What offense is committed if a person knowingly solicits another for sexual conduct in exchange for compensation?

The correct answer is that the offense committed is prostitution. When an individual knowingly solicits another for sexual conduct in exchange for compensation, they are engaging directly in the act defined as prostitution. This illegal exchange involves one person offering sexual services in return for payment, which fits the legal definition of the offense.

Promotion of prostitution, on the other hand, involves a person who either manages, operates, or profits from the acts of prostitution done by others, but does not include the act of soliciting oneself for those services. Thus, while someone who promotes prostitution may be involved in the broader context of sexual commerce, the individual who solicits for sexual conduct directly is committing the act of prostitution.

Human trafficking typically entails the forced transportation or exploitation of individuals, and indecent exposure refers to the deliberate exposure of one's genitals in public, neither of which apply in this specific scenario of solicitation for compensation.

Therefore, recognizing the distinction between these offenses clarifies why the act of soliciting for sexual conduct in exchange for money is accurately categorized as prostitution.