The Mann Act is America's longest-running moral panic disguised as law enforcement. For over a century, this 1910 relic has been the federal government's favorite tool for punishing sexual behavior that offends prosecutorial sensibilities while ignoring actual crimes.
The law emerged from manufactured hysteria about "white slavery" – forced prostitution that existed mainly in yellow journalists' fevered imaginations. Its vague prohibition of transportation "for any other immoral purpose" essentially handed prosecutors a blank check to criminalize anyone whose bedroom activities didn't align with Methodist morality.
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