Mann Act

Mann Act

Other short titles	White-Slave Traffic Act of 1910
Long title	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.
Nicknames	White-Slave Traffic Act
Enacted by	the 61st United States Congress
Effective	June 25, 1910
Citations
Public law	Pub.L. 61-277
Statutes at Large	36 Stat. 825
Codification
U.S.C. sections created	8 U.S.C. ch. 13, subch. I § 1557 18 U.S.C. ch. 117 §§ 2421–2424
Legislative history
Introduced in the House as H.R. 12315 by James Robert Mann (R–IL) on December 21, 1909 Signed into law by President William Howard Taft on June 25, 1910

The White-Slave Traffic Act, also called the Mann Act, is a United States federal law. It was passed June 25, 1910 (ch. 395, 36 Stat. 825; codified as amended at 18 U.S.C. §§ 2421–2424). It is named after Congressman James Robert Mann of Illinois.

The act made it illegal to bring women or girls from one state into another for the purpose of "prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose," which means for them to have sex for money. The law was there to stop human trafficking. Most human trafficking was people taking young women from place to place for prostitution. The Mann Act was one of a group of laws about moral reform, during an era that was known as Progressive Era.

It had a problem though: the language used was often ambiguous or unclear. It was even used to make agreed sex between adults a crime. This was because people thought of sex as immoral if the two people were not married.^[1] Congress changed it twice, in 1978, and 1986, so that it would only be used for prostitution or other illegal sexual acts.^[2]

1. ↑ "Mann Act", Dictionary of American History, Encyclopedia, October 21, 2013.
2. ↑ Weiner, Eric (11 March 2008). "The Long, Colorful History of the Mann Act". NPR.org. Retrieved 27 September 2021.