View source for Mann Act

{{short description|1910 Act of the United States Congress}}
{{Use American English|date=June 2023}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=June 2020}}
{{Infobox U.S. legislation
| shorttitle        = Mann Act
| othershorttitles  = White-Slave Traffic Act of 1910
| longtitle         = An Act to further regulate interstate and foreign commerce by prohibiting the transportation therein for immoral purposes of women and girls, and for other purposes.
| nickname          = White-Slave Traffic Act
| enacted by        = 61st
| effective date    = June 25, 1910
| cite public law   = {{USPL|61|277}}
| cite statutes at large = {{usstat|36|825a}}
| title amended   = {{unbulleted list|[[Title 8 of the United States Code|8 U.S.C.: Aliens and Nationality]]|[[Title 18 of the United States Code|18 U.S.C.: Crimes and Criminal Procedure]]}}
| sections created = {{unbulleted list |{{Usc-title-chap |8|13|I}} § 1557|{{Usc-title-chap |18|117}} §§ 2421–2424}}
| introducedin    = House
| introducedbill  = {{USBill |61|H.R.|12315}}
| introducedby    = [[James Robert Mann (Illinois)|James Robert Mann]] ([[Republican Party (United States)|R]]–[[Illinois|IL]])
| introduceddate  = December 21, 1909
| signedpresident = [[William Howard Taft]]
| signeddate      = June 25, 1910
}}
[[File:60000girls.png|thumb|Newspaper clip "Wanted 60,000 girls to take the place of 60,000 white slaves who will die this year"]]
The '''White-Slave Traffic Act''', also called the '''Mann Act''', is a [[United States]] federal law, passed June 25, 1910 (ch. 395, {{USStat|36|825}}; ''codified as amended at'' {{usc |18|2421|2424}}). It is named after Congressman [[James Robert Mann (Illinois politician)|James Robert Mann]] of [[Illinois]].

In its original form the act made it a [[felony]] to engage in interstate or foreign commerce transport of "any woman or girl for the purpose of [[prostitution]] or [[:wikt:debauchery|debauchery]], or for any other immoral purpose". Its primary stated intent was to address prostitution, immorality, and [[human trafficking]], particularly where trafficking was for the purposes of prostitution. It was one of several acts of protective legislation aimed at moral reform during the [[Progressive Era]]. In practice, its [[ambiguity|ambiguous]] language about "immorality" resulted in it being used to criminalize even [[Fornication|consensual sexual behavior between adults]].<ref>{{Citation | title = Mann Act | work = Dictionary of American History | orig-year = 2003 | publisher = Encyclopedia | date = October 21, 2013}}.</ref> It was amended by Congress in 1978 and again in 1986 to limit its application to transport for the purpose of prostitution or other illegal sexual acts.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88104308 |title=The Long, Colorful History of the Mann Act |last=Weiner |first=Eric |date=11 March 2008 |website=NPR.org |access-date=27 September 2021}}</ref>

The Mann Act was inspired by a widespread "white slavery hysteria"—a fear that young white women were being forced into prostitution at alarming rates. Ultimately it originated  from cultural changes that occurred as a result of industrialization, immigration, urbanization, and increasing numbers of women workers. The myth scapegoated immigrants and sexually active women and fed Americans' fears about female independence, women's waged work, and female sexuality. This fear became a cultural narrative of moral panic, sensationally depicted in newspapers and films. The Mann Act was passed in 1910 as a way to legislate morality by criminalizing transportation of women across state lines for immoral purposes, but it was vaguely worded and created a witch-hunting atmosphere that targeted not only traffickers but also voluntary prostitutes, men, women having affairs, and anyone who aided in providing transportation to someone for some perceived immoral purpose. The Mann Act was also used to close down all areas of suspected vice because of threats of white slavery.<ref>Wendy Braun, "White slavery hysteria" in ''Women in American History: A Social, Political, and Cultural Encyclopedia and Document Collection'' (ABC-CLIO, 2017) 3:172–173.</ref>

==Promotion==
In the 19th century, many of America's cities had designated legally protected [[red-light district|areas of prostitution]]. Increased urbanization, as well as greater numbers of young women entering the workforce, led to greater flexibility in [[courtship]] without supervision. It was in this changing social sphere that concern over "white slavery" began.  This term referred to women [[Kidnapping|kidnapped]] for the purposes of prostitution and derives from [[Charles Sumner]]'s 1847 description of the [[Barbary slave trade]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Sumner |first1=Charles |title=White Slavery in The Barbary States. A Lecture Before The Boston Mercantile Library Association, Feb. 17, 1847 |date=1847 |publisher=William D. Ticknor and Company |location=Boston |url=https://archive.org/details/whiteslaveryinba00sumn |quote="I propose to consider the subject of White Slavery in Algiers, or perhaps is might be more appropriately called, White Slavery in the Barbary States. As Algiers was its chief seat, it seems to have acquired a current name for the place. This I shall not disturb; though I shall speak of white slavery, or the slavery of Christians, throughout the Barbary States."|page=[https://archive.org/details/whiteslaveryinba00sumn/page/4 4]|isbn=978-1-0922-8981-8}}</ref>

