Mann Act
Encyclopedia
The White-Slave Traffic Act, better known as the Mann Act, is a United States
law, passed June 25, 1910 (ch. 395, ; codified as amended at ). It is named after Congressman James Robert Mann, and in its original form prohibited white slavery and the interstate transport of females for “immoral purposes”. Its primary stated intent was to address prostitution
, immorality, and human trafficking
. However its ambiguous immorality language allowed selective prosecutions for many years, and was used to criminalize forms of consensual sexual behavior. It was later amended by Congress
in 1978, and again in 1986 to apply only to transport for the purpose of prostitution or illegal sexual acts.
The first person prosecuted under the act was African-American heavyweight
boxing
champion Jack Johnson
. He had had an interracial
affair with a white prostitute named Lucille Cameron, but she refused to cooperate with the prosecution; Johnson later married her. Less than a month later he was re-arrested for having crossed a state line, before the Mann Act was passed
, with Belle Schreiber, a prostitute who had left a brothel. She testified against him, and Johnson was convicted and sentenced to the maximum penalty of a year and a day in prison.
Pioneering sociologist
William I. Thomas's academic career at the University of Chicago
was irreversibly damaged after he was arrested under the act when caught in the company of one Mrs. Granger, the wife of an army officer with the American forces in France
. Thomas was acquitted at trial.
Canadian author Elizabeth Smart
described being arrested under the Mann Act in 1940 when crossing a state border with her lover, the British
poet George Barker
, in her book By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept
. She memorably intertwined the callous police interrogation under this law with quotations about love from the Song of Songs
.
The 1948 Mann Act prosecution of Frank LaSalle for abducting Florence Sally Horner
is believed to have been an inspiration for Vladimir Nabokov
in writing his novel Lolita
. The book's protagonist
Humbert Humbert, seeking to escape watchful eyes and bind the girl, Dolores Haze, more closely to him, also conducted a multi-state road trip during the course of the story.
In the late 1950s, Kid Cann
, an organized crime
figure from Minneapolis, Minnesota
, was prosecuted and convicted under the Mann Act after transporting a prostitute from Chicago to Minnesota. His conviction was later overturned on appeal. Even later, Kid Cann was prosecuted and convicted of offering a $25,000 bribe
to a juror at his trial under the Mann Act.
As there is no federal U.S. law against polygamy
as such, except in territories, the Mann Act has been used by federal officials wishing to penalize polygamy to prosecute various polygamist individuals known as Mormon fundamentalists. (All U.S. states have anti-polygamy laws; in recent years state authorities have sometimes targeted organized polygamists.) The twin communities of Colorado City, Arizona
and Hildale, Utah
, Bountiful
, British Columbia
, and sites in Mexico
are historic locations of several Mormon Fundamentalist sects. Mormon Fundamentalist Leaders and individuals have been charged under Mann when "wives" are transported across the Utah-Arizona state line or the U.S.-Canadian and U.S.-Mexican borders.
that passed unanimously in both houses of Congress, the Mann act was further amended to replace the ambiguous "debauchery" and "any other immoral purpose" with the more specific "any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense" as well as to make it gender-neutral.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
law, passed June 25, 1910 (ch. 395, ; codified as amended at ). It is named after Congressman James Robert Mann, and in its original form prohibited white slavery and the interstate transport of females for “immoral purposes”. Its primary stated intent was to address prostitution
Prostitution
Prostitution is the act or practice of providing sexual services to another person in return for payment. The person who receives payment for sexual services is called a prostitute and the person who receives such services is known by a multitude of terms, including a "john". Prostitution is one of...
, immorality, and human trafficking
Human trafficking
Human trafficking is the illegal trade of human beings for the purposes of reproductive slavery, commercial sexual exploitation, forced labor, or a modern-day form of slavery...
. However its ambiguous immorality language allowed selective prosecutions for many years, and was used to criminalize forms of consensual sexual behavior. It was later amended by Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
in 1978, and again in 1986 to apply only to transport for the purpose of prostitution or illegal sexual acts.
