(Tried to edit my own post, but ran afoul of the 5-minute act )
Answered my own question - possibly. Looks to me as if the Mann act doesn’t make it a problem for guys to cross state lines or even leave the country lookin’ for sex - it refers specifically to ‘transporting females.’ So Nevada brothels are okay because the girls live in the state.
On the other hand, the sex cruise would be different because you also have to get the would-be prostitutes out into international waters - you can’t have them live out there full-time.
The cost wouldn’t justify it. Usually always it’s the prostitutes that bear the arrest and fines. They just consider it a “cost” of doing business. A sex industry worker isn’t likely to be that conserned about jail time or a felony conviction record.
It’s just easier all the way around to accept the risk.
Presumably the out-of-state Nevada hookers are transporting themselves to the whorehouse. Could you be convicted of transporting yourself?
As to the OP – how about a ship more or less permanently stationed offshore, like pirate radio ships? You go out and back on a speedboat, or for the high rollers, a helicopter. Throw in a good restaurant and bar, and maybe you got something.
Thanks. But from reading that thread, there was no final answer agreed upon.
I agree that a “prostitution only” cruise would be a poor business venture, but you could couple it with the gambling, buffets, entertainment, fishing, whatever.
I can’t see where the Mann Act would apply. First, the customer is not transporting these women, the cruise ship is transporting them. And if they got the idea of prosecuting the cruise ship company, the prostitution that would take place out to sea would not be the illegal variety (unless another law would apply which is the point of this thread) that is covered under the Mann Act.
So I guess that if you could find that this is otherwise illegal, then the Mann Act would apply.
Also, I don’t think for a second that if this were tried that the legislature wouldn’t meet in special session to outlaw it.
If that is in fact the case (at least in the US), how do people not get arrested or prosecuted for traveling to places like Viking’s Exotic Resort and other “Adult Travel” packages?
Just to make sure every one is clear, prostitution is not legal throughout Nevada, and it is explicitly not legal in Clark County, home of Las Vegas. Brothels are legal and heavily regulated in a handful of rural counties.
Both sex laws and RICO forfeitures have encouraged ridiculously loose interpretations of the law. But realistically the words “high-paid corporate law firms” would make it a non-starter. One of the main weapons DA’s have used in cases like this is their ability to overwhelm the defendants with greater resources and that wouldn’t work here.
For another take on the situation: If the cruise ship in question was inhabited by prostitutes from Canada or Mexico, then the Mann Act wouldn’t apply, right?
The ship could load up on customers in San Diego or Seattle, head to an international port to pick up the girls, then go into international waters.
But most people are not going to want to take their significant other or family along on a cruise that includes prostitutes. They might take them along on a cruise that offers gambling, buffets, or fishing but not prostitutes.
Not everybody would be cool with knowingly sharing a cruise ship with prostitutes. Of course, not everybody’s OK with gambling or fishing (a vegan might object to a fishing cruise), either, but I suspect more people would be uncomfortable with prostitutes than would be uncomfortable with gambling or fishing.
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