Numerous communities appointed [[vice]] commissions to investigate the extent of local prostitution, whether prostitutes participated in it willingly or were forced into it, and the degree to which it was organized by any [[cartel]]-type organizations. The second significant action at the local level was to close the [[brothel]]s and the [[red light districts]]. From 1910 to 1913, city after city changed previously tolerant approaches and forced the closing of their brothels. Opposition to openly practiced prostitution had been growing steadily throughout the last decades of the 19th century. The federal government's response was the Mann Act.  The purpose of the act was to make it a crime to "transport or cause to be transported, or aid to assist in obtaining transportation for" or to "persuade, induce, entice or coerce" a woman to travel.<ref name= "Brian K 2004">{{cite book |first= Brian K |last= Landsberg |title= Major Acts of Congress |work= Macmillan Reference USA |publisher= Macmillan |location= London, [[England|ENG]] |date= 2004 |pages= 251–53}}</ref>  Many of the changes that occurred after 1900 were a result of tensions between social ideals and practical realities. Family form and functions changed in response to a complex set of circumstances that were the effects of economic class and ethnicity.<ref name="Elizabeth Faue 1923">{{cite book |first= Elizabeth |last= Faue |title= The Emergence of Modern America (1890 to 1923) |work= Encyclopedia of American History |publisher= Infobase |location= New York City |date= 2003 |pages= 169–70}}</ref>

According to historian [[Mark Thomas Connelly]], "a group of books and pamphlets appeared announcing a startling claim: a pervasive and depraved conspiracy was at large in the land, brutally trapping and seducing American girls into lives of enforced prostitution, or 'white slavery.' These white slave narratives, or white-slave tracts, began to circulate around 1909."<ref name= Bell1910>{{Citation | last = Bell | first = Ernest Albert | via = Archive | url = https://archive.org/stream/fightingtraffici00bell#page/n5/mode/2up | title = The War on the White Slave Trade | place = Chicago | publisher = GS Ball | year = 1910 | format = ebook}}.</ref> Such narratives often portrayed innocent girls "victimized by a huge, secret and powerful conspiracy controlled by foreigners", as they were drugged or imprisoned and forced into prostitution.{{citation needed|date= June 2014}}<ref name=Bell1910 />

[[File:The First Step From Fighting the Traffic in Young Girls or the war on the white slave trade.jpg|thumb|"Ice cream parlors of the city and fruit stores combined, largely run by foreigners, are the places where scores of girls have taken their first step downward. Does her mother know the character of the place and the man she is with?"]]
This excerpt from ''The War on the White Slave Trade'' was written by the United States District Attorney in Chicago:

{{blockquote|One thing should be made very clear to the girl who comes up to the city, and that is that the ordinary ice cream parlor is very likely to be a spider's web for her entanglement. This is perhaps especially true of those ice cream saloons and fruit stores kept by foreigners. Scores of cases are on record where young girls have taken their first step towards "white slavery" in places of this character.<ref name=Bell1910 />}}

According to Connelly, such concerns represented an "hysterical" version of genuine and long-standing issues arising from the concentration of young women from rural backgrounds in the expanding cities of the era, many of whom were drawn into prostitution for "mundane" economic reasons. A number of Vice Commission reports had drawn attention to the issue.<ref name= Bell1910 /> Some contemporaries questioned the idea of abduction and foreign control of prostitution through cartels. For example, noted radical and feminist [[Emma Goldman]] asked "What is really the cause of the trade in women? Not merely white women, but yellow and black women as well. Exploitation, of course; the merciless Moloch of capitalism that fattens on underpaid labor, thus driving thousands of women and girls into prostitution. With [[Mrs. Warren's Profession|Mrs. Warren]] these girls feel, 'Why waste your life working for a few shillings a week in a scullery, eighteen hours a day?' ... Whether our reformers admit it or not, the economic and social inferiority of woman is responsible for prostitution."<ref>Emma Goldman, ''The Traffic In Women Red Emma Speaks: Selected Writings and Speeches''. New York: Random House, 1972. {{ISBN |0-394-47095-8}}</ref> While prostitution was widespread, contemporary studies by local vice commissions indicate that it was "overwhelmingly locally organized without any large business structure, and willingly engaged in by the prostitutes."<ref name= Langum1994>Langum, David J. (1994). ''Crossing Over the Line: Legislating Morality and the Mann Act.'' Chicago: University of Chicago Press. {{ISBN |0-226-46880-1}}</ref>