Promotion
Suffrage activists, especially Harriet Burton Laidlaw and Rose Livingston, worked in the Chinatown section of New York and in other cities to rescue young white and Chinese girls from forced prostitution, and helped pass the Mann Act to make interstate sex trafficking a federal crime.Prosecutions
The most common use of the Mann Act was to prosecute men for having sex with underage females. It was also used to harass others who had drawn the authorities' wrath for "immoral" behavior.The first person prosecuted under the act was African-American heavyweight
Heavyweight
Heavyweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Fighters who weigh over 200 pounds are considered heavyweights by the major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the World Boxing Association, the World Boxing Council, and the World Boxing...
boxing
Boxing
Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
champion Jack Johnson
Jack Johnson (boxer)
John Arthur Johnson , nicknamed the “Galveston Giant,” was an American boxer. At the height of the Jim Crow era, Johnson became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion...
. He had had an interracial
Miscegenation
Miscegenation is the mixing of different racial groups through marriage, cohabitation, sexual relations, and procreation....
affair with a white prostitute named Lucille Cameron, but she refused to cooperate with the prosecution; Johnson later married her. Less than a month later he was re-arrested for having crossed a state line, before the Mann Act was passed
Ex post facto law
An ex post facto law or retroactive law is a law that retroactively changes the legal consequences of actions committed or relationships that existed prior to the enactment of the law...
, with Belle Schreiber, a prostitute who had left a brothel. She testified against him, and Johnson was convicted and sentenced to the maximum penalty of a year and a day in prison.
Pioneering sociologist
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
William I. Thomas's academic career at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...
was irreversibly damaged after he was arrested under the act when caught in the company of one Mrs. Granger, the wife of an army officer with the American forces in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Thomas was acquitted at trial.
Canadian author Elizabeth Smart
Elizabeth Smart (author)
Elizabeth Smart was a Canadian poet and novelist. Her book, By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, detailed her romance with the poet George Barker...
described being arrested under the Mann Act in 1940 when crossing a state border with her lover, the British
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
poet George Barker
George Barker (poet)
George Granville Barker was an English poet and author.-Life and work:Barker was born in Loughton, near Epping Forest in Essex, England, elder brother of Kit Barker [painter] George Barker was raised by his Irish mother and English father in Battersea, London. He was educated at an L.C.C. school...
, in her book By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept is a novel of prose poetry written by the Canadian author Elizabeth Smart and published in 1945. It is widely considered to be a classic of the genre....
. She memorably intertwined the callous police interrogation under this law with quotations about love from the Song of Songs
Song of songs
Song of Songs, also known as the Song of Solomon, is a book of the Hebrew Bible or Old Testament. It may also refer to:In music:* Song of songs , the debut album by David and the Giants* A generic term for medleysPlays...
.
The 1948 Mann Act prosecution of Frank LaSalle for abducting Florence Sally Horner
Florence Sally Horner
Florence Sally Horner was a girl abducted by a child molester in 1948.-Abduction:At the age of 11, Horner stole a 5-cent notebook from a store in Camden, New Jersey. Frank La Salle, a 50 year-old mechanic, caught her stealing, told her that he was an FBI agent, and threatened to send her to "a...
is believed to have been an inspiration for Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Nabokov
Vladimir Vladimirovich Nabokov was a multilingual Russian novelist and short story writer. Nabokov wrote his first nine novels in Russian, then rose to international prominence as a master English prose stylist...
in writing his novel Lolita
Lolita
Lolita is a novel by Vladimir Nabokov, first written in English and published in 1955 in Paris and 1958 in New York, and later translated by the author into Russian...
. The book's protagonist
Protagonist
A protagonist is the main character of a literary, theatrical, cinematic, or musical narrative, around whom the events of the narrative's plot revolve and with whom the audience is intended to most identify...
Humbert Humbert, seeking to escape watchful eyes and bind the girl, Dolores Haze, more closely to him, also conducted a multi-state road trip during the course of the story.
In the late 1950s, Kid Cann
Kid Cann
Isadore Blumenfeld , commonly known as Kid Cann, was a Jewish-American organized crime figure based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, for over four decades and remains the most notorious mobster in the history of Minnesota...
