When the FBI Comes Calling…®
HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND SMUGGLING (continued)
Involuntary Servitude (continued)
18 U.S.C. § 1589
The Crime
It is a crime under section 1589 to knowingly provide or obtain the labor or services of another person in any of three ways.
- Threatening that person or another person with serious harm or physical restraint. 18 U.S.C. §1589(1);
- Using any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause the person to believe that, if the person did not perform such labor or services, that person or another person would suffer serious harm or physical restraint. 18 U.S.C. §1589(2); or
- Abusing or threatening to abuse the law or the legal process. 18 U.S.C. §1589(3).
The Punishment
- The punishment for violating section 1589 is a fine, imprisonment for not more than 20 years, or both.
- If death results from the violation of section 1584, or if the violation includes kidnapping, aggravated sexual abuse or the attempt to commit any of those three acts, the defendant shall be fined, imprisoned for any term of years or life, or both.
Jurisdiction
There is no jurisdictional statement in section 1589. In passing the Trafficking Victims Protection Act, which created section 1589, Congress noted that "[t]rafficking in persons substantially affects interstate and foreign commerce," 22 U.S.C. §7101(b)(12), so jurisdiction can be easily found in interstate and foreign commerce. However, a strong case for broader jurisdiction, like that seen in section 1581, could be made since section 1589 is related to the Thirteenth Amendment.
Case Law Interpreting Section 1589
18 U.S.C. §1589 is a relatively new provision in the United States Code. It was added in 2000 as part of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, and was intended expressly to counter Kozminski. United States v. Bradley, 390 F.3d 145, 150 (1st Cir. 2004).
United States v. Bradley, 390 F.3d 145, 150 (1st Cir. 2004).
Bradley happens to be one of the few cases that have looked at the new statutory provisions, and it is particularly enlightening. The defendants were convicted of luring Jamaican laborers to New Hampshire through fraud, and mistreating the laborers while in the defendants employ. Bradley at 148. Evidence was introduced that the laborers, when contacted in Jamaica, were promised $15-20 per hour and lodging. Id. However, when the laborers arrived in New Hampshire, the lodging consisted of a trailer without running water, electricity, or heat, and the wages were actually $7 per hour. Id. The laborers, while working, were yelled and cursed at, and intimidated. Id. When one of the laborers fled to New York, one of the defendants tracked him down and threatened over the telephone to "kick his ass," call the police, the FBI, and INS if the laborer did not return. Id. The defendants did similar things to subsequent laborers. Id. at 149. After police had received a tip about the Jamaican workers, the defendants abused the laborers, who later fled. Id. The defendants were convicted in part under section 1589.
The appellate court affirmed the convictions based on Congress's intent to make the "involuntary servitude statutes ... reach cases in which persons are held in a condition of servitude through nonviolent coercion." Id. at 156-57 (quoting 22 U.S.C. §7101(b)(13)). The court lays out a definition of "undue pressure." "The test of undue pressure is an objective one, asking how a reasonable employee would have behaved; to rely upon some hidden emotional flaw or weakness unknown to the employer would raise various problems. ... But, ... known objective conditions that make the victim especially vulnerable to pressure (such as youth or immigrant status) bear on whether the employee's labor was 'obtained' by forbidden means." Id. at 153. The court acknowledged that sometimes there might be a question in determining what constitutes improper threats or coercion, on one hand, and permissible warnings of adverse but legitimate consequences on the other. Id. at 151. However, the court declined to examine the matter.