One of the questions we had when we were planning on creating our website was to know if prostitution was legal or not in Panama. We had heard different opinions on the matter: some people said that it was legal, other people said that it was illegal, other said that it was regulated by the government, and a variety of other opinions on the matter. Since we didn’t know, we figured that the best thing would be to ask a lawyer. To our surprise, the lawyers also gave us different answers: one said that it was legal, while another said that it was illegal.
Given that the subject was important to us since we did not want to go to jail, we decided to research the topic ourselves. This article is the result of our research. We must warn our readers that we are not lawyers and this article does not constitute a legal opinion or anything like that.
Thanks to the Internet, we found Panama’s Penal Code (as a PDF file) at the OAS (Organization of American States) website. Please note that the document is written in Spanish since it is the official language in Panama, and there is no english translation of the document that we found. Reading the Penal Code, we focused on Title III that deals with crimes against sexual freedom and integrity. It has three chapters and 19 articles (articles 174 to 192). Chapter 1 is tittled “Rape and other sexual crimes” has five articles (from 174 to 178) focuses rape, sexual acts without consent, and sexual harassment. Chapter 2 is tittled “Corruption of Minors, Sexual Exploitation, and other behaviors” contains 13 articles (from 179 to 191) and we will focus on those articles. Finally, Chapter 3 tittled “Common Provisions” has only one article (number 192) that increases the penalties of articles 174 and 175 in cases of domestic violence.
Returning to Chapter 2, article 179 deals with corruption of people under 18 years old. Penalties are strong with prison terms anywhere from five to ten years. For those not familiar with Panama’s prison conditions, let’s just say that you DEFINITELY want to avoid that.
The article 180 was the one that held most of our interest. It dealt with those that could profit from sexual exploitation and their corresponding prison terms.
The article 181 indicated the prison terms for those who dealt in the transport of people for sexual servitude and “unauthorized remunerated sexual activity”.
The article 182 indicated the prison terms for those who through threats or violence benefit from those in sexual servitude.
The articles 183, 184, 185, 186, 187, 189 and 190 deals with those people involved in the sexual exploitation of minors and child pornography (making, having, showing, etc.)
The article 188 shows penalties for those that show or provide access to pornographic materials to minors or disabled individuals.
Finally, the article 191 shows penalties for the property owner, the tenant or the administrator of a business or establishment used to commit those crimes indicated in this chapter.
Based on what we read, it seems that prostitution (defined as “the act of engaging in sexual act with other people in exchange for money”) is not listed as a crime in the Penal Code. Therefore, it is not illegal nor is it a crime in Panama. What is clearly defined as a crime is sexual exploitation (forcing someone into prostitution) and everything related to minors. We must remind our readers that this article represents our understanding of the matter and it is not intended as legal advice or anything like that.
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