The district attorney may create and run a “Buyer Beware Program” for certain defendants or offenders, and the court must order recovery meetings or an online course if no program is developed.
§243. Buyer Beware Program; post-conviction program for offenders; pre-trial diversion program for defendants; individuals engaged in the purchase of sexual activity and solicitation of prostitutes A.(1) The district attorney for each judicial district, alone or in conjunction with the district attorney of an adjacent judicial district, may create and administer a program for defendants charged, or offenders convicted, with an offense in which the defendant engaged in the purchase of sexual activity, including those charged or convicted pursuant to R.S. 14:82.2 or 83. The program shall educate the defendants or offenders about the harms, exploitation, and negative effects of prostitution. The district attorney, at his discretion, may choose to be the operator of the program using his own office personnel or may choose a vendor as the operator of the program. (2) The program may be offered, at the discretion of the district attorney, to an offender as part of a pre-trial diversion program unless the offense involves the purchase of sexual activity from a minor. B. At the discretion of the district attorney, after any costs associated with the administration of the program are paid, a portion of all monies collected pursuant to the provisions of this Section may be distributed to entities within their judicial district, or within the judicial districts participating in the program, that provide rehabilitative services and treatment to victims of offenses involving human trafficking and trafficking of children for sexual purposes. C. If the district attorney fails to develop a program, alone or in conjunction with the district attorney of an adjacent judicial district, the court shall order that the offender, who is sentenced pursuant to the provisions of R.S. 14:82.2 or 83, attend a certain number of meetings for sexual addiction recovery with a local recovery group. D. If the district attorney fails to develop a program, alone or in conjunction with the district attorney of an adjacent judicial district and there is no local recovery group for sexual addiction within the judicial district or within a fifty-mile radius of the offender's home, the court shall order the offender, who is sentenced pursuant to the provisions of R.S. 14:82.2 or 83, to complete an online course which educates the offenders about the harms, exploitation, and negative effects of prostitution. E. The program provided for in this Section shall be known as the "Buyer Beware Program". Acts 2014, No. 564, §2; Acts 2018, No. 663, §2.