International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 1
Employing Trafficking Laws to Capture Elusive Leaders of Destructive Cults
By Robin Boyle Laisure
St. John’s University School of Law, Jamaica, NY
This article was originally published in Oregon
Review of International Law, Vol. 17, pp. 205–
258 and is reprinted with permission from the
publisher.
0F
1
Abstract
1F
2
In the 1970s and ‘80s in the United States,
American newspapers raised public awareness
about cults. Capturing headlines were articles
about women, and later men, who followed
Charles Manson to the extreme length of
committing “Helter Skelter,” a cold-blooded
killing spree. Cult activity continued to exist, out
of sight and unobserved, until it culminated in
tragedy when it would, again, become the topic
of a news story. Even when cults did not achieve
“front-page” status in the news, they continued
1 As a reprint of a previously published document written in
standard legal citation form, the format of this article varies from
the standard APA style of original IJCS content.
2 Author Note: I take no position about whether any of the
organizations described in this writing are in fact “cults,” but
instead I rely upon reported accounts of their activities to argue
that trafficking laws could be employed in ways not originally
contemplated when the laws were enacted. For explanation of
characteristics of cults, Michael D. Langone provides a widely
cited list titled, “Characteristics of Cultic Groups.” See infra
Appendix. I express sincere gratitude to Mike Kropveld, Executive
Director of Info-Secte Cult, Canada, for presenting an excerpt of
this paper at an academic conference for the Center for the Study
of Cultic Groups &Religious Culture, Beijing Union University,
on August 16, 2015, in Beijing, China. On American soil, I
presented this paper at a community forum held at the Garden City
Community Church, New York, on October 26, 2015.
Additionally, I thank St. John’s University School of Law for
providing me with a summer research stipend to write this Article.
My gratitude is further extended to the following professors,
practitioners, and experts in their respective fields, all of whom
read my drafts and provided helpful comments: Marc DeGirolami,
Professor of Law, Assoc. Dean for Faculty Scholarship, and Assoc.
Director of Center for Law and Religion at St. John’s Law my
husband, Paul Skip Laisure, Esq., supervisor at Appellate
Advocates, a non-profit criminal defense law firm in NYC
Michael D. Langone, PhD, Executive Director of ICSA and Editor-
in-Chief, ICSA Today Theresa Tebbett, Esq., Deputy Bureau
Chief, District Court Bureau, Nassau County District Attorney’s
Office, NY and Aylin Ictemel, Assistant Attorney General,
Criminal Division, Office of the N.Y.S. Attorney General. This
Article is dedicated to the 276 children who perished in Jonestown
and to the tragic deaths of others born into cults and have met their
peril.
to recruit adults and raise children born into the
group.
Destructive cults are the focus of this paper.
Cults continue to evade our justice system here
in the United States and abroad. In this paper I
seek to offer a fresh legal framework which, I
posit, could aid in the capture and prosecution
of cult leaders. I posit that law enforcement and
the international community use anti-trafficking
laws and resources to capture cult leaders,
prosecute them for the harm that they inflict on
their adherents, and provide services to former
cult members. In this way, the religious or
political dogma of cults—often an obstacle to
holding them accountable for their criminal
behavior—is no longer a barrier to prosecution.
In the 1970s and ‘80s in the United States,
American newspapers raised public awareness
about cults.
2F
3 Capturing headlines were articles
about women, and later men, who followed
Charles Manson
3F
4 to the extreme length of
3 The term “cult” is more commonly used in the United States
whereas, “sect” is used more prevalently in Europe. See Ana
Ballesteros Peiro et al., The Red Mosque: A Case Study of How
Religion Can Evolve into a Terrorist Cult, 8 CULTIC STUD. REV.
266, 267 (2009) Janja Lalich, The Violent Outcomes of
Ideological Extremism: What Have We Learned Since Jonestown?,
8 CULTIC STUD. REV. 294 n.97 (2009) [hereinafter Violent
Outcomes] (explaining the origin and meaning of the word “cult”).
4 In denying defense counsel’s motion to change the venue, the
court summarized the publicity this way:
the undeniably extensive news media coverage received by
this case gives rise to appellants’ claim that publicity
denied them a fair and impartial trial. When the crimes
were discovered in August of 1969 they were greatly
publicized. The media’s revelations focused primarily on
the savageness of the killings, the absence of clues
revealing the identity of the perpetrators, and certain details
about the private lives and relationships of the victims.
Particular emphasis was given to the Tate murder because
one of the victims was a movie actress.
Concluding that the publicity was so extensive throughout the
state, that a change of venue would be of no value, the court denied
the motion. People v. Manson, 61 Cal. App. 3d 102 (Cal. Ct. App.
