Jail for picking up a minor??

[Cessandra]

This is a quote from a review of [url=]Where The Heart Is:

Following a brief jail term for picking up a minor in his car, Willy, who turns out to be a talented country singer, heads to Nashville, where he is hired as a client by disgruntled agent Ruth Meyers (Joan Cusack), and quickly is given the more alluring name of Billy Shadow.

Am I missing something? It’s illegal to give a minor a ride? Is hitchhiking illegal? How would you get caught if you picked up a hitchhiker? I mean, if a cop pulls you over, they have no way to know the person with you was hitchhiking?

[Cessandra]

oops, I forgot the : Where The Heart Is

[Tom_Head]

Driving a minor across state lines without parental consent is illegal under the Mann Act, if memory serves, but it’s unlikely any charges would be filed if the minor was hitchhiking and the driver was not obviously predatory. Looks to me like a cheap plot device: They had to think of a way of getting the character in jail without his, you know, actually doing anything wrong.
Cheers,

[Mr.Moto]

I saw the movie (God help me) and its obvious that Willy knew the girl in question carnally.

[Johnny_L.A]

Driving a minor across state lines without parental consent is illegal under the Mann Act, if memory serves,

IIRC, the Mann Act only deals with transporting a person across state lines for “immoral purposes” (e.g., prostitution).

[KXL]

IIRC, the Mann Act only deals with transporting a person across state lines for “immoral purposes” (e.g., prostitution).

Or, as was discussed here in detail a few weeks ago, for the purpose of having sex with said minor in a state that would allow it. I.E. You are 21, she is 16. Age of consent is 18 where you two are, so you drive south to a place where it’s 16. That’s illegal.