24 International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018
from participation in a venture which has
engaged in an act described in violation of
paragraph (1),”
350F
351 which, in turn, prohibits
transporting, but also recruiting, enticing, or
harboring a minor.
351F
352 This language is also
broad enough that it could be used to prosecute
cults. Specifically, it could be used to prosecute
a leader that receives “benefits” (which includes
not just money but “anything of value”) from the
transport of minors.
Anti-trafficking laws can also be used to
prosecute cults in situations where cult leaders
inflict “threats of serious harm to or physical
restraint against” any person
352F
353 or threaten to
engage the “legal process.”
353F
354 The statutory
definition of “abuse or threatened abuse of law
or legal process” is very broad and encompasses
both the “use” or “threatened use” of “law or
legal process”—in any conceivable category—
administrative, civil, or criminal.
354F
355 It is meant
to protect victims when traffickers are abusing
the legal process “for any purpose of which the
law was not designed” or to “exert pressure.”
355F
356
The statutory definition of “serious harm” is
broad and encompasses “any harm,” including
physical, psychological, and other nonphysical
harms.
356F
357 Alternatively, if the victim is a minor
and was “caused to engage in a commercial sex
act,” the cult leader can also be punished.
357F
358
In passing the anti-trafficking laws, Congress
recognized that “[t]raffickers often make
representations to other victims that physical
harm may occur to them or others should the
victim escape or attempt to escape” and that
“such representations can have the same
coercive effects on victims.”
358F
359 Using that
sentiment and the statute (in particular, the
“psychological harm” language), cult
prosecutors could encourage courts to expand
351 18 U.S.C.A. § 1591(2) (West 2015).
352 See id. § 1591(a)(1).
353 Id. § 1591(e)(2)(A).
354 Id. § 1591(e)(2)(C).
355 Id. § 1591(e)(1).
356 Id.
357 Id. § 1591(e)(4).
358 See id. § 1591(a).
359 22 U.S.C.A. § 7101(7) (Westlaw 2015).
the restrictive common law regarding mind
control that is currently available.
Finally, prosecutors could utilize the portions of
the anti-trafficking laws related to prohibiting
certain businesses to prosecute cults. As noted,
cults, like trafficking rings, are businesses.
359F
360
Whether cult leaders run a commercial
enterprise in which followers directly sell to the
public, or they coerce their followers into
donating their labor and money to the
organization, the group runs as a business. Given
the expansive language in the trafficking
statutes, a creative prosecutor would not have
trouble explaining how a cult functioned as a
business, how the adherents were an integral
part of that business, and how the leader
exploited the adherents for labor, sex, or both
through that business.
B. Suggestions for Expanding Resources to
Identify and Support Cult Victims
1. Violence Against Women
Under international law, states are obligated to
investigate and prosecute violence against
women.
360F
361 Victims of any international crime,
including human trafficking, have the right to
seek and obtain reparations.
361F
362 Given the
different treatment that women receive in cults
(often harsher than what their fellow male
members receive), these services should be
provided to women who leave cults.
These services could be modeled after those
already being provided to women who have
overcome other forms of trauma, such as
domestic abuse. For example, in U.S. states such
as New York, programs are developing to
provide counseling and other assistance to
trafficked women.
362F
363 Those who have been in
prostitution rings have protections, under state
360 See, e.g., supra note 318 and accompanying text.
361 See U.N. Facts Sheet No. 36, supra note 249, at 28.
362 REDRESS, What is Reparation?, www.redress.org/what-is-
reparation/what-is-reparation (last visited May 10, 2016) (citing
Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and
Reparation for Victims of Violations of International Human
Rights and Humanitarian Law, 2005 UN General Assembly).
363 New York Social Services Law § 483-ee (West 2016)
(effective October 2015, this statute established an interagency
task force to assist trafficked persons).
from participation in a venture which has
engaged in an act described in violation of
paragraph (1),”
350F
351 which, in turn, prohibits
transporting, but also recruiting, enticing, or
harboring a minor.
351F
352 This language is also
broad enough that it could be used to prosecute
cults. Specifically, it could be used to prosecute
a leader that receives “benefits” (which includes
not just money but “anything of value”) from the
transport of minors.
Anti-trafficking laws can also be used to
prosecute cults in situations where cult leaders
inflict “threats of serious harm to or physical
restraint against” any person
352F
353 or threaten to
engage the “legal process.”
353F
354 The statutory
definition of “abuse or threatened abuse of law
or legal process” is very broad and encompasses
both the “use” or “threatened use” of “law or
legal process”—in any conceivable category—
administrative, civil, or criminal.
354F
355 It is meant
to protect victims when traffickers are abusing
the legal process “for any purpose of which the
law was not designed” or to “exert pressure.”
355F
356
The statutory definition of “serious harm” is
broad and encompasses “any harm,” including
physical, psychological, and other nonphysical
harms.
356F
357 Alternatively, if the victim is a minor
and was “caused to engage in a commercial sex
act,” the cult leader can also be punished.
357F
358
In passing the anti-trafficking laws, Congress
recognized that “[t]raffickers often make
representations to other victims that physical
harm may occur to them or others should the
victim escape or attempt to escape” and that
“such representations can have the same
coercive effects on victims.”
358F
359 Using that
sentiment and the statute (in particular, the
“psychological harm” language), cult
prosecutors could encourage courts to expand
351 18 U.S.C.A. § 1591(2) (West 2015).
352 See id. § 1591(a)(1).
353 Id. § 1591(e)(2)(A).
354 Id. § 1591(e)(2)(C).
355 Id. § 1591(e)(1).
356 Id.
357 Id. § 1591(e)(4).
358 See id. § 1591(a).
359 22 U.S.C.A. § 7101(7) (Westlaw 2015).
the restrictive common law regarding mind
control that is currently available.
Finally, prosecutors could utilize the portions of
the anti-trafficking laws related to prohibiting
certain businesses to prosecute cults. As noted,
cults, like trafficking rings, are businesses.
359F
360
Whether cult leaders run a commercial
enterprise in which followers directly sell to the
public, or they coerce their followers into
donating their labor and money to the
organization, the group runs as a business. Given
the expansive language in the trafficking
statutes, a creative prosecutor would not have
trouble explaining how a cult functioned as a
business, how the adherents were an integral
part of that business, and how the leader
exploited the adherents for labor, sex, or both
through that business.
B. Suggestions for Expanding Resources to
Identify and Support Cult Victims
1. Violence Against Women
Under international law, states are obligated to
investigate and prosecute violence against
women.
360F
361 Victims of any international crime,
including human trafficking, have the right to
seek and obtain reparations.
361F
362 Given the
different treatment that women receive in cults
(often harsher than what their fellow male
members receive), these services should be
provided to women who leave cults.
These services could be modeled after those
already being provided to women who have
overcome other forms of trauma, such as
domestic abuse. For example, in U.S. states such
as New York, programs are developing to
provide counseling and other assistance to
trafficked women.
362F
363 Those who have been in
prostitution rings have protections, under state
360 See, e.g., supra note 318 and accompanying text.
361 See U.N. Facts Sheet No. 36, supra note 249, at 28.
362 REDRESS, What is Reparation?, www.redress.org/what-is-
reparation/what-is-reparation (last visited May 10, 2016) (citing
Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and
Reparation for Victims of Violations of International Human
Rights and Humanitarian Law, 2005 UN General Assembly).
363 New York Social Services Law § 483-ee (West 2016)
(effective October 2015, this statute established an interagency
task force to assist trafficked persons).
