1. a. Except as provided in paragraph “b”, a person who sells or offers for sale the
person’s services as a partner in a sex act commits an aggravated misdemeanor.
b. If the person who sells or offers for sale the person’s services as a partner in a sex act
is under the age of eighteen, the county attorney may elect, in lieu of filing a petition alleging
that the person has committed a delinquent act, to refer that person to the department of
health and human services for the possible filing of a petition alleging that the person is a
child in need of assistance.
c. If the person who sells or offers for sale the person’s services as a partner in a sex
act is under the age of eighteen, upon the expiration of two years following the person’s
conviction for a violation of paragraph “a” or of a similar local ordinance, the person may
petition the court to expunge the conviction, and if the person has had no other criminal
convictions, other than local traffic violations or simple misdemeanor violations of chapter
321 during the two-year period, the conviction shall be expunged as a matter of law. The
court shall enter an order that the record of the conviction be expunged by the clerk of the
district court. Notwithstanding section 692.2, after receipt of notice from the clerk of the
district court that a record of conviction for a violation of paragraph “a” has been expunged,
the record of conviction shall be removed from the criminal history data files maintained by
the department of public safety.
2. a. Except as provided in paragraph “b”, a person who purchases or offers to purchase
another person’s services as a partner in a sex act commits an aggravated misdemeanor.
b. A person who purchases or offers to purchase services as a partner in a sex act from a
person who is under the age of eighteen, or who is reasonably believed to be under the age
of eighteen including a law enforcement officer or agent posing as a minor under the age of
eighteen, commits a class “D” felony.
[C97, §4943; C24, 27, 31, 35, 39, §13173; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, 66, 71, 73, 75, 77, §724.1; C79,
81, §725.1]
2014 Acts, ch 1097, §6; 2015 Acts, ch 30, §195; 2023 Acts, ch 19, §1307; 2025 Acts, ch 97, §3
Referred to in §232.68, 232E.1, 321.375, 725.2, 911.2A
Subsection 2, paragraph b amended
\n
Notes of Decisions
Cited in
28
cases (
2 in the last 5 years), 1956–2025 · leading case:
State v. Nelson, 178 N.W.2d 434 (Iowa 1970).
State v. Nelson, 178 N.W.2d 434 (Iowa 1970).
· cites it 40× “Their cases were consolidated for trial to a jury which resulted in verdicts of guilty as to each defendant, and each defendant was thereupon fined the maximum of $200. All defendants appeal. We affirm.”
State v. Williams, 315 N.W.2d 45 (Iowa 1982).
· cites it 10× “Reflective of this intent is the fact that section 725.1, The Code, does not require an act of actual prostitution for a person to be guilty of the criminal offense of prostitution.”
State v. Kueny, 215 N.W.2d 215 (Iowa 1974).
· cites it 13× “State appeals from municipal court judgment sustaining demurrer by defendant Laura Kueny to an information charging her with open and gross lewdness and indecent exposure in violation of The Code 1971, Section 725.1. We affirm. October 5, 1972, defendant was charged by…”
State v. Foster, 356 N.W.2d 548 (Iowa 1984).
· cites it 10× “The sole issue raised by this appeal is whether “sex act,” as the term is used in the definition of prostitution in Iowa Code section 725.1 (1983), includes the act of manual masturbation of a male.”
State v. Clark, 406 N.W.2d 802 (Iowa Ct. App. 1987).
· cites it 12× “1 should be read in conjunction with the prostitution statute, *805 section 725.1, Iowa Code (1985), which provides: A person who sells or offers for sale the person’s services as a partner in a sex act, or who purchases or offers to purchase such services commits an aggravated…”
State of Iowa v. Deyawna Leanett Taylor, 881 N.W.2d 72 (Iowa 2016).
· cites it 2× “561 (2013) and one count of prostitution in violation of Iowa Code section 725.1. Arraignment was scheduled for August 11.”
State v. Robinson, 618 N.W.2d 306 (Iowa 2000).
· cites it 4× “1267, § 1 (emphasis added) (codified at Iowa Code § 725.1 (1) (1975) and later transferred to Iowa Code § 728.”
State v. Schmidt, 588 N.W.2d 416 (Iowa 1998).
· cites it 12× “” Iowa Code § 725.1 . Nowhere in the statute do the words “agree” or “agreement” appear.”
Chelsea Theater Corp. v. City of Burlington, 258 N.W.2d 372 (Iowa 1977).
· cites it 3× “9, The Code, which provides: In order to provide for the uniform application of the provisions of sections 725.1 to 725.10 relating to obscene material applicable to minors within this state, it is intended that the sole and only regulation of obscene material shall be under the…”
United States v. Kerwin Lamont Summage, 481 F.3d 1075 (8th Cir. 2007).
“” Iowa Code § 725.1 (2003). 3 . Iowa's pandering statute, in relevant part, provides: "A person who persuades, arranges, coerces, or otherwise causes another, not a minor, to become a prostitute .”
State v. Whetstine, 315 N.W.2d 758 (Iowa 1982).
· cites it 2× “We also found that sale of masturbation by hand was insufficient to make the vendor a “prostitute” under section 725.1, The Code 1977 Supp. Id. Defendant asserts no legitimate distinction can be drawn between the alleged acts of female prostitution in ToNeCa and the assault in…”
— Iowa Code § 725.1(2)(a) — 1 case
— Iowa Code § 725.1(2)(b) — 1 case
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.