Mann Act

US Act of Congress of 1910 that was introduced by Republican Representative James Mann, in response to fears of trafficking in women (the ‘white slave trade’). The Act made it an offence to transport a woman across state borders ‘for the purposes of prostitution or debauchery, or for any other immoral purpose’. Subsequently the Act became notorious for its widespread use by the FBI as a catch-all offence used against those for whom a better charge could not be found, for example heavyweight boxer Jack Johnson, Charlie Chaplin, and Chuck Berry. In the 1960s this misuse of the Act was increasingly eliminated.