Pimping is a commercial endeavor of the act of prostitution.  Prostitution is the act of offering one self for hire to engage in sexual relations.  The act of finding customers for prostitution is pimping.  Pimps are people procuring a prostitute for customers.

A pimp provides protection for a prostitute and for that he takes a portion of the profits from the sexual activities.  A pimp is guilty of the crime of pandering.

Pimping is a transaction whereby any male person lives or derives support or maintenance in whole or in part from the earnings or a proceeds of her prostitution, or who solicits or receives compensation for soliciting for her.  Earning must be received with knowledge that she is a prostitute.

A procurement statute specifically deals with procurement for prostitution and proscribes the hiring of a minor for sexual activity with a third person, such as a pimp[i].

According to § 266h of the California Penal Code, “any male person who, knowing a female person is a prostitute, lives or derives support or maintenance in whole or in part from the earnings or proceeds of her prostitution, or from money loaned or advanced to or charged against her by any keeper or manager or inmate of a house or other place where prostitution is practiced or allowed, or who solicits or receives compensation for soliciting for her, is guilty of pimping”.  A person guilty of pimping is punishable for felony[ii].  Punishment for pimping is imprisonment in the state prison for three, four, or six years.  Moreover, a person is liable for aggravated punishment for three, six, or eight years, when the person engaged in prostitution is under 16 years of age.

A prostitute whose earnings are taken is not an accomplice to the offense of pimping[iii].

A person can be convicted for pimping on a woman’s testimony that defendant persuaded her to work as a prostitute:

• received her earnings;
• spent them for personal possessions for himself; and
• sought by force to prevent her from terminating her work as a prostitute[iv].

[i] Kobel v. State, 745 So. 2d 979, 982 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 4th Dist. 1999.

[ii] People v. Frey, 228 Cal. App. 2d 33, 49 (Cal. App. 2d Dist. 1964).

[iii] Allen v. Stratton, 428 F. Supp. 2d 1064, 1068 (C.D. Cal. 2005).

[iv] People v. Langlois, 220 Cal. App. 2d 831 (Cal. App. 2d Dist. 1963).