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Other short titles | White-Slave Traffic Act of 1910 |
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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 |
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Legislative history | |
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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]
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