United States v. Clara Holte

• Citation: 59 L.Ed. 504,236 U.S. 140,35 S.Ct. 271
• Decision Date: 01 February 1915
• Docket Number: No. 628,628
• Parties: UNITED STATES, Plff. in Err., v. CLARA HOLTE
• Court: United States Supreme Court

236 U.S. 140

35 S.Ct. 271

59 L.Ed. 504

UNITED STATES, Plff. in Err.,

v CLARA HOLTE.

No. 628.

Argued January 8, 1915.

Decided February 1, 1915.

Assistant Attorney General Wallace for plaintiff in error.

[Argument of Counsel from pages 141-143 intentionally omitted] No appearance for defendant in error.

Mr. Justice Holmes delivered the opinion of the court:

This is an indictment for a conspiracy between the present defendant and one Laudenschleger that Laudenschleger should cause the defendant to be transported from Illinois to Wisconsin for the purpose of prostitution contrary to the act of June 25, 1910, chap. 395, 36 Stat. at L. 825, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 8812. As the defendant is the woman, the district court sustained a demurrer on the ground that although the offense could not be committed without her, she was no party to it, but only the victim. The single question is whether that ruling is right. We do not have to consider what would be necessary to constitute the substantive crime under the act of 1910, or what evidence would be required to convict a woman under an indictment like this; but only to decide whether it is impossible for the transported woman to be guilty of a crime in conspiring as alleged.

The words of the Penal Code of March 4, 1909, chap. 321, § 37 [35 Stat. at L. 1096, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 10,201], are 'conspire . . . to commit any offense against the United States;' and the argument is that they mean an offense that all the conspirators could commit; and that the woman could not commit the offense alleged to be the object of the conspiracy. For although the statute of 1910 embraces matters to which she could be a party, if the words are taken literally, for instance, aiding in procuring any form of transportation for the purpose, the conspiracy alleged, as we have said, is a conspiracy that Laudenschleger should procure transportation and should cause the woman to be transported. Of course, the words of the Penal Code could be narrowed as we have suggested, but in that case they would not be as broad as the mischief; and we think it plain that they mean to adopt the common law as to conspiracy, and that 'commit' means no more than bring about. For, as was observed in Drew v. Thaw (Dec. 21, 1914) [235 U. S. 432, 59 L. ed. ——, 35 Sup. Ct. Rep. 137], a conspiracy to accomplish what an individual is free to do may be a crime (Reg. v. Mears, 4 Cox, C. C. 423, 2 Den. C. C. 79, Temple & M. 414, 20 L. J. Mag. Cas. N. S. 59, 15 Jur. 66; Reg. v. Howell, 4 Fost. & F. 160); and even more plainly a person may conspire for the commission of a crime by a third person. We will assume that there may be a degree of co-operation that would not amount to a crime, as where it was held that a purchase of spirituous liquor from an unlicensed vendor was not a crime in the purchaser, although it was in the seller. Com. v. Willard, 22 Pick. 476. But a conspiracy with an officer or employee of the government or any other for an offense that only he could commit has been held for many years to fall within the conspiracy section, now § 37, of the Penal Code. United States v. Martin. 4 Cliff. 156, 164, Fed. Cas. No. 15,728; United States v. Bayer, 4 Dill. 407, 410, Fed. Cas. No. 14,547; United States v. Stevens, 44 Fed. 132, 140; State ex rel. Durner v. Huegin, 110 Wis. 189, 246, 62 L.R.A. 700, 85 N. W. 1046, 15 Am. Crim. Rep. 332. So a woman may conspire to procure an abortion upon herself when, under the law, she could not commit the substantive crime; and therefore, it has been held could not be an accomplice. Reg. v. Whitchurch, L. R. 24 Q. B. Div. 420, 422, 59 L. J. Mag. Cas. N. S. 77, 62 L. T. N. S. 124, 38 Week. Rep. 336, 16 Cox, C. C. 743, 54 J. P. 472, 8 Am. Crim. Rep. 1; Solander v. People, 2 Colo. 48, 63; State v. Crofford, 133 Iowa, 478, 480, 110 N. W. 921.

So we think that it would be going too far to say that the defendant could not be guilty in this case. Suppose, for instance, that a professional prostitute, as well able to look out for herself as was the man, should suggest and carry out a journey within the act of 1910 in the hope of black-mailing the man, and should buy the railroad tickets, or should pay the fare from Jersey City to New York,—she would be within the letter of the act of 1910, and we see no reason why the act should not be held to apply. We see equally little reason for not treating the preliminary agreement as a conspiracy that the law can reach, if we abandon the illusion that the woman always is the victim. The words of the statute punish the transportation of a woman for the purpose of prostitution even if she were the first to suggest the crime. The substantive offense might be committed without the woman's consent; for instance, if she were drugged or taken by force. Therefore the decisions that it is impossible to turn the concurrence necessary to effect certain crimes such as bigamy or duelling into a conspiracy to commit them do not apply.

Judgment reversed.

Mr. Justice McReynolds took no part in the consideration and decision of this case.

Mr. Justice Lamar, dissenting:

I dissent from the conclusion that a woman can be guilty of conspiring to have herself unlawfully transported in interstate commerce for purposes of prostitution.

Congress had no power to punish immorality, and certainly did not intend by this act of June 25, 1910 (36 Stat. at L. 825, chap. 395, Comp. Stat. 1913, § 8812), to make fornication or adultery, which was a state misdemeanor, a Federal felony, punishable able by $5,000 fine and five years' imprisonment. But when it appeared that there was a traffic in women to be used for purposes of prostitution, debauchery, and immoral purposes, Congress legislated so as to prohibit their interstate transportation in such vicious business. That there was such traffic in women and girls; that they were 'literally slaves,' 'owned and held as property and chattels,' and that their traffickers made large profits, is set out at length in the Reports of the House and Senate Committees (61st Congress, 2d Session), recommending the passage of the bill. So that an argument based on the use of the word 'slave,' 'enslaved,' 'traffic in women,' 'business in women,' 'subject of transportation,' and the like,—which might otherwise appear to be strained,—is amply justified by the amazing facts which those reports show as to the existence and extent of the business and the profits made by the traffickers in women. The argument based on the use of these words, and what they imply, is further justified by the fact that the statute itself declares (§ 8) that it shall be known as the 'white slave traffic act.' In giving itself such a title the statute specifically indicates that, while of right, woman is not an object of merchandise or traffic, yet for gain she has by some been wrongfully made such for purpose of prostitution; and that trade Congress intended to bar from interstate commerce.

The act either applies to women who are willingly transported, or it does not. If it does not apply to those who willingly go (47 H. R. 61st Cong. 2d Session, p. 10), then there was no offense by the man who transported her, or in the woman who voluntarily went,—and, in that event, there was, of course, no conspiracy against the laws of the United States in her agreeing to go. The indictment here, however, assumes that the act applies not only to those who are induced to go, but also to those who aid the panderer in securing their own transportation. On that assumption, every woman transported for the purposes of the business stands on the same footing, and cannot by her consent change her legal status. And if she cannot be directly punished for being transported, she cannot be indirectly punished by calling her assistance in the transportation a conspiracy to violate the laws of the United States. For if she is within the circle of the statute's protection, she cannot be taken out of that circle by the law of conspiracy, and thus be subjected to punishment because she agreed to go.

The statute does not deal with the offense of fornication and adultery, but treats the woman who is transported for use in the business of prostitution as a victim,—often a willing victim, but nevertheless a victim. It treats her as enslaved, and seeks to guard her against herself as well as against her slaver; against the wiles and threats, the compulsion and...