Suffrage activists, especially [[Harriet Burton Laidlaw]]<ref>{{Citation | chapter-url = http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch00682 | last = Laidlaw | first = H. B. (Harriet Burton), b. 1874 | title = Papers, 1851–1958 | chapter = A Finding Aid | publisher = Harvard | access-date = May 26, 2015 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20150403200043/http://oasis.lib.harvard.edu/oasis/deliver/~sch00682 | archive-date = April 3, 2015 | url-status = dead }}.</ref> and [[Rose Livingston]], took up the concerns. They worked in [[New York City]]'s [[Chinatown, Manhattan|Chinatown]] 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.<ref name= "Brian K 2004" /> Livingston publicly discussed her past as a prostitute and made the claim that she was abducted and developed a drug problem as a sex slave in a Chinese man's home, narrowly escaped, and experienced a Christian conversion. Although her claim was unsupported by evidence, her story exemplified the stereotypes used to pass the Mann Act—fear of foreigners, especially Chinese men; abduction and drugging in order to be raped and enslaved; a narrow escape; and salvation through Christian conversion.<ref name= "maggiemcneill.files.wordpress.com">{{cite journal |first= Mary Ting |last= Lui Yi |title= Saving young girls from Chinatown: white slavery and woman suffrage, 1910–1920 |journal= Journal of the History of Sexuality |volume= 18 |issue= 3 |pages= 393–417 |date= September 1, 2009|doi= 10.1353/sex.0.0069 |jstor= 20542730|pmid= 19739340 |s2cid= 27886467 }}</ref><ref name= "Massotta">{{cite book |first= Jodie |last=Massotta |url= https://www.uvm.edu/sites/default/files/S13_Thesis_Masotta.pdf |title= Decades of Reform: Prostitutes, Feminists, and the War on White Slavery |publisher= University of Vermont |location= Burlington, [[Vermont|VT]] |date= July 15, 2014}}</ref> Other groups like the [[Woman's Christian Temperance Union]] and [[Hull House]] focused on children of prostitutes and poverty in community life while trying to pass protective legislation.  The American Purity Alliance also supported the Mann Act.<ref name= "archive.org">[https://archive.org/stream/fightingtraffici00bell#page/44/mode/2up Bell], pp. 44–45.</ref>

==Legal application==
[[File:Jack and Lucille Johnson.jpg|thumb|[[Jack Johnson (boxer)|Jack Johnson]] marries Lucille Cameron, 1912]]
Although the law was created to stop forced [[sexual slavery]] of women, the most common use of the Mann Act was to prosecute men for having sex with underage females.<ref name="Elizabeth Faue 1923"/> The phrase "immoral purpose" in the statute allowed a broad application of the law following its affirmation in {{cite court | litigants=Caminetti v. United States | vol=242 | reporter=U.S. | opinion=470 | date=1917 | url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/242/470.html | quote=The authority of Congress to keep the channels of interstate commerce free from immoral and injurious uses has been frequently sustained, and is no longer open to question. | postscript=none}}

In addition to its stated purpose of preventing human trafficking, the law was used to prosecute unlawful premarital, extramarital, and interracial relationships. The penalties would be applied to men whether or not the woman involved consented and, if she had consented, the woman could be considered an accessory to the offense. Some attribute enactment of the law to the case of world champion heavyweight boxer [[Jack Johnson (boxer)|Jack Johnson]].<ref>The Mann Act from Ken Burns's series "Unforgivable Blackness."</ref> Johnson was known to be intimate with white women, some of whom he met at the fighting venue after his fights. In 1912<ref>{{cite web|url=https://legallegacy.wordpress.com/2014/10/18/october-18-1912-boxing-champion-jack-johnson-arrested-for-violating-the-mann-act/|title=October 18, 1912 – Boxing Champion Jack Johnson Arrested For Violating the Mann Act|work=legallegacy.com|date=October 28, 2014|access-date=March 14, 2018}}</ref> he was prosecuted, and later convicted, for "transporting women across state lines for immoral purposes" as a result of his relationship with a white prostitute named Belle Schreiber; the month prior to the prosecution, Johnson had been charged with violating the Mann Act due to traveling with his white girlfriend, Lucille Cameron, who refused to cooperate with the prosecution and whom he married soon thereafter.<ref>{{cite news |title=Year in Cell for Johnson; $1,000 Fine, Too, for Pugilist's White Slavery Offense |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1913/06/05/archives/year-in-cell-for-johnson-1000-fine-too-for-pugilists-white-slavery.html|work=[[New York Times]] |date=June 4, 1913|access-date=March 14, 2018}}</ref>

The 1948 prosecution of Frank LaSalle for abducting [[Florence Sally Horner]] is believed to have been an inspiration for [[Vladimir Nabokov]] in writing his novel ''[[Lolita]]''.<ref>{{cite web|first=Alexander|last=Dolinin|url=http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/dolilol.htm|title=What Happened to Sally Horner?: A Real-Life Source of Nabokov's Lolita|work=zembla|publisher=Art & Humanities Library of [[Pennsylvania State University]]|location=State College, Pennsylvania|access-date= March 10, 2008}}</ref> Humbert Humbert, the narrator, at one point explicitly refers to LaSalle. The Mann Act has also been used by the U.S. federal government to prosecute polygamists (such as [[Mormon fundamentalism|Mormon fundamentalists]]<ref>{{cite book |last1=Langum |first1=David J |title=Crossing Over the Line: Legislating Morality and the Mann Act |date=1994 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=978-0-226-46880-8 |page=211}}</ref><ref name="Red Emma Speaks 1972">{{cite book|first=Emma|last=Goldman|title=''Red Emma Speaks: Selected Writings and Speeches''|editor-first=Alix|editor-last=Kates Shulman|publisher=[[Random House]]|location=New York City|date=1972|isbn=978-0-394-47095-5}}</ref>) because the U.S. has no federal law against [[polygamy]].<ref name="Red Emma Speaks 1972"/>{{Dubious|Legal application section excludes mention multiple federal laws that historically banned polygamy|date=December 2022}} All U.S. states have [[Legality of polygamy in the United States|anti-polygamy laws]], but only in recent{{When|date=June 2016}} years have state authorities used them to prosecute [[bigamy]]. [[Colorado City, Arizona]]; [[Hildale, Utah]]; [[Bountiful, British Columbia]]; and sites in [[Mexico]]<ref name="maggiemcneill.files.wordpress.com"/> are historic locations of several Mormon sects that practiced polygamy,<ref name="Massotta"/> although The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has [[Second Manifesto|expressly forbidden]] polygamy since the start of the 20th century. Sect leaders and individuals<ref name="Red Emma Speaks 1972"/> have been charged under the Mann Act when "wives" are transported across the Utah–Arizona state line or the U.S.–Canadian and U.S.–Mexican borders.<ref name="archive.org"/><ref name="Red Emma Speaks 1972"/>

