Porn star Traci Lords famously performed in several adult films when she was a minor. Those who made the films were ultimately not jailed because she had managed to fool Uncle Sam as to her age on a passport application. However, because statutory rape does not require malum in se, how was it that none of the actors who had sex with her were not prosecuted for that? Because it’s a state crime and the state wasn’t interested?
Thanks,
Rob
A couple of lawyer’s websites say that a Mistake of Fact defense can be used in California to defend against a charge of statutory rape. Since Lords had false documents that showed her to be 22 years old that defense would have been used.
This incident was also a political nightmare for California. Porn had become big business in the video age and there would have been a lot of blowback if they engaged in prosecutions related to her porn activities.
Well, I don’t know the details of the case, but the age of consent to sexual intercourse under the relevant state law is not necessarily the same as the age at which you can appear in pornography under US federal law. And of course it’s also possible that some of the acts which qualify as pornography for the purposes of the federal law don’t amount to sexual intercourse for the purposes of the relevant state law.
It’s pretty clear that under the California CA Penal Code 261.5[1] sexual intercourse with a minor not one’s spouse is statutory rape. The porn industry was seriously concerned about the Meese Porn Scare and I’m sure didn’t want to try and defend this on 1st amendment grounds.
I was surprised to see that the age of consent in California is 18. Most states are lower. I’m assuming most of the films were shot in California.
Because of California’s laws and the writers in Hollywood referencing them, a lot of people think that 18 is the country-wide age of consent, or at least the majority. It’s not: 16 is. Though most have an exception for teacher-student issues.
In her Penthouse photo shoot (which was in the same issue as Vanessa Williams interesting enough) she as undoubtedly under age.
If one had that issue (and thousands of others that have that issue and Traci’s videos) be guilty of having kiddie porn?
Sorry for the double post - I missed the edit window)
It was a whole lot more than “several” as I recall (not surfing for "lords underage videos here at work). I was working in a video store in the 1984-86 time frame and my boss had I think 20-30 videos with Traci that he wanted me to burn an a barrel out back. I asked why and he said “they aren’t legal.” If I recall correctly, these things were $70-$80 back then - not nothing, so that was a big chunk of change. I bet “the industry tm” couldn’t have been pleased.
Yes. Likewise, any movie she made before she turned 18.
The photographs could be defended as free speech. You can still see Brooke Shields naked as a child in Pretty Baby. In the porn films she was engaged in intercourse which violated the CA statutory rape law.
I saw an interesting TV show about Traci Lords a number of years ago. As I recall, when she turned 18, she set up her own distribution company. She then made one last hardcore porn movie, distributed under her new company. At about the same time, the feds somehow got information that all of her other movies were made before she turned 18. The net result was that almost all copies of her movies were gone from the market, and the only legal one that existed was only available from her company.
I think they were all shot in CA (except for one in Europe after she was 18). She was 16 when she made he first porn film, so in New Jersey there wouldn’t be any rape charges. I don’t know the details of the various federal and state child porn laws that might have applied.
There was also speculation that she ran off to Europe because despite being considered a victim under CA law she could have been charged as a conspirator in the child porn laws. IANAL so I don’t know if that was a real consideration, and she denies fleeing potential charges.
The American market anyway. Laws in Europe were and probably still are different.
No, she was 15 when she started doing porn (and she made dozens of films very quickly). She was 17 when she posed as Penthouse Pet of the Month. And she made one, one*!, adult film after turning 18. And she made sure she had the rights and a distribution deal in place before she did it. And to add insult to injury, it is probably one of the worst pornos ever made!* There’s a guy narrating it who’s supposed to be French, but he sounds like a cross between Pepe Le Pew and Elmer Fudd (“Ohhh Twaci!!”). I mean, that’s what a friend told me… 
She not only appeared with contemporary fellow porn star Tom Byron in many films, they lived together, again all while she was underage. I’ve seen interviews with him stating how she often wanted to ‘practice scenes’ in their apartment before a shoot (i.e. fuck!). And he wasn’t being clever, he didn’t mean she was just a nympho. She was so confident and professional towards her porn career that she wanted everything to look right.
Yeah, in some countries films in which she’s at least 16 are still legal.
According to wiki she was born May 7, 1968 and she made her first film in October 1984. They’ve been wrong before, but that was my source. It wouldn’t have made a difference because she made that film in CA.
Well, porn film release dates are probably not as ‘official’ as real films. All I know is in every story about her it is always stated that she was only 15. Or technically 15½.
I don’t know what the real number is, but there could be a deliberate attempt to make her younger, or older. Even though the age of consent is 18 in CA somehow saying 15 sounds much more salacious than 16. On the flip side many people didn’t want this to be a big story so they would want her to look older. If prosecutors went after everyone who had sex with teenagers in CA there wouldn’t be enough people left to form a jury. This was a major political issue because the industry had already taken steps to make sure their actresses were at least 18 but Traci fooled all everybody. The porn producers weren’t out recruiting 16 year olds (any more).