Virginia is famous for a lot of things, but it is important to remember that it is rather notorious as well, and one of the things that it is most notorious for is how prudish it is in matters of sex and the like. This has made a lot of things illegal, and this obviously surprises a lot of people out there. For example, phone sex is completely illegal in the state of Virginia. While it is certainly true that there are a lot of reasons why you wouldn’t get arrested for phone sex, mostly the fact that it is the 21st century and most police officers are not going to care whether or not you are breaking this rather arbitrary law.
However, the law exists, and it also attempts to control things like sexting, things that are not doing anyone any harm but are still considered illegal for a variety of different reasons. Hence, when you consider the fact that Virginia has such a prudish history, you are naturally going to think that this state is going to have a very hardline stance on things like prostitution and solicitation.
The prostitution laws in Virginia are indeed very strict indeed, and they are in a lot of ways quite harmful because of the fact that they end up harming victims of sex trafficking and the like. This is because of the fact that the laws don’t take into account the fact that a lot of people that work as sex workers tend to be forced into that kind of occupation, they don’t really have much of a say in the matter and are still being treated like they have committed a crime.
As far as solicitation is considered, there are a number of ways in which your case could be taken. However, for the most part, it is fair to say that solicitation is treated as a misdemeanor. In all courts of law in Virginia, it is considered as such. It is important to note that soliciting a prostitute is a serious misdemeanor, but it is not a felony offense so if you have been accused of that you at least have that going for you.
However, one thing that should always be kept in mind is the fact that the age of the victim matters a great deal. If you were trying to solicit a minor, you are probably going to suffer a much heavier penalty than would have been the case otherwise. In this case, solicitation is going to be considered a felony offense, although it should be noted that it would be referred to as solicitation of a minor specifically rather than just being referred to as solicitation in and of itself.
Essentially, solicitation is generally a misdemeanor, but if the age of the victim is low enough it can be considered a felony as well which is of course a much serious offense overall.