===Notable prosecutions under the Mann Act===
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto"
! scope=col| Person
! scope=col| Year
! scope=col| Decision
! scope=col class=unsortable|Notes
|-
|Bella Moore
|1910
|Convicted
|In ''[https://cite.case.law/nys/124/358/ People v. Moore]'', an all-white jury convicted Bella Moore, a mixed race woman from New York, for the "compulsory prostitution" of two white women, Alice Milton and Belle Woods, using the Mann Act.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Donovan |first1=Brian |last2=Barnes-Brus |first2=Tori |date=2011 |title=Narratives of Sexual Consent and Coercion: Forced Prostitution Trials in Progressive-Era New York City |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/23011884 |journal=Law & Social Inquiry |volume=36 |issue=3 |pages=597–619 |doi=10.1111/j.1747-4469.2011.01244.x |jstor=23011884 |s2cid=143108977 |issn=0897-6546}}</ref> <ref>{{Cite book |last=Donovan |first=Brian |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1154853069 |title=White slave crusades : race, gender, and anti-vice activism, 1887–1917 |date=2006 |isbn=978-0-252-09100-1 |location=Urbana |oclc=1154853069}}</ref>
|-
|| [[Jack Johnson (boxer)|Jack Johnson]] ||1913||Convicted (pardoned in 2018)|| In October and November 1912, boxer Jack Johnson was arrested twice under the Mann Act. It was generally acknowledged that the arrests were racially motivated. A posthumous presidential pardon was granted in 2018 by President [[Donald Trump]].<ref name=EricNPR /><ref>{{Cite news|last1=Eligon|first1=John|last2=Michael D.|first2=Shear|title=Trump Pardons Jack Johnson, Heavyweight Boxing Champion |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/24/sports/jack-johnson-pardon-trump.html|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=May 24, 2018|date=May 24, 2018}}</ref>
|-
||[[Farley Drew Caminetti]] ||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. ''[[Caminetti v. United States]]'' expanded Mann Act prosecutions from prostitution to non-commercial extramarital sex.<ref>{{cite news |title=Caminetti Guilty On Only One Count. Two Jurors Hold Out for Acquittal for Three Hours, but Finally Compromise |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1913/09/06/archives/caminetti-guilty-on-only-one-count-two-jurors-hold-out-for.html |quote=Farley Drew Caminetti, son of the Commissioner General of Immigration, was found guilty late to-day on one count of the indictment charging him with violation of the Mann White Slave act. |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=September 6, 1913 |access-date=August 20, 2010}}</ref>
|-
|| [[William I. Thomas]] ||1918||Acquitted ||Pioneering [[sociology|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 Expeditionary Forces|American forces]] in [[France]]. Thomas was acquitted at trial.<ref>{{cite news |title=Thomas and Woman Freed. Evidence Sought for Prosecution under the Mann Act |work=The New York Times |date=April 20, 1918 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1918/04/20/archives/thomas-and-woman-freed-evidence-sought-for-prosecution-under-the.html |access-date=August 22, 2010}}</ref>
|-
|| [[Frank Lloyd Wright]] || 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]].<ref name=EricNPR />
|-
|| [[Finis Dake]] ||1937||Convicted||In 1937, he was convicted of violating the Mann Act by willfully transporting Emma Barelli, age 16, 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 pleaded guilty. Subsequently, he served six months in the House of Corrections in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Chambers |first=Pastor Joseph |title=An Open Letter to Pastor Joseph Chambers, Author of an Article Entitled 'Confused Charismatic Theology & the Dake's Bible' |date=September 19, 1999 |place=Charlotte, NC |publisher=Paw Creek Ministries |url=http://www.dakebible.com/WebPages/joseph-chambers.htm |access-date=July 23, 2009}}</ref>
|-
||[[George Barker (poet)|George Barker]]||1940||Charges dropped||The [[UK|British]] poet was arrested crossing a state border with his lover [[Canadians|Canadian]] author [[Elizabeth Smart (Canadian author)|Elizabeth Smart]] in 1940. She described the arrest in her book ''[[By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept]]''.
|-
|| [[Charlie Chaplin]] || 1944|| Acquitted ||Chaplin met [[Joan Barry (American actress)|Joan Barry]], age 24, in 1941. He signed her to a $75-a-week contract for a film he was putting together, and she became his mistress. By mid-1942, Chaplin let her contract expire. To send her home, Chaplin paid her train fare to New York which led to his arrest.<ref name=EricNPR/><ref>{{cite news |title=Mann & Woman |url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,850389,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080117060249/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,850389,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 17, 2008 |magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]] |date=April 3, 1944 |quote=Auburn-haired Joan Berry, 24, who wandered from her native Detroit to New York to Hollywood in pursuit of a theatrical career, became a Chaplin protégée in the summer of 1941. ... Chaplin signed her to a $75-a-week contract, began training her for a part in a projected picture. Two weeks after the contract was signed, she became his mistress. ... By late summer of 1942, Chaplin had decided that she was unsuited for his film. Her contract ended. ... Chaplin paid her train fare both ways but did not travel with her, did not pay her hotel bills. Asserted by the defence: she went at her own request; Chaplin had no "intent" to transport her for immoral purposes and did not consummate any such purpose in New York.|access-date=August 21, 2007}}</ref> Chaplin was acquitted of the charges.
|-
|| [[Rex Ingram (actor)|Rex Ingram]] ||1949||Convicted||Pleading guilty to the charge of transporting a teenage girl to New York for immoral purposes, the actor 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.<ref>{{cite web |last=Eder |first=Bruce |title=Rex Ingram Biography |work=All Movie Guide |publisher=[[AMC (TV channel)|AMC]] |url=http://movies.amctv.com/person/216452/Rex-Ingram/details |access-date=July 23, 2009}}</ref>
|-
||[[Frank La Salle]]||1950||Convicted|| La Salle was tried, convicted, and sentenced to 30 to 35 years in prison under the Mann Act for abducting and raping [[Florence Sally Horner]] during a 21-month period while traveling from New Jersey to California. {{citation needed|date=September 2018}}
|-
||[[Kid Cann]]||1959||Convicted/<br /> Acquitted on appeal||Cann, who was an [[organized crime]] figure from [[Minneapolis]], [[Minnesota]], was prosecuted and convicted for transporting a [[prostitute]] from [[Chicago]] to [[Minnesota]]. His conviction was later overturned on appeal. Cann was later prosecuted and convicted of offering a $25,000 [[jury tampering|bribe]] to a juror at his Mann Act trial.{{citation needed|date=June 2014}}
|-
|| [[Charles Manson]] ||1960||Charges dropped||Manson took two prostitutes from California to New Mexico to work.<ref>[[Vincent Bugliosi|Bugliosi, Vincent]] with [[Curt Gentry|Gentry, Curt]] (1994). ''Helter Skelter – The True Story of the Manson Murders 25th Anniversary Edition''. W.W. Norton & Company. {{ISBN|0-393-08700-X}}. pp. 137–146.</ref>
|-
|| [[Chuck Berry]] ||1962||Convicted||In January 1962, Berry was sentenced to three years in prison for offenses under the Mann Act when he had transported a girl, age 14, across state lines.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chuck Berry| publisher=[[Rock and Roll Hall of Fame|The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum]]| url=http://www.rockhall.com/inductees/chuck-berry/bio}}</ref><ref name=EricNPR>{{cite web |last=Weiner |first=Eric |title=All Things Considered: The Long, Colorful History of the Mann Act |publisher=[[NPR]] |date=March 11, 2008 |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=88104308 |access-date=July 23, 2009}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://ftp.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/295/295.F2d.192.16752_1.html |title=295 F.2d 192 |publisher=ftp.resource.org |access-date=June 4, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101013023507/http://ftp.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/295/295.F2d.192.16752_1.html |archive-date=October 13, 2010}}</ref>
|-
|| [[Alamo Christian Foundation|Tony Alamo]]|| 2008 || Convicted||The former American religious leader was arrested under the Mann Act in September 2008.<ref>http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/09/25/childporn.alamo/. [[CNN]]. September 26, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2011.</ref> 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.<ref>http://articles.cnn.com/2009-07-24/justice/arkansas.evangelist.trial_1_tony-alamo-christian-ministries-bernie-hoffman-arkansas?_s=PM:CRIME {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120324093220/http://articles.cnn.com/2009-07-24/justice/arkansas.evangelist.trial_1_tony-alamo-christian-ministries-bernie-hoffman-arkansas?_s=PM%3ACRIME |date=March 24, 2012}}. July 24, 2009. [[CNN]]. Retrieved July 30, 2011.</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Evangelist Arrested In Child Sex Probe|url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/evangelist-arrested-in-child-sex-probe/|publisher=CBS News|access-date=April 30, 2018|language=en|date=September 25, 2008}}</ref>
|-
|| [[Brian David Mitchell]] ||2010||Convicted ||Former street preacher and pedophile; convicted in 2010 of interstate kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines in connection with the 2002 abduction of [[Elizabeth Smart]]; currently serving a life sentence in federal prison.<ref>Enos, Robin (May 25, 2011), "[https://blogs.findlaw.com/blotter/2011/05/brian-david-mitchell--elizabeth-smart-abductor-gets-life-sentence.html Kidnapper Brian David Mitchell Sentenced to Life]. findlaw.com</ref>
|-
|| [[First Baptist Church (Hammond, Indiana)|Jack Schaap]] || 2012 ||Convicted || Pastor at mega-church [[First Baptist Church (Hammond, Indiana)]] and Chancellor of [[Hyles–Anderson College]], pleaded guilty to transportation of a minor, age 16, across state lines to have sex with her.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/02/jack-schaap-confesses-to-_n_1732732.html |title=Jack Schaap Confesses To Sexual Relationship With Teen After Firing From Megachurch |work=[[The Huffington Post]] |date=August 2, 2012 |access-date=December 24, 2012}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://global.christianpost.com/news/jack-schaap-pleads-guilty-in-teen-sex-case-denies-knowing-act-was-crime-82304/ |title=Jack Schaap Pleads Guilty in Teen Sex Case, Denies Knowing Act Was Crime |newspaper=[[Christian Post]] |date=August 27, 2012 |access-date=December 24, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130126192808/http://global.christianpost.com/news/jack-schaap-pleads-guilty-in-teen-sex-case-denies-knowing-act-was-crime-82304/ |archive-date=January 26, 2013 |url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2012/09/oh-mann-pastor-says-he-was-unaware-of-curious-law.html |title=Oh, Mann! Pastor says he was unaware of curious law |work=[[Chicago Tribune]] |date=August 27, 2012 |access-date=December 24, 2012}}</ref> He was sentenced to 12 years in prison.<ref>{{cite news |title=Judge Rejects Reduced Sentence In Former Pastor's Sex Case |url=http://chicago.cbslocal.com/2014/08/27/judge-rejects-reduced-sentence-in-former-pastors-sex-case/ |work=[[CBS Chicago]] |date=January 5, 2013 |access-date=April 8, 2015}}</ref>
|-
|| [[R. Kelly]] || 2021 ||Convicted ||Singer/actor<ref>{{Cite web|author=Lauren Aratani and Gloria Oladipo|date=2021-09-27|title=R Kelly found guilty on racketeering and sex trafficking charges|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2021/sep/27/r-kelly-racketeering-sex-trafficking|access-date=2021-09-27|website=[[The Guardian]]|language=en}}</ref>
|-
|| [[Ghislaine Maxwell]] || 2021 ||Convicted ||Socialite/publishing heiress.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://answertheworld.com/ghislaine-maxwell/|title=Ghislaine Maxwell Bio, Age, Family, Husband, School, Salary, Net Worth, Siblings, Sex Trafficking, Court Charges|date=November 29, 2021}}</ref> Charged with sex trafficking of minors for [[Jeffrey Epstein]].<ref>https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdny/press-release/file/1291491/download {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> On December 29, 2021, a jury found her guilty on five of six counts involving sex trafficking of minors.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://brooklyneagle.com/articles/2021/12/29/ghislaine-maxwell-convicted-in-epstein-sex-abuse-case/|title=Ghislaine Maxwell convicted in Epstein sex abuse case|date=December 29, 2021}}</ref> Sentenced to 20 years.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://nypost.com/2022/06/28/jeffrey-epstein-assistant-ghislaine-maxwell-sentenced-to-20-years-for-sex-trafficking/ |title=Ghislaine Maxwell sentenced to 20 years in Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking case |date=June 28, 2022}}</ref>
|}

