discretionary decisions.

If you accept a misdemeanor plea, your convicted of prostitution or a related offense. You get a criminal record. Sentencing is usualy time served (the night you spent in jail after arrest) or a conditional discharge (stay out of trouble for 1 year). This is the worst outcome for collateral consequences - professional licenses get revoked, immigration status gets jeopardized, employment becomes almost impossible.

The alternative is fighting the case. Going to trial. Making the prosecution prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt. This is rare in prostitution cases - maybe 5% go to trial - but its sometimes the right move. Why? Because the prosecutions case is usualy weak. Its based entirely on the officers testimony about what was said during the interaction. If the conversation was ambiguous, if no money actualy exchanged hands, if the officer made mistakes in the arrest procedure, the case can be won at trial. And an acquittal means no conviction, no licensing issues, no immigration consequences.

The problem with trials is risk. If you lose, you get convicted of the original charge with no plea discount. The judge might impose harsher sentencing than what was offered in the plea deal. And trials cost money - attorney fees for trial prep and trial days add up fast. So most people take the plea deal even if they could win at trial, because the risk and cost of losing are too high.

Our approach at Spodek Law Group depends on your specific situation. If your a US citizen with no professional license and no prior record, an ACD might be fine. If your an immigrant, we fight for outright dismissal or a non-criminal violation that wont trigger deportation. If you have a professional license, we coordinate with your licensing board attorney to negotiate a resolution that wont result in license revocation. If your a trafficking victim, we build a defense around coercion and exploitation to get charges dismissed entirely.

The key is acting fast. The first 72 hours after arrest are critical. That's when we can intervene with prosecutors before they commit to a position. That's when we can prevent some of the collateral consequences from triggering. That's when we can gather evidence and witnesses while memories are fresh. Clients who call us from the precinct or immediately after arraignment get better outcomes than clients who wait weeks to hire an attorney.

If your facing a prostitution charge, call Spodek Law Group at 212-300-5196. We handle these cases regularly. We know the prosecutors, the judges, the diversion programs, the licensing boards. We know which resolutions actually protect you and which ones just sound good. We know how to fight when fighting makes sense and how to negotiate when negotiating is smarter. And we know how to coordinate criminal defense with immigration defense and licensing defense so that resolving one issue dosent create a bigger problem somewhere else. This is what we do.