When the FBI Comes Calling…®

HUMAN TRAFFICKING AND SMUGGLING (continued)

Transportation of Slaves or Peons (continued)

18 U.S.C. § 1585

The Crime
Under section 1585, it is a crime to be a person, as described in the jurisdiction statement below, who lands from a vessel and, on any foreign shore, does any of the following:

  • seize another person with the intent to make that person a slave.
  • decoy a person into being a slave; or
  • forcibly bring, carry, receive, confine, detain, or transport another person as a slave on board that vessel. 18 U.S.C. § 1585.

It is also a crime to be a person as described in the jurisdiction statement below who does any of the following on board the same type of vessel:

  • offer or attempt to sell another person as a slave;
  • on the high seas or anywhere on tide water, transfer or deliver to any other vessel another person with the intent to make that person a slave; or
  • land or deliver on shore from that vessel another person with the intent to sell, or having already sold that person as a slave. 18 U.S.C. § 1585.

The Punishment

  • The punishment for violating section 1585 is a fine, imprisonment for not more than seven years, or both.

Jurisdiction
This section applies to "whoever":

  • Is a citizen or resident of the United States and is a member of the crew or ship's company of a foreign vessel engaged in the slave trade; or
  • Is a member of the crew or ship's company of and vessel owned in whole or in part, or navigated for of in behalf of, any citizen of the United States.

The first part of section 1585 applies to conduct that occurs "on any foreign shore." The second part of section 1585 applies to conduct that occurs on the described vessel.

Case Law Interpreting Section 1585

United States v. Battiste, 24 F. Cas. 1042 (C.C.D. Ma. 1835) (No. 14, 545).
In Battiste, the court examined the case of a defendant who had been charged with transporting slaves from one part of Africa to another. The court determined that the predecessor statute was intended to punish decoying or forcibly bringing aboard Africans with the intent to make those Africans into slaves. Battiste at 1045. Whether that African was a slave or free was irrelevant; "[t]he act refers, not to any past state or condition, but to the intent of the party in future." Id.

  • The moment an African … is bought on the coast of Africa by an American citizen, or by any person belonging to an American ship, he ceases to be a slave; for no American can, consistently with our laws, hold him in slavery. And if he bought him with an intent to hold or sell him as a slave thereafter, and received him on board for the purpose of so making him a slave, that would bring the party within the prohibition of the act. Id.

However, the court found that if the party did not have any title or interest in the slaves and was merely transporting the slaves from one part of another country's possessions to another part, then he is not guilty of violating this particular predecessor statute. Id. He would, however, as the defendant was in Battiste, be guilty of another statute. Id. at 1046. Though it is not explicitly mentioned in Battiste, the section to which the party in Battiste ultimately pled nolo contedere is likely the second part of section 1585, the provision that makes it illegal to transfer or deliver on shore a person who has been sold as a slave.

18 U.S.C. § 1586

The Crime
It is a violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1586 to be a citizen or resident of the United States and

  • voluntarily serve on board any vessel employed, or made use of, in the transportation of slaves from any foreign country or place to another. 18 U.S.C. § 1586

The Punishment

  • The punishment for a violation of section 1586 is a fine, imprisonment for not more than two years, or both.

Jurisdiction
Section 1586 applies to citizens and residents of the United States and it seemingly has global application.

Case Law Interpreting Section 1586
A violation of section 1586 can occur even if there is no actual transportation of slaves.

United States v. Morris, 39 U.S. 464, 477 (1840). The question in Morris, was "whether a vessel on her outward voyage to the coast of Africa, for the purpose of taking on board a cargo of slaves, is 'employed or made use of' in the transportation or carrying of slaves from one foreign country or place to another, before any slaves are received on board[.]" Id. at 475. The court held that it is because "[t]o be 'employed' in any thing, means not only the act of doing it, but also to be engaged to do it; to be under contract or orders to do it." Id. Therefore, "any citizen of the United States, who shall voluntarily serve on board any vessel of the United States, on such a voyage, is guilty of" violating the predecessor to section 1586. Id. at 476. The court also notes that "'voluntarily,' in this section, means, 'with knowledge' of the business in which she is employed." Id. In order to constitute the offense, "the party must have knowledge that the vessel was bound to the coast of Africa, for the purpose of taking slaves on board, to be transported to some other foreign country." Id.

Transportation Continued-->