, an organized crime
Organized crime
Organized crime or criminal organizations are transnational, national, or local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals for the purpose of engaging in illegal activity, most commonly for monetary profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist organizations, are...
figure from Minneapolis, Minnesota
Minnesota
Minnesota is a U.S. state located in the Midwestern United States. The twelfth largest state of the U.S., it is the twenty-first most populous, with 5.3 million residents. Minnesota was carved out of the eastern half of the Minnesota Territory and admitted to the Union as the thirty-second state...
, was prosecuted and convicted under the Mann Act after transporting a prostitute from Chicago to Minnesota. His conviction was later overturned on appeal. Even later, Kid Cann was prosecuted and convicted of offering a $25,000 bribe
Jury tampering
Jury tampering is the crime of unduly attempting to influence the composition and/or decisions of a jury during the course of a trial.The means by which this crime could be perpetrated can include attempting to discredit potential jurors to ensure they will not be selected for duty. Once selected,...
to a juror at his trial under the Mann Act.
As there is no federal U.S. law against polygamy
Polygamy
Polygamy is a marriage which includes more than two partners...
as such, except in territories, the Mann Act has been used by federal officials wishing to penalize polygamy to prosecute various polygamist individuals known as Mormon fundamentalists. (All U.S. states have anti-polygamy laws; in recent years state authorities have sometimes targeted organized polygamists.) The twin communities of Colorado City, Arizona
Colorado City, Arizona
Colorado City is a town in Mohave County, Arizona, United States, and is located in a region known as the Arizona Strip. According to 2006 Census Bureau estimates, the population of the town was 4,607...
and Hildale, Utah
Hildale, Utah
Hildale is a city in Washington County, Utah, United States. The population was 2,726 at the 2010 census.Hildale is a twin city to the more well-known Colorado City, Arizona, both of which straddle the border between Utah and Arizona. Hildale is the headquarters of the Fundamentalist Church of...
, Bountiful
Bountiful, British Columbia
Bountiful is a settlement located in the Creston Valley of southeastern British Columbia, Canada, near Cranbrook and Creston. The closest community is Lister, British Columbia....
, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, and sites in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
are historic locations of several Mormon Fundamentalist sects. Mormon Fundamentalist Leaders and individuals have been charged under Mann when "wives" are transported across the Utah-Arizona state line or the U.S.-Canadian and U.S.-Mexican borders.
Notable individuals arrested
| Person | Year | Decision | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tony Alamo Tony Alamo Tony Alamo is an American religious leader and convicted child sex offender. He and his late wife Susan are best known as the founders of an organization currently known as Tony Alamo Christian Ministries. The organization is based in and around Fouke and Alma, Arkansas, United States, and has... |
2008 | Convicted | In September 2008 Alamo was arrested under the Mann Act He was subsequently convicted on 10 counts of interstate transportation of minors for illegal sexual purposes, rape, sexual assault, and contributing to the delinquency of minors. |
| Chuck Berry Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as "Maybellene" , "Roll Over Beethoven" , "Rock and Roll Music" and "Johnny B... |
1962 | Convicted | In January 1962 Berry was sentenced to three years in prison for offenses under the Mann Act when he had transported a 14-year-old girl across state lines. |
| Farley Drew Caminetti Farley Drew Caminetti Farley Drew Caminetti was charged with violation of the Mann Act and his case was settled by the United States Supreme Court as Caminetti v. United States.-Biography:... |
1913 | Convicted | He and Maury I. Diggs took their mistresses from Sacramento, California to Reno, Nevada. Their wives informed the police, and both men were arrested in Reno. The case, Caminetti v. United States Caminetti v. United States Caminetti v. United States, 242 U.S. 470 , was a landmark United States Supreme Court case involving Farley Drew Caminetti and the Mann Act. The Court decided that the Mann Act applied not only to purposes of prostitution but also to other noncommercial consensual sexual liaisons... , expanded Mann Act prosecutions from prostitution to non-commercial extramarital sex. |
| Charlie Chaplin Charlie Chaplin Sir Charles Spencer "Charlie" Chaplin, KBE was an English comic actor, film director and composer best known for his work during the silent film era. He became the most famous film star in the world before the end of World War I... |