1976).
Employing Trafficking Laws to Capture Elusive Leaders of Destructive Cults
By Robin Boyle Laisure
St. John’s University School of Law, Jamaica, NY
This article was originally published in Oregon
Review of International Law, Vol. 17, pp. 205–
258 and is reprinted with permission from the
publisher.
0F
1
Abstract
1F
2
In the 1970s and ‘80s in the United States,
American newspapers raised public awareness
about cults. Capturing headlines were articles
about women, and later men, who followed
Charles Manson to the extreme length of
committing “Helter Skelter,” a cold-blooded
killing spree. Cult activity continued to exist, out
of sight and unobserved, until it culminated in
tragedy when it would, again, become the topic
of a news story. Even when cults did not achieve
“front-page” status in the news, they continued
1 As a reprint of a previously published document written in
standard legal citation form, the format of this article varies from
the standard APA style of original IJCS content.
2 Author Note: I take no position about whether any of the
organizations described in this writing are in fact “cults,” but
instead I rely upon reported accounts of their activities to argue
that trafficking laws could be employed in ways not originally
contemplated when the laws were enacted. For explanation of
characteristics of cults, Michael D. Langone provides a widely
cited list titled, “Characteristics of Cultic Groups.” See infra
Appendix. I express sincere gratitude to Mike Kropveld, Executive
Director of Info-Secte Cult, Canada, for presenting an excerpt of
this paper at an academic conference for the Center for the Study
of Cultic Groups &Religious Culture, Beijing Union University,
on August 16, 2015, in Beijing, China. On American soil, I
presented this paper at a community forum held at the Garden City
Community Church, New York, on October 26, 2015.
Additionally, I thank St. John’s University School of Law for
providing me with a summer research stipend to write this Article.
My gratitude is further extended to the following professors,
practitioners, and experts in their respective fields, all of whom
read my drafts and provided helpful comments: Marc DeGirolami,
Professor of Law, Assoc. Dean for Faculty Scholarship, and Assoc.
Director of Center for Law and Religion at St. John’s Law my
husband, Paul Skip Laisure, Esq., supervisor at Appellate
Advocates, a non-profit criminal defense law firm in NYC
Michael D. Langone, PhD, Executive Director of ICSA and Editor-
in-Chief, ICSA Today Theresa Tebbett, Esq., Deputy Bureau
Chief, District Court Bureau, Nassau County District Attorney’s
Office, NY and Aylin Ictemel, Assistant Attorney General,
Criminal Division, Office of the N.Y.S. Attorney General. This
Article is dedicated to the 276 children who perished in Jonestown
and to the tragic deaths of others born into cults and have met their
peril.
to recruit adults and raise children born into the
group.
Destructive cults are the focus of this paper.
Cults continue to evade our justice system here
in the United States and abroad. In this paper I
seek to offer a fresh legal framework which, I
posit, could aid in the capture and prosecution
of cult leaders. I posit that law enforcement and
the international community use anti-trafficking
laws and resources to capture cult leaders,
prosecute them for the harm that they inflict on
their adherents, and provide services to former
cult members. In this way, the religious or
political dogma of cults—often an obstacle to
holding them accountable for their criminal
behavior—is no longer a barrier to prosecution.
In the 1970s and ‘80s in the United States,
American newspapers raised public awareness
about cults.
2F
3 Capturing headlines were articles
about women, and later men, who followed
Charles Manson
3F
4 to the extreme length of
3 The term “cult” is more commonly used in the United States
whereas, “sect” is used more prevalently in Europe. See Ana
Ballesteros Peiro et al., The Red Mosque: A Case Study of How
Religion Can Evolve into a Terrorist Cult, 8 CULTIC STUD. REV.
266, 267 (2009) Janja Lalich, The Violent Outcomes of
Ideological Extremism: What Have We Learned Since Jonestown?,
8 CULTIC STUD. REV. 294 n.97 (2009) [hereinafter Violent
Outcomes] (explaining the origin and meaning of the word “cult”).
4 In denying defense counsel’s motion to change the venue, the
court summarized the publicity this way:
the undeniably extensive news media coverage received by
this case gives rise to appellants’ claim that publicity
denied them a fair and impartial trial. When the crimes
were discovered in August of 1969 they were greatly
publicized. The media’s revelations focused primarily on
the savageness of the killings, the absence of clues
revealing the identity of the perpetrators, and certain details
about the private lives and relationships of the victims.
Particular emphasis was given to the Tate murder because
one of the victims was a movie actress.
Concluding that the publicity was so extensive throughout the
state, that a change of venue would be of no value, the court denied
the motion. People v. Manson, 61 Cal. App. 3d 102 (Cal. Ct. App.
1976).
