NCJ Number
117689
Date Published
1987
Length
145 pages
Annotation
This discussion is intended to provide guidance to lawyers representing lesbian or gay criminal defendants in cases involving sexual activity such as solicitation of noncommercial consenting adult sexual conduct, engaging in sexual conduct in a public or quasi-public place, or loitering for the purpose of soliciting or engaging in sexual conduct.
Abstract
The discussion emphasizes that laws related to these activities are often used in a discriminatory manner even though homosexuals, by legal definition, are not criminals in the states that have decriminalized private sexual conduct between consenting adults. The text also notes that the law does not now require any evidence corroborating the testimony of a single vice officer. Individual sections explain how to create a safe and friendly atmosphere for clients, how to handle initial and subsequent communications with the client, and the handling of pretrial proceedings, the trial, the period after the trial, and litigation related to sodomy laws and other laws. Footnotes with case citations.