Prostitution in Arkansas: Laws, Penalties, and Record Sealing

Arkansas prostitution laws make it a crime to exchange sexual activity for anything of value, and they punish the seller, the buyer, and anyone who organizes or profits from the arrangement. A first prostitution offense is a Class B misdemeanor carrying up to 90 days in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.¹² Repeat offenses raise the ceiling to a year, and anyone who manages or profits from the prostitution of others faces felony exposure under a 2025 law that significantly rewrote the penalties.³

What the Law Prohibits

You commit prostitution under Arkansas Code 5-70-102 if you engage in, agree to engage in, or offer to engage in sexual activity in return for or in expectation of a fee.¹ The offense is complete the moment you agree or offer. No physical contact has to occur, which is why undercover stings routinely produce charges.

The statute covers buyers on the same terms as sellers. A paying party faces the same misdemeanor classification and, as discussed below, an additional mandatory fine.¹ Buyers can also be charged separately under the sexual solicitation statute.

Penalties for Selling Sex

The jail and fine ranges depend on your record:

Prostitution itself stays at the misdemeanor level no matter how many prior convictions you have. It does not escalate into a felony.

Penalties for Buying Sex

Buyers face charges under a separate statute, Arkansas Code 5-70-103, labeled sexual solicitation. It covers offering or agreeing to pay a fee for sexual activity, and soliciting another person to engage in sexual activity for a fee.⁵

Sexual solicitation is an unclassified misdemeanor with its own tiers:

First offense: up to 90 days in jail, a fine of up to $2,000, or both.⁵
Second or subsequent offense: up to one year in jail, a fine of up to $3,500, or both.⁵

A sexual solicitation conviction also carries a mandatory $2,500 fine for the paying party, split between the Safe Harbor Fund for Sexually Exploited Children and the Human Trafficking Victim Support Fund.⁵ A buyer convicted under the general prostitution statute instead faces a mandatory add-on fine of $1,000 for a first offense and $2,500 for a repeat offense. The court cannot waive these amounts.¹

Penalties for Promoting Prostitution

Arkansas treats people who organize, manage, or profit from the prostitution of others far more harshly than individual sellers or buyers. The promoting offenses come in three degrees, and Act 663 of 2025 reclassified all three, raising repeat offenders into higher felony categories.³

First Degree

First-degree promoting prostitution covers the most serious conduct: using force, intimidation, or coercion to compel someone into prostitution, or advancing the prostitution of a person under 18.⁶³

Second Degree

Second-degree promoting applies if you manage, supervise, control, or own a prostitution operation involving two or more people.⁷³

Third Degree

Third-degree promoting is the catch-all. It covers anyone who knowingly advances or profits from prostitution and property owners who know their premises are being used for prostitution and fail to take reasonable steps to stop it.⁸³

Mandatory Fines for Paying Parties

On top of the criminal sentence, Act 663 imposed escalating mandatory fines on any paying party convicted under any of the three promoting statutes: $2,500 for a first offense, $5,000 for a second, and $10,000 for a third or subsequent offense. The money is split evenly between the Safe Harbor Fund for Sexually Exploited Children and the Human Trafficking Victim Support Fund.³

Civil Penalties for Businesses

Act 663 also created a new civil penalty structure aimed at businesses connected to prostitution violations. These penalties can apply whether or not any individual is criminally convicted:³

First involvement: 30-day business license suspension and a $5,000 civil penalty.
Second involvement: 60-day business license suspension and a $10,000 civil penalty.
Third or subsequent involvement: permanent revocation of the business license.

Mandatory STI Testing

Every person convicted of prostitution must submit to testing for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections, with results reported to the Arkansas Department of Health.¹ Testing costs typically fall on the defendant as part of the sentence. A judge cannot waive this requirement.

If You Were a Trafficking Victim

Arkansas law recognizes that many people charged with prostitution-related offenses are themselves trafficking victims. The sexual solicitation statute provides an affirmative defense: if you were soliciting as a result of being a victim of human trafficking, that is a complete defense to the charge.⁵

For minors, state policy presumes that any child engaged in prostitution is a victim of sex trafficking and directs them toward protective services instead of prosecution.⁹

Survivors who were already convicted have a dedicated route to clear their record. A person convicted of a prostitution offense committed as a result of being trafficked can petition to seal the conviction at any time, without the waiting periods or eligibility limits that apply to other records. If the petitioner was a minor at the time of the offense, that sealing authority extends to any conviction, not just prostitution-related charges.

Record Sealing and Collateral Consequences

Outside the trafficking context, a misdemeanor prostitution conviction is generally eligible for sealing once you have finished the full sentence, including probation, and paid all fines and court costs. Prostitution is not on the list of offenses that require a multi-year wait, so you can petition as soon as the sentence is complete.

Promoting prostitution is harder to clean up. First- and second-degree promoting are now felonies under the 2025 reclassification, and Class A and B felonies are generally ineligible for sealing in Arkansas, so a repeat first-degree promoting conviction likely cannot be sealed. Non-violent lower-level felony convictions can be sealed after the sentence is complete, with an additional five-year wait for anything classified as violent.

A conviction also carries licensing consequences. First-degree promoting prostitution is specifically listed among offenses that disqualify you from any state-issued professional license, covering fields such as healthcare, cosmetology, and real estate. You can seek a waiver by showing factors such as time since the offense, work history, and evidence that you do not pose a public safety risk. For convictions not classified as violent or sexual, the licensing bar generally lifts five years after you finish your sentence if you pick up no new convictions in that window.¹⁰ Misdemeanor prostitution convictions are not permanent disqualifiers, so the five-year cap applies. Any conviction visible on a background check can still affect employment and housing well after the court case ends.

1
Justia Law. Arkansas Code 5-70-102 – Prostitution
2
Justia Law. Arkansas Code 5-4-401 – Sentence
3
Arkansas General Assembly. Act 663 of 2025
4
Justia Law. Arkansas Code 5-4-201 – Fines – Limitations on Amount
5
Justia Law. Arkansas Code 5-70-103 – Sexual Solicitation
6
Justia Law. Arkansas Code 5-70-104 – Promoting Prostitution in the First Degree
7
Justia Law. Arkansas Code 5-70-105 – Promoting Prostitution in the Second Degree
8
Justia Law. Arkansas Code 5-70-106 – Promoting Prostitution in the Third Degree
9
Child Welfare Information Gateway. Responding to Child Victims of Human Trafficking – Arkansas
10
Arkansas Department of Health. Arkansas Code 17-3-102 – Licensing Restrictions Based on Criminal Records