===Notable individuals prosecuted under the Act===
<!-- PLEASE READ BEFORE EDITING THIS SECTION: Only add individuals to this section if you have a proper, reliable source that explicitly states they were prosecuted under the Mann Act. -->
* [[Anwar al-Awlaki]], an American Islamist cleric, was investigated for violations of Mann Act, authorities primarily wanting to arrest him for his ties to the [[hijackers in the September 11 attacks|9/11 hijackers]], but left the United States for Yemen before he could be detained.<ref name= how>{{cite news |url=https://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/FtHoodInvestigation/anwar-awlaki/story?id=9200720&page=1|last=Rhee|first=Joseph|author2=Mark Schone|date=November 30, 2009|publisher=ABC News|title= How Anwar Awlaki Got Away|work=The Blotter from Brian Ross; Fort Hood Investigation|access-date= December 1, 2009}}</ref>
* [[Dušan Popov]], a World War II Allied double agent with a "[[James Bond]]" lifestyle, was threatened with arrest under the Mann Act.<ref name="CG">{{cite book
|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tu86exHKPvMC&q=du%C5%A1ko+popov+mann+act&pg=RA3-PA272
|author=Gentry, Curt
|year=2001
|page=272
|title=J. Edgar Hoover: The Man and the Secrets
|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company
|isbn=978-0-393-32128-9}}</ref>
* Individuals associated with the [[Emperors Club VIP]] prostitution ring that had [[Eliot Spitzer]] as a client while he was [[governor of New York]].<ref name=nyt20080310>{{cite news |title=Spitzer Is Linked to Prostitution Ring |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/10/nyregion/10cnd-spitzer.html |quote=Federal prosecutors rarely charge clients in prostitution cases, which are generally seen as state crimes. But the Mann Act, passed by Congress in 1910 to address prostitution, human trafficking and what was viewed at the time as immorality in general, makes it a crime to transport someone between states for the purpose of prostitution. The four defendants charged in the case unsealed last week were all charged with that crime, along with several others. |work=The New York Times |date= March 10, 2008|access-date= August 22, 2010 |first1=Danny |last1=Hakim |first2=William K. |last2=Rashbaum}}</ref>
* Individuals associated with the [[Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints]] (FLDS), such as [[Warren Jeffs]] and [[Merril Jessop]] have refused to answer questions during [[Deposition (law)|depositions]] and court hearings, citing the [[Fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution|5th amendment]], over concerns of [[self-incrimination]] related to "potential state investigation still ongoing, as well as criminal investigations under the Mann Act out of the U.S. Attorney's Office."<ref>{{cite news|last=Anthony |first=Paul |title=FLDS leader invokes 5th in deposition: He pleads it more than 250 times, court transcript says |work=[[San Angelo Standard-Times]] |date=January 28, 2009 |url=http://www.deseretnews.com/article/0,5143,705280971,00.html |access-date=July 24, 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090205062419/http://deseretnews.com/article/0%2C5143%2C705280971%2C00.html |archive-date=February 5, 2009 }}</ref>

