Mann Actn.
/ˈman akt/, U.S. /ˈmæn ˌækt/ U.S. Law.
An act passed by the U.S. Congress in 1910 making it a federal offence to transport or induce a woman or minor across interstate boundaries for criminal sexual activity (spec. prostitution).The Act's original intent was to prosecute those who forced young women into prostitution through violence and intimidation (hence its alternative title, the ‘White Slave Traffic Act’: see quot. 1910). However, broad interpretation of its original wording (prohibiting transportation ‘for immoral purposes’) had until a 1986 amendment by Congress permitted prosecution of unmarried couples who cross from one state to another. The original Act referred to ‘any woman or girl’ but was amended in 1978 to include male juveniles.
ΚΠ
1910 N.Y. Times 10 July 14/2 The first arrest under the Mann White Slave act, approved by President Taft on June 25, was made yesterday.
1926 G. Frankau My Unsentimental Journey xii. 161 The Mann Act—a queer statute..which makes any gentleman escorting a lady from one State into another (unless she pay her own expenses) a white slave-trader before the law.
1949 Real Detective July 6/2 He was very probably liable for statutory rape and violation of the Mann Act.
1971 Black Scholar Jan. 38/1 His downfall and conviction under the Mann Act was the result of sensational testimony given by one of his former lovers.
1991 Rage 13 Feb. (Sex Suppl.) 6/2 [He] was charged under the infamous Mann Act for statutory rape and sentenced to three years inside when he drove a 14-year-old Indian girl across the state line to St Louis.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2000; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
<
n.1910