1944 | Acquitted | Chaplin met Joan Barry Joan Barry (American actress) Joan Barry was an American actress who was at the center of a paternity suit with Charlie Chaplin in 1943.-Biography:Born as Mary Louise Gribble, her father, Jim Gribble, committed suicide before her birth... , age 24, and signed her to a $75-a-week contract for "acting" and she became his mistress. By the summer of 1942 Chaplin let her contract expire. To send her home, Chaplin paid her train fare to New York which led to his arrest. |
| Finis Dake | 1937 | Convicted | In 1937, he was convicted of violating the Mann Act by willfully transporting 16-year-old Emma Barelli across the Wisconsin state line “for the purpose of debauchery and other immoral practices.” The May 27, 1936, issue of the Chicago Daily Tribune reported that Dake registered at hotels in Waukegan, Bloomington, and East St. Louis with the girl under the name "Christian Anderson and wife". In order to avoid a jury trial and the possibility of being sentenced to a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of $10,000, Dake pled guilty. Subsequently, he served six months in the House of Corrections in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. |
| Rex Ingram Rex Ingram (actor) Rex Ingram was an American stage, film, and television actor.-Early life and career:Born near Cairo, Illinois on the Mississippi River, Ingram's father was a steamer fireman on the riverboat Robert E. Lee... |
1949 | Convicted | Pleading guilty to the charge of transporting a teenage girl to New York for immoral purposes, he was sentenced to eighteen months in jail. He served just ten months of his sentence, but the incident had a serious impact on his career for the next six years. |
| Jack Johnson Jack Johnson (boxer) John Arthur Johnson , nicknamed the “Galveston Giant,” was an American boxer. At the height of the Jim Crow era, Johnson became the first African American world heavyweight boxing champion... |
1912 | Convicted | In October 1912 Johnson was arrested under the Mann Act. It is suggested the arrest was racially motivated, and that the "prostitute" in question was his girlfriend |
| Charles Manson Charles Manson Charles Milles Manson is an American criminal who led what became known as the Manson Family, a quasi-commune that arose in California in the late 1960s. He was found guilty of conspiracy to commit the Tate/LaBianca murders carried out by members of the group at his instruction... |
1960 | Convicted | Manson took two prostitutes from California to New Mexico to work. |
| William I. Thomas | 1918 | Acquitted | Pioneering sociologist Sociology Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity... William I. Thomas's academic career at the University of Chicago University of Chicago The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890... was irreversibly damaged after he was arrested under the act when caught in the company of one Mrs. Granger, the wife of an army officer with the American forces in France France The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France... . Thomas was acquitted at trial. |
| Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture... |
1926 | Charges dropped | In October 1926, Wright and Olga Lazovich Hinzenburg were accused of violating the Mann Act and he was arrested in Minnetonka, Minnesota Minnetonka, Minnesota As of the census of 2000, there were 51,301 people, 21,393 households, and 14,097 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,893.0 persons per square mile . There were 22,228 housing units at an average density of 818.9 per square mile... . |
Notable individuals investigated under the Act
- Anwar al-AwlakiAnwar al-AwlakiAnwar al-Awlaki was an American and Yemeni imam who was an engineer and educator by training. According to U.S. government officials, he was a senior talent recruiter and motivator who was involved with planning operations for the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda...
, an American Islamist cleric, was investigated for violations of Mann Act, authorities primarily wanting to arrest him for his ties to the 9/11 hijackers, but left the United States for Yemen before he could be detained. - Dusan PopovDušan PopovDušan "Duško" Popov OBE was a double agent working for MI6 during World War II under the cryptonym Tricycle.-Origins of Tricycle:...
, a World War II Allied spy with a "James BondJames BondJames Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
" lifestyle, was threatened with arrest under the Mann Act. - Individuals associated with a Emperors Club VIPEmperors Club VIPEmperors Club VIP was an international escort agency based in New York City, founded in 2004 by Mark Brener and Cecil Suwal and operated from the bank accounts of QAT Consulting Group, Inc., and QAT International, Inc...
prostitution ring that had former Governor of New YorkGovernor of New YorkThe Governor of the State of New York is the chief executive of the State of New York. The governor is the head of the executive branch of New York's state government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military and naval forces. The officeholder is afforded the courtesy title of His/Her...
