Revising U.S. Law

The U.S. has laws against slavery. Chapter 77 of Title 18 of the U.S. code has a number of provisions dealing with involuntary servitude, slavery, or forced labor. These provisions are in need of improvement.

All statutes in Title 18 can be seen from this House.gov website:

18 USC Ch. 77: PEONAGE, SLAVERY, AND TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS

Changes have been made as a result of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000. More information on the changes can be found at this Department of Justice website:

INVOLUNTARY SERVITUDE, FORCED LABOR, AND SEX TRAFFICKING STATUTES ENFORCED

Proposed Changes to U.S. Law

Slavery is a Crime

Republicans need to work to educate the public that slavery is a crime, and it is occurring throughout the world today, including in the United States. Slavery is currently not listed as a crime in much criminal justice literature. For example, the usual list of categories of crime includes crimes against persons, crimes against property, statutory crimes, and financial crimes. [Types of Criminal Offenses]

However, slavery can be a violent crime, a crime against property (a slave is robbed of the opportunity to earn and receive income), and a statutory crime (prohibited by statute). Yet slavery is not mentioned in the usual list of crimes in each category. Forced marriage is a form of slavery that is not necessarily a violent crime, and it doesn’t fit easy in the other categories. In some cases, organized crime, or crimes committed by groups, is considered a category of crime, and slavery can be orchestrated in networks or groups.

Thus, slavery can be included in all types of crimes, yet it is rarely if at all mentioned in any. This needs to change. Slavery can be considered a stand-alone category, which would help lawmakers and the public to recognize the need for specific laws and law enforcement of the crime of slavery.

Remove Trafficking from Law Language

Slavery has been recognized in some public laws, or at least “human trafficking” has been recognized. However, laws referring to “human trafficking”—whatever that is—are minimizing the severity of the real crime of slavery. Slavery is a crime, and it should be recognized as such. Rape isn’t called “human sexual aggression”. Thus, it is important to remove the terms “trafficking” or “human trafficking” from the language in the law.

Make Laws Current—Forced Marriage

The laws need to be made current. Forced marriage is slavery, and it is not mentioned at all in Chapter 77. It should be included.

Forced marriage could be included into section, which begins:

§1583. Enticement into slavery

(a) Whoever—

(1) kidnaps or carries away any other person, with the intent that such other person be sold into involuntary servitude, or held as a slave;

(2) entices, persuades, or induces any other person to go on board any vessel or to any other place with the intent that he or she may be made or held as a slave, or sent out of the country to be so made or held; or

(3) obstructs, or attempts to obstruct, or in any way interferes with or prevents the enforcement of this section,

Paragraph (2) should be “(2) forces any person into marriage or similar relationship without their consent,”. Then paragraphs (3) and (4) should be renumbered.

Make Laws Current—All slavery involving sexual abuse

Also, section 1591—§1591. Sex trafficking of children or by force, fraud, or coercion—deals with children, but does not mention adults.

Include Death Sentence

Slavery is a heinous crime for which justice would include capital punishment. That should be included in many of the sections.

For example, the first section in Chapter 77 is section 1589, which is listed below. The consequences for violation of this statue are in part (d), and include fines, and imprisonment of not more than 20 years. The consequence if the violation includes kidnapping, an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, is imprisonment for any term of years or life.

It is time to get serious about the crime of slavery. The consequence for any violation of slavery under this statue should include the death penalty, as in:

(d) Whoever violates this section shall be imprisoned for any term, or be sentenced to death if, after consideration of the factors set forth in section 3592 of U.S. code, and in the course of a hearing held pursuant to section 3593 of U.S. code, it is determined that imposition of a sentence of death is justified, except that no person may be sentenced to death who was less than 18 years of age at the time of the offense.

Current Section 1589:

§1589. Forced labor

(a) Whoever knowingly provides or obtains the labor or services of a person by any one of, or by any combination of, the following means—

(1) by means of force, threats of force, physical restraint, or threats of physical restraint to that person or another person;

(2) by means of serious harm or threats of serious harm to that person or another person;

(3) by means of the abuse or threatened abuse of law or legal process; or

(4) by means of any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause the person to believe that, if that person did not perform such labor or services, that person or another person would suffer serious harm or physical restraint, shall be punished as provided under subsection (d).

(b) Whoever knowingly benefits, financially or by receiving anything of value, from participation in a venture which has engaged in the providing or obtaining of labor or services by any of the means described in subsection (a), knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that the venture has engaged in the providing or obtaining of labor or services by any of such means, shall be punished as provided in subsection (d).

(c) In this section:

(1) The term "abuse or threatened abuse of law or legal process" means the use or threatened use of a law or legal process, whether administrative, civil, or criminal, in any manner or for any purpose for which the law was not designed, in order to exert pressure on another person to cause that person to take some action or refrain from taking some action.

(2) The term "serious harm" means any harm, whether physical or nonphysical, including psychological, financial, or reputational harm, that is sufficiently serious, under all the surrounding circumstances, to compel a reasonable person of the same background and in the same circumstances to perform or to continue performing labor or services in order to avoid incurring that harm.

(d) Whoever violates this section shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If death results from a violation of this section, or if the violation includes kidnaping, an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, the defendant shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for any term of years or life, or both.

(Added Pub. L. 106–386, div. A, §112(a)(2), Oct. 28, 2000, 114 Stat. 1486; amended Pub. L. 110–457, title II, §222(b)(3), Dec. 23, 2008, 122 Stat. 5068.)