A Dallas County judge has ruled that a City of Dallas prostitution ordinance is unconstitutional following complaints that the rule’s language is overly broad.
Dallas City Code strictly prohibits loitering in a public place for “the purpose of inducing, enticing, soliciting, or procuring another to commit an act of prostitution.” Offenders can face a misdemeanor charge and a fine of up to $500.
But County Criminal Court of Appeals Judge Kristin Wade ruled Thursday that the prohibition “is seeking a shortcut that trespasses on the constitutional rights of Dallas citizens,” as The Dallas Morning News reported.
Law enforcement can issue a citation if a “person is a known prostitute or panderer, repeatedly beckons to, stops or attempts to stop, or engages passers-by in conversation, or repeatedly stops or attempts to stop motor vehicle operators by hailing, waving of arms, or any other bodily gesture.”
“No arrest shall be made for a violation … unless the arresting officer first affords such person an opportunity to explain such conduct,” according to Section 31-27 of the Dallas City Code.
Critics of the ordinance have claimed it gives individual police officers too much flexibility to determine the intention of activities that are otherwise legal.
A citation was challenged in court last year, and Judge Wade has now ruled it unconstitutional and overly vague.
“An ordinance is overbroad when it punishes constitutionally protected conduct as well as illegal activity,” she wrote.
Judge Wade said innocent behaviors such as waving to passing cars could be targeted by officers under this ordinance. She asserted that judgments about areas with high crime rates could cause officers to issue a citation for activities in South Dallas that they would not question in North Dallas.
“Everything about this ordinance is highly dependent on the mindset of an arresting officer,” she wrote. “The ordinance also makes it illegal for a woman in a high crime area to summon a cab if a police officer is watching.”
The Dallas Express reached out to the City of Dallas, but the City declined to comment, per spokesperson Jennifer Brown.
Judge Wade’s decision has faced criticism from local activists such as Dallas Justice Now head of outreach Adekoye Adams.
“Last time I checked, street prostitution was still wrong as two left feet in Dallas,” Adams told The Dallas Express. “It represents a terrible safety risk for those who engage in these activities. … [T]his kind of prostitution is often flanked by abuse, addiction, and exploitation.”
Adams asserted that “public safety and decency should be at the forefront of our concerns,” and doing away with ordinances like this one is counterproductive.
“We don’t need to find any more lifeless bodies due to predators,” he told The Dallas Express. “We also don’t need vulnerable people being tricked into traumatic and exploitative relationships.”
“To me, the honorable judge can’t seem to see the forest for the trees,” he explained. “It’s another case where someone in power is so well insulated from the downside of these conditions that they can argue about a ruling from a clinical vantage point, but … would [Wade] be ok with these exchanges taking place in her neighborhood, in front of her house?”
The legal challenge against the ordinance was initially brought about after Iqbal Jivani was cited with a Class C misdemeanor in August. Police said Jivani “was in a known prostitution area and stopped to engage passers-by in conversation.”
Gary Krupkin, Jivani’s lawyer, filed a motion in November against the citation and argued the charge violated Jivani’s rights under the Fourth Amendment.
Municipal Court Judge Jay Robinson ruled that the charge did not violate the Fourth Amendment but did say the ordinance was too vague. The City Attorney’s office appealed the ruling, which was then affirmed by Wade last week.
“I thought Judge Robinson had it right from the beginning,” said Krupkin, per DMN. “It’s gratifying to know Judge Wade thinks the same way.”