WHITE SLAVE. A term used in the Unit ed States Compiled Statutes and in common talk (though not very appropriately) to indi cate offences under the federal act of June 25, 1910, prohibiting the "transportation in interstate and foreign commerce for immoral purposes of women and girls." It makes it a criminal offence if any person shall know ingly transport or cause to be transported, or assist in obtaining transportation for, or shall transport in interstate or foreign com merce, "any woman or girl for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, or for any oth er immoral purpose," or with the intent and purpose to induce, entice or compel such wo man or girl to become a prostitute or engage in any other immoral practice, or in going to any place for the purpose of prostitution or debauchery, etc., or with the intent or pur pose to induce, entice or compel her to give herself up to prostitution, etc. The penalty is a fine not exceeding $5,000, or imprison ment for not more than five years, or both in the discretion of the court.
It is made a criminal offence if any per son shall knowingly persuade, induce, entice or coerce, etc., or aid or assist in persuading, etc., any woman or girl to go to any place in interstate or foreign commerce for prostitu tion of debauchery, or any other immoral purpose, or with intent and purpose on the part of the person that such woman or girl shall engage in the practice of prostitution and debauchery, and a like penalty is pro vided.
A special section relates to a like offence in relation to a woman or girl under 18 years of age. This •offence is made a felony and is punishable by a fine not exceeding $10,000, or imprisonment for not more than ten years, or both, in the discretion of the court.
The offence is to be tried in any court hav ing jurisdiction of crimes in the district in which it occurred, or from, through or into which any woman or girl has been carried or transported as a passenger in interstate commerce.
A section provides that for the regulation and prevention of like transportation in for eign commerce of alien women and girls un der the international agreement for the suppression of the white slave traffic (as ad hered to by the United States June 6, 1908), every person keeping in a house of prostitu tion any alien woman or girl within three years after entering the United States from any country which is a party to the agree ment, is required under a penalty to file with the commissioner general of immigration a statement in writing forth the name of such woman or girl, etc.
The act is a legal exercise of the power of congress under the commerce clause, and does not abridge the privileges or immunities of the citizens of the states, or interfere with the reserved powers of the states; Hoke v. U. S., 227 U. S. 308, 33 Sup. Ct. 281, 57 L. Ed. 523, 43 L. R. A. (N, S.) 906, Ann. Cas.
1913E, 905; Wilson v. U. S., 232 U. S. 563, 34 Sup. Ct. 347, 58 L. Ed. —; Kalen v. U. S., 196 Fed. 888, 116 C. C. A. 450; Paulsen v. U. S., 199 Fed. 423, 118 C. C. A. 97, where the evidence was held sufficient to sustain a conviction; Bennett v. U. S., 194 Fed. 630, 114 C. C. A. 402 ; Harris v. U. S., 194 Fed. 634, 114 C. C. A. 406, where the evidence was held sufficient to sustain a conviction ; U. S. v. Warner, 188 Fed. 682, where Holt, J., in the southern district of New York, in an earlier case, held the act constitutional.
The act has the quality of a police regu lation, though enacted in the exercise of the right to regulate commerce. The transporta tion need not be by a common carrier. The offence is complete when transportation has been accomplished; there is no locus pecni tentice thereafter ; Wilson v. U. S., 232 U. S. 563, 34 Sup. Ct. 347, 58 L. Ed. —.
The act includes importation for the pur pose of living with the person in concubi nage ; U. S. v. Bitty, 208 U. S. 393, 28 Sup. Ct. 396, 52 L. Ed. 543; U. S. v. Flaspoller, 205 Fed. 1006. The offence may be committed where the woman transported is the wife of the accused; Cohen v. U. S., 214 Fed. 23.
There was no error in refusing to charge that "debauchery," as used in the act, means sexual intercourse, or that the act does not extend to any vice or immorality other than that applicable to sexual actions; Athana saw v. U. S., 227 U. S. 326, 33 Sup. Ct. 285, 57 L. Ed. 528, Ann. Cas. 1913E, 911.
See Harris v. U. S., 227 U. S. 340, 33 Sup. Ct. 289, 57 L. Ed. 534.
The opinion in U. S. v. Hoke, 187 Fed. 992, is fully considered and quotes many acts of congress in recent years having the same general purpose as the act in question.
Transporting (interstate) a woman for the purpose of sexual immorality is within the act without regard to her previous character ; Suslak v. U. S., 213 Fed. 913.
Pollock, D. J. (district court, Kansas), in a recent case is said to have suggested to the accused to change his plea guilty to not guilty, intimating that he would direct the jury to acquit, if it did not appear that the girl was taken to another state for the pur pose of commercializing her immorality.