Eliot SpitzerEliot SpitzerEliot Laurence Spitzer is an American lawyer, former Democratic Party politician, and political commentator. He was the co-host of In the Arena, a talk-show and punditry forum broadcast on CNN until CNN cancelled his show in July of 2011...
as a client.
- Individuals associated with the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (FLDS)Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day SaintsThe Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints is one of the largest Mormon fundamentalist denominations and one of the largest organizations in the United States whose members practice polygamy. The FLDS Church emerged in the early twentieth century when its founding members left...
church, such as Warren JeffsWarren JeffsWarren Steed Jeffs was the president of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints . In 2011, Jeffs was convicted of two felony counts of child sexual assault....
and Merril JessopMerril JessopMerril Jessop was believed to be the de facto leader of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints after its former leader, Warren Jeffs, resigned when he was convicted as an accomplice to rape in 2007, until his removal by Jeffs in February 2011...
have refused to answer question during depositionsDeposition (law)In the law of the United States, a deposition is the out-of-court oral testimony of a witness that is reduced to writing for later use in court or for discovery purposes. It is commonly used in litigation in the United States and Canada and is almost always conducted outside of court by the...
and court hearing, citing the 5th amendmentFifth Amendment to the United States ConstitutionThe Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which is part of the Bill of Rights, protects against abuse of government authority in a legal procedure. Its guarantees stem from English common law which traces back to the Magna Carta in 1215...
, over concerns of self-incriminationSelf-incriminationSelf-incrimination is the act of accusing oneself of a crime for which a person can then be prosecuted. Self-incrimination can occur either directly or indirectly: directly, by means of interrogation where information of a self-incriminatory nature is disclosed; indirectly, when information of a...
related to "potential state investigation still ongoing, as well as criminal investigations under the Mann Act out of the U.S. Attorney's Office."
Mann Act case decisions by the United States Supreme Court
- Hoke v. United StatesHoke v. United StatesHoke v. United States, 227 U.S. 308 , was a decision by the United States Supreme Court, which held that the United States Congress could not regulate prostitution per se, as that was strictly the province of the states...
, . The Court held that Congress could not regulate prostitution per se, as that was strictly the province of the states. Congress could, however, regulate interstate travel for purposes of prostitution or “immoral purposes.” - Athanasaw v. United States, . The Court decided that the law was not limited strictly to prostitution, but to “debauchery” as well.
- Caminetti v. United StatesCaminetti v. United StatesCaminetti v. United States, 242 U.S. 470 , was a landmark United States Supreme Court case involving Farley Drew Caminetti and the Mann Act. The Court decided that the Mann Act applied not only to purposes of prostitution but also to other noncommercial consensual sexual liaisons...
, . The Court decided that the Mann Act applied not strictly to purposes of prostitution, but to other noncommercial consensual sexual liaisons. Thus consensual extramarital sex falls within the genre of “immoral sex.” - Gebardi v. United States, . The Court held that the statutory intent was not to punish a woman's acquiescence; therefore, consent by the woman does not expose her to liability.
- Cleveland v. United States, . The Court decided that a person can be prosecuted under the Mann Act even when married to the woman if the marriage is polygamous. Thus polygamous marriage was determined to be an “immoral purpose.”
- Bell v. United States, . The Supreme Court decided that simultaneous transportation of two women across state lines constituted only one violation of the Mann Act, not two violations.
Congressional amendments to the law
In 1978, Congress updated the act's definition of "transportation" and added protections against commercial sexual exploitation for minors. It added a 1986 amendment which further protected minors and added protection for adult males. In particular, as part of a larger 1986 bill focused on criminalizing various aspects of child pornographyChild pornography
Child pornography refers to images or films and, in some cases, writings depicting sexually explicit activities involving a child...
that passed unanimously in both houses of Congress, the Mann act was further amended to replace the ambiguous "debauchery" and "any other immoral purpose" with the more specific "any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense" as well as to make it gender-neutral.