===Mann Act case decisions by the United States Supreme Court===
* ''[[Hoke v. United States]]'', {{ussc|227|308|1913}}. 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]]'', {{ussc|227|326|1913}}. The Court decided that the law was not limited strictly to prostitution, but to "debauchery" as well.<ref>[[:wikisource:Louis Athanasaw v. United States]]</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/227/326.html|title=Athanasaw v. United States|website=Findlaw}}</ref>
* ''[[Caminetti v. United States]]'', {{ussc|242|470|1917}}. 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".
*  {{cite court | litigants=Gebardi v. United States | vol=287 | reporter=U.S. | opinion=112 | date=1932 | url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/287/112 | postscript=none}} The Court ruled that consent by the victim to their own transportation does not constitute conspiracy or culpability under the Act.
* ''[[Cleveland v. United States (1946)|Cleveland v. United States]]'', {{ussc|329|14|1946}}. 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]]'', {{ussc|349|81|1955}}. The Court decided that simultaneous transportation of two women across state lines constituted only one violation of the Mann Act, not two violations.
* {{cite court | litigants=Wyatt v. United States | vol=362 | reporter=U.S. | opinion=525 | date=1960 | url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/362/525.html | postscript=none}} The Court affirmed that a victim can be compelled to testify against a spouse who violated the Act, in exception to the common law spousal privilege rule.
* {{cite court | litigants=Holte v. United States | vol=236 | reporter=U.S. | opinion=14 | date=1915 | url=https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/236/140.html | postscript=none}} The Court ruled that it is not impossible for a victim of the Act to be charged with conspiracy under specific circumstances. The requirements for conspiracy by a victim of the Act were limited in a later ruling, {{cite court | litigants=Gebardi v. United States | vol=287 | reporter=U.S. | opinion=112 | date=1932 | url=https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/287/112 | postscript=none}}

