NCJ Number
118465
Journal
University of Detroit Law Review Volume: 66 Issue: 2 Dated: (Winter 1989) Pages: 297-310
Date Published
1989
Length
14 pages
Annotation
In United States v. Kozminski, 108 S. CT. 2751 (1988), the Supreme Court addressed the issue of the proper meaning of "involuntary servitude" for purposes of criminal prosecutions under section 241 and section 1584 of the United States Code.
Abstract
The case involved two mentally retarded men laboring on the defendants' farm in poor health, squalid conditions, and relative isolation. The defendants were charged with holding the victims in a condition of involuntary servitude pursuant to 18 U.S.C. section 1584, and also with conspiring to deprive the men of their constitutional right to be free from involuntary servitude as defined in 18 U.S.C. section 241. The Court held that only conditions of servitude in which the victim is forced to work for another by the threat or use of physical or legal coercion or "slave-like" conditions were sufficient to support a conviction under either of these sections. The Court presented two policy arguments against the broad interpretation of "involuntary servitude" which included nonphysical, or psychological coercion, which broadened rather than narrowed the test for what constitutes coercion. The Kozminski case failed to have a great impact on involuntary servitude cases.