Doss Becomes First to Receive Mandatory Life for Sex Trafficking

U.S. District Judge Stephen G. Larson of the Central District of California sentenced Juan Rico Doss of Nevada on Monday; sentenced to life in prison without parole on Monday for transporting minors across state lines to engage in prostitution.^[1] Authorities maintain that Doss conspired with his wife, Jacquay Quinn Ford, to transport two female minors across state lines to engage in prostitution.^[2] The girls were aged 14 and 16; authorities claim Doss recruited and transported the 16 year old girl by force.^[3] The couple transported and made the girls work as prostitutes in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Oakland, and San Francisco.^[4]

The harsh sentence was mandatory due to the nature of the crime. 18 U.S.C. § 3559(e) is a statute that mandates life in prison sentences for those that have repeat offenses of sex crimes against children;^[5] Doss is one of the first people in the United States to receive a mandatory life sentence under the statute.^[6] His previous conviction of pandering minors for purposes of prostitution was ruled eligible as a prior offense under the statute on Nov. 1, 2006.^[7]

Enticement into slavery
Section 1583 of Chapter 18 of the U.S. Code covers two distinct crimes involving involuntary servitude. It is a crime for a person to do either of the following: 1) Kidnap or carry away any other person, with the intent that such other person be sold into involuntary servitude, or held as a slave; or 2) Entice, persuade, or induce any other person to go on board any vessel or to any other place with the intent that he may be made or held as a slave, or sent out of the country to be so made or held.^[8] A person convicted of this crime shall be fined or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If death results from the violation of this section, or if the violation includes kidnapping or an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse or the attempt to commit aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, the defendant shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for any term of years or life, or both.^[9]

Sex Trafficking of Children or by Force, Fraud, or Coercion
It is a crime under 18 U.S.C. § 1591 to knowingly; 1) in or affecting interstate or foreign commerce, or within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States, recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides, or obtains by any means a person;^[10] or 2) benefits, financially or by receiving anything of value, from participation in a venture which has engaged in an act described in violation of paragraph (1), knowing that force, fraud, or coercion will be used to cause the person to engage in a commercial sex act, or that the person has not attained the age of 18 years and will be caused to engage in a commercial sex act, shall be punished as provided in subsection (b).^[11]The punishment for this offense is if the offense was effected by force, fraud, or coercion or if the person recruited, enticed, harbored, transported, provided, or obtained had not attained the age of 14 years at the time of such offense, by a fine under this title or imprisonment for any term of years or for life, or both;^[12] or 2) if the offense was not so effected, and the person recruited, enticed, harbored, transported, provided, or obtained had attained the age of 14 years but had not attained the age of 18 years at the time of such offense, by a fine under this title or imprisonment for not more than 40 years, or both.^[13] We have previously blogged about other types of human trafficking here.

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^[1] A. Kairi, Man Receives Life Sentence for Sex Trafficking of Minors, AssociatedContent.com, July 4, 2007, available at http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/301644/ (last visited July 4, 2007).
^[2] Id.
^[3] Id.
^[4] Id.
^[5] 18 U.S.C. § 3559(e)(2007).
^[6] Kairi, supra note 1.
^[7] Id.
^[8] 18 U.S.C. § 1583 (2007)
^[9] Id.
^[10] 18 U.S.C. § 1591(a)(1)(2007).
^[11] Id at § 1591(a)(2).
^[12] Id at § 1591(b)(1).
^[13] Id at § 1591(b)(2).