==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 pornography]] that passed unanimously in both houses of Congress,<ref name=SFchron1986>"[[Ronald Reagan|Reagan]] Signs Tough Bill In Crackdown on Child Porn". [[United Press International]] (via the ''[[San Francisco Chronicle]]'') November 8, 1986. "President Reagan signed a bill yesterday strengthening provisions of existing child pornography laws. The new measure, passed unanimously by both houses of Congress, would make it a crime to advertise to buy or sell child pornography, to seek children for the production of pornography or to participate with children in the production of it. <nowiki>[...]</nowiki> On another subject, the bill rewrites the Mann Act, a relic of the early part of the century, which makes it a crime to transport a woman across state lines for 'immoral' purposes. The new provision makes the statute gender-neutral and eliminates archaic language."</ref> 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.<ref name=SFchron1986/>

{|style="border:1px solid gray; align:left; width:70%" cellspacing=3 cellpadding=0
|-style="font-weight:bold; text-align:center; background:#bbddff; color:black;"
! style=" border-bottom:1.5px solid black"|Date of Enactment
! style=" border-bottom:1.5px solid black"|Public Law Number
! style=" border-bottom:1.5px solid black"|U.S. Statute Citation
! style=" border-bottom:1.5px solid black"|U.S. Legislative Bill
! style=" border-bottom:1.5px solid black"|U.S. Presidential Administration
|-
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5;"|June 25, 1948
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|P.L. 80-772
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{usstat|62|683}}
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{USBill|80|H.R.|3190}}
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|[[Harry S. Truman]]
|-
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5;"|February 6, 1978
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|P.L. 95–225
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{usstat|92|7}}
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{USBill|95|S.|1585}}
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|[[Jimmy Carter]]
|-
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5;"|November 7, 1986
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|P.L. 99–628
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{usstat|100|3510}}
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{USBill|99|H.R.|5560}}
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|[[Ronald Reagan]]
|-
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5;"|September 13, 1994
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|P.L. 103–322
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{usstat|108|1796}}
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{USBill|103|H.R.|3355}}
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|[[Bill Clinton]]
|-
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5;"|February 8, 1996
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|P.L. 104–104
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{usstat|110|56}}
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{USBill|104|S.|652}}
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|Bill Clinton
|-
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5;"|October 30, 1998
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|P.L. 105–314
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{usstat|112|2974}}
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{USBill|105|H.R.|3494}}
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|Bill Clinton
|-
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5;"|April 30, 2003
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|P.L. 108–21
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{usstat|117|650}}
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{USBill|108|S.|151}}
| style="border-bottom:1px solid gray; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|[[George W. Bush]]
|-
| style="border-bottom:1.5px solid black; background:#F5F5F5;"|July 27, 2006
| style="border-bottom:1.5px solid black; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|P.L. 109–248
| style="border-bottom:1.5px solid black; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{usstat|120|587}}
| style="border-bottom:1.5px solid black; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|{{USBill|109|H.R.|4472}}
| style="border-bottom:1.5px solid black; background:#F5F5F5; text-align:center;"|George W. Bush
|}

