The Good News: Situational Immunity from Prostitution Charges

Yesterday Governor Walker signed Senate Bill 91, which included a section providing situational immunity for who are making a good faith report that they were a victim or witness of a list of several crimes.

We expect this to increase reporting of crimes like robbery, assault, and sex trafficking and ultimately improve public safety. It is our hope that this will also lead to the resolution of one or some of the 11 currently unsolved murder, missing person, and suspicious death cases of sex workers in Anchorage.

Here is the specific wording of Section 36:

Sec. 36. AS 11.66.100 is amended by adding a new subsection to read:
05 (e) A person may not be prosecuted under (a)(1) of this section if the
06 (1) person witnessed or was a victim of, and reported to law
07 enforcement in good faith, one or more of the following crimes:
08 (A) murder in the first degree under AS 11.41.100;
09 (B) murder in the second degree under AS 11.41.110;
10 (C) manslaughter under AS 11.41.120;
11 (D) criminally negligent homicide under AS 11.41.130;
12 (E) assault in the first degree under AS 11.41.200;
13 (F) assault in the second degree under AS 11.41.210;
14 (G) assault in the third degree under AS 11.41.220;
15 (H) assault in the fourth degree under AS 11.41.230;
16 (I) sexual assault in the first degree under AS 11.41.410;
17 (J) sexual assault in the second degree under AS 11.41.420;
18 (K) sexual assault in the third degree under AS 11.41.425;
19 (L) sexual assault in the fourth degree under AS 11.41.427;
20 (M) sexual abuse of a minor in the first degree under
21 AS 11.41.434;
22 (N) sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree under
23 AS 11.41.436;
24 (O) sexual abuse of a minor in the third degree under
25 AS 11.41.438;
26 (P) sexual abuse of a minor in the fourth degree under
27 AS 11.41.440;
28 (Q) robbery in the first degree under AS 11.41.500;
29 (R) robbery in the second degree under AS 11.41.510;
30 (S) extortion under AS 11.41.520;
31 (T) coercion under AS 11.41.530;
01 (U) distribution of child pornography under AS 11.61.125;
02 (V) possession of child pornography under AS 11.61.127;
03 (W) sex trafficking in the first degree under AS 11.66.110;
04 (X) sex trafficking in the second degree under AS 11.66.120;
05 (Y) sex trafficking in the third degree under AS 11.66.130; or
06 (Z) sex trafficking in the fourth degree under AS 11.66.135;
07 (2) evidence supporting the prosecution under (a)(1) of this section
08 was obtained or discovered as a result of the person reporting the crime to law
09 enforcement; and
10 (3) person cooperated with law enforcement personnel.