When the FBI Comes Calling…®
HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND SMUGGLING (continued)
Trafficking in Persons (continued)
Trafficking For Sexual Activity
A great deal of the TVPA is focused on trafficking women and children for sexual purposes. Many of the Congressional findings center on this very subject. "The sex industry has rapidly expanded over the past several decades. It involves sexual exploitation of persons, predominantly women and girls, involving activities related to prostitution, pornography, sex tourism, and other commercial sexual services." 22 U.S.C. § 7101(b)(2). Furthermore, "Traffickers lure women and girls into their networks through false promises of decent working conditions at relatively good pay as nannies, maids, dancers, factory workers, restaurant workers, sales clerks, or models. Traffickers also buy children from poor families and sell them into prostitution or into various types of forced or bonded labor." Id. § 7101(b)(4). Many of the statutes blur together, and the topic of trafficking for sexual activity is quite broad. Some provisions are better described in a separate section entirely devoted to transnational sex crimes. This page, therefore, looks only at the statutes that are concerned with trafficking- or transportation-related transnational crimes.
18 U.S.C § 1591.
The Crime
It is a violation of section 1591 for a person to "knowingly"
- recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide, or obtain by any means a person, knowing that force, fraud, or coercion will be used to cause that person to engage in a commercial sex act. 18 U.S.C. § 1591(a)(1);
- recruit, entice, harbor, transport, provide, or obtain by any means a person who has not reached 18 years of age, and that person will be caused to engage in a commercial sex act. Id. § 1591(a) (It seems that force, fraud, or coercion, are not required if the victim is under 18); or
- benefit, financially or by receiving anything of value, from participation in such a venture. Id. § 1591(a)(2)
Jurisdiction
From a jurisdictional standpoint, section 1591 uses different terminology than other statutes in Chapter 77 (18 U.S.C. §§ 1581 et seq.). This statute applies to a person:
- "in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce"; or
- "within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States." 18 U.S.C. § 1591(a)(1)
The "interstate or foreign commerce" aspect is fairly simple and is found in a number of statutes; it's one way that Congress shows that it has the authority to legislate on the matter. The "special maritime and territorial jurisdiction" aspect is different, and a more thorough examination of what that phrase means can be found on our "Jurisdiction" page, here. What is not clear at this time, because the statute is a relative newcomer, is whether courts will interpret this language to limit the applicability of statutes that do not contain the phrase.
Definitions
A "commercial sex act" is any sex act for which anything of value is given or received by any person. Id. § 1591(c)(1)
"Coercion" means any of the following three things:
- threat of serious harm to, or physical restraint against, any person;
- any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause a person to believe that serious harm or physical restraint would occur if that person did not perform an act; or
- the abuse or threatened abuse of law or the legal process. Id. § 1591(c)(2)
"Venture" means any group of two or more individuals associated in fact, whether or not a legal entity. Id. § 1591(c)(3)
The Punishment
If the violation of section 1591(a) was effected by force, fraud, or coercion, the punishment is a fine, imprisonment for any term of years or for life, or both. 18 U.S.C. § 1591.
If the violation did not necessarily involve force, fraud, or coercion, but the victim had not obtained 14 years of age at the time of the violation, the punishment will be a fine, imprisonment for any term of years or for life, or both. Id.
If the offense did not involve force, fraud, or coercion, but the victim was between the ages of 14 and 18 at the time of the violation, punishment is a fine, imprisonment for not more than 40 years, or both. Id.
Age of the Alleged Victim
It is not entirely clear to what act the age requirement is attached. It seems that it is attached to the recruitment, enticement, harboring, transporting, or obtaining aspect of the violation and not the sex act. This interpretation is based on the wording of section 1591(a) and section 1591(b). Because a violation of 1591(a) can occur without the person actually committing a sex act, and because the punishment provisions state "if the person recruited ... had not attained the age of," it seems reasonable to infer that the age of the victim will be a factor at the time of recruitment and not at the time of the sex act.