==Effects and alterations of the Mann Act==
While the Mann Act was meant to combat forced prostitution, it had repercussions that extended into consensual sexual activity. Because it lacked specificity, it criminalized many who were not participating in prostitution. It became a way to persecute large numbers of unmarried couples participating in premarital or extramarital activities, especially when it involved crossing state lines such as in the cases for [[Chuck Berry]] and Jack Johnson.<ref name=ReferenceA>"[https://www.pbs.org/unforgivableblackness/knockout/mann.html Unforgivable Blackness, Knockout]." PBS. PBS, n.d. Web. November 14, 2013.</ref> The Mann Act also became a form of blackmail, by wives who were suspicious of cheating husbands or other women. This was the case for both Drew Caminetti and Maury Diggs. Both men from Sacramento, California, were married, and took their mistresses (Lola Norris and Marsha Warrington, respectively) to Reno, Nevada. The men's wives contacted the police, and the men were arrested in Reno and found guilty under the Mann Act.<ref name=ReferenceA/> One author wrote:

<blockquote>In 1914 a woman by the name of Jessie A. Cope was arrested in Chicago for attempting to bribe an official to assist her in the blackmail of Colonel Charles Alexander of Providence Rhode Island, on a white slavery charge. The two had met two years previous in LA, Alexander had promised to divorce his wife, and marry her. When he attempted to leave her, Cope and her mother pursued him to Providence. Cope consulted lawyers in Providence and LA, then brought the charges in Chicago, where she was arrested.<ref name=McLaren>McLaren, Angus. "Entrapping the Jazz-Age American Male." ''Sexual Blackmail: A Modern History''. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2002. 87. Print.</ref></blockquote>

Upon continuous blackmail accounts, ''[[The New York Times]]'' became an advocate against the Mann Act. In 1915 the paper published an editorial pointing out how the act led to extortion. In 1916 it labeled the Mann Act "The Blackmail Act", arguing that its dangers had been clear from the start as the act could make a harmless spree or simple elopement a crime. The paper also called the "blackmail that resulted from the Mann Act [...] worse than the prostitution it sought to suppress".<ref name=McLaren/>

While the Mann Act has never been repealed, it has been amended and altered since its initial passing. The Mann Act continued essentially unchanged until 1978 amendments that expanded coverage to issues around child pornography and exploitation. Most recently, in 1986, the Mann Act was significantly altered to make the whole Act gender neutral and to redress the specific ambiguous phrasing that had enabled decades of unjust applications of the Act. With the 1986 amendments, the Mann Act outlaws interstate or foreign transport of "any person" for purposes of "any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense."<ref>Langum, David J. "Mann Act (1910)." Major Acts of Congress. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. November 14, 2013 <http://www.encyclopedia.com></ref><ref name=ReferenceA/> Prior to the Supreme Court ruling in ''[[Lawrence v. Texas]]'' (2003), [[sodomy laws|sodomy was illegal]] in many states which left open the possibility of prosecution under the Mann Act of consenting adult couples, especially gay couples, though there is no record of such enforcement actions.<ref name=Langum1994/>

==See also==
* ''[[Caminetti v. United States]]''
* [[Chamberlain–Kahn Act]]
* [[International Agreement for the suppression of the White Slave Traffic]]
* [[International Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children]]
* [[Sex trafficking in the United States]]
* [[The Traffic in Women]]
* [[Traffic in Souls|''Traffic in Souls'' (1913)]]
* [[Travel Act]]

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |title=Crossing Over the Line: Legislating Morality and the Mann Act |last=Langum |first=David J. |year=1994 |publisher=University of Chicago Press |location=Chicago |isbn=978-0-226-46880-8 |pages=1–311 |oclc=30075897 |url={{google books|Hb8yvw31wZoC|plainurl=y}}}}
* {{cite book |title=Unlocking the Files of the FBI: A Guide to Its Records and Classification System |last1=Haines |first1=Gerald K. |last2=Langbart |first2=David A. |year=1993 |publisher=Rowman & Littlefield |location=Wilmington, Delaware |isbn=978-0-8420-2338-2 |page=29 |oclc=25873598 |url={{google books|2PEHsPOgmG0C|plainurl=y}}}}
* Donovan, Brian. [https://books.google.com/books?id=06D_Wg64wgsC White Slave Crusades: Race, Gender, and Anti-vice Activism, 1887–1917]. United States: University of Illinois Press, 2010. {{ISBN|978-0-252-09100-1}}.

==External links==
* {{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/law/help/us-treaties/bevans/m-ust000001-0424.pdf |title=International Agreement for the Suppression of the White Slave Traffic |date=May 18, 1904 |location=Paris, France |publisher=The United States Library of Congress}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mann Act}}
[[Category:Mann Act| ]]
[[Category:Progressive Era in the United States]]
[[Category:1910 in American law]]
[[Category:61st United States Congress]]
[[Category:Prostitution law in the United States]]