Employing Trafficking Laws to Capture Elusive Leaders of Destructive Cults

By Robin Boyle Laisure

St. John’s University School of Law, Jamaica, NY

This article was originally published in Oregon Review of International Law, Vol. 17, pp. 205–258 and is
reprinted with permission from the publisher.1
Abstract 2
In the 1970s and ‘80s in the United States, American newspapers raised public awareness about cults.
Capturing headlines were articles about women, and later men, who followed Charles Manson to the
extreme length of committing “Helter Skelter,” a cold-blooded killing spree. Cult activity continued to exist,
out of sight and unobserved, until it culminated in tragedy when it would, again, become the topic of a news
story. Even when cults did not achieve “front-page” status in the news, they continued to recruit adults and
raise children born into the group.
Destructive cults are the focus of this paper. Cults continue to evade our justice system here in the United
States and abroad. In this paper I seek to offer a fresh legal framework which, I posit, could aid in the
capture and prosecution of cult leaders. I posit that law enforcement and the international community use
anti-trafficking laws and resources to capture cult leaders, prosecute them for the harm that they inflict on
their adherents, and provide services to former cult members. In this way, the religious or political dogma
of cults—often an obstacle to holding them accountable for their criminal behavior—is no longer a barrier
to prosecution.

In the 1970s and ‘80s in the United States, American newspapers raised public awareness about cults. 3
Capturing headlines were articles about women, and later men, who followed Charles Manson4 to the

1
As a reprint of a previously published document written in standard legal citation form, the format of this article varies from the standard APA
style of original IJCS content.
2
Author Note: I take no position about whether any of the organizations described in this writing are in fact “cults,” but instead I rely upon reported
accounts of their activities to argue that trafficking laws could be employed in ways not originally contemplated when the la ws were enacted. For
explanation of characteristics of cults, Michael D. Langone provides a widely cited list titled, “Characteristics of Cultic Groups.” See infra
Appendix. I express sincere gratitude to Mike Kropveld, Executive Director of Info-Secte Cult, Canada, for presenting an excerpt of this paper at
an academic conference for the Center for the Study of Cultic Groups & Religious Culture, Beijing Union University, on August 16, 2015, in
Beijing, China. On American soil, I presented this paper at a community forum held at the Garden City Community Church, New York, on October
26, 2015.
Additionally, I thank St. John’s University School of Law for providing me with a summer research stipend to write this Article. My gratitude is
further extended to the following professors, practitioners, and experts in their respective fields, all of whom read my drafts and provided helpful
comments: Marc DeGirolami, Professor of Law, Assoc. Dean for Faculty Scholarship, and Assoc. Director of Center for Law and Religion at St.
John’s Law; my husband, Paul Skip Laisure, Esq., supervisor at Appellate Advocates, a non-profit criminal defense law firm in NYC; Michael D.
Langone, PhD, Executive Director of ICSA and Editor-in-Chief, ICSA Today; Theresa Tebbett, Esq., Deputy Bureau Chief, District Court Bureau,
Nassau County District Attorney’s Office, NY; and Aylin Ictemel, Assistant Attorney General, Criminal Division, Office of the N.Y.S. Attorney
General. This Article is dedicated to the 276 children who perished in Jonestown and to the tragic deaths of others born into cults and have met
their peril.
3
The term “cult” is more commonly used in the United States; whereas, “sect” is used more prevalently in Europe. See Ana Ballesteros Peiro et
al., The Red Mosque: A Case Study of How Religion Can Evolve into a Terrorist Cult, 8 CULTIC STUD. REV. 266, 267 (2009); Janja Lalich, The
Violent Outcomes of Ideological Extremism: What Have We Learned Since Jonestown?, 8 CULTIC STUD. REV. 294 n.97 (2009) [hereinafter Violent
Outcomes] (explaining the origin and meaning of the word “cult”).
4
In denying defense counsel’s motion to change the venue, the court summarized the publicity this way:
the undeniably extensive news media coverage received by this case gives rise to appellants’ claim that publicity denied them a fair and
impartial trial. When the crimes were discovered in August of 1969 they were greatly publicized. The media’s revelations focused primarily
on the savageness of the killings, the absence of clues revealing the identity of the perpetrators, and certain details about the private lives
and relationships of the victims. Particular emphasis was given to the Tate murder because one of the victims was a movie actress.
Concluding that the publicity was so extensive throughout the state, that a change of venue would be of no value, the court d enied the motion.
People v. Manson, 61 Cal. App. 3d 102 (Cal. Ct. App. 1976).

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 1

extreme length of committing “Helter Skelter,” a cold-blooded killing spree. 5 Cult activity continued to
exist, out of sight and unobserved, until culminating in tragedy when it would, again, become the topic of
a news story. Even when cults did not achieve “front-page” status in the news, they continued to recruit
adults and raise children born into the group.
Because cults are undocumented and are not calculated by the U.S. census, it is difficult to estimate how
many are in the United States today.6 Estimates range from 2,500 to 8,000 cults with membership ranging
from a few individuals to tens of thousands in any given cult.7 According to the International Cultic Studies
Association (“ICSA”), an organization that monitors cults and provides education and counseling,
approximately 2,500,000 Americans have joined cultic groups since the 1970s. 8
Some cults are benign, others destructive; cults may change over time, sometimes from benign to
destructive, sometimes vice versa.9 Benign cults appear not to inflict physical or emotional trauma to their
members.10 In contrast, destructive cults do harm their members and are characterized by exploitative,
manipulative, and controlling interpersonal dynamics. 11
Destructive cults are the focus of this paper. Cults continue to evade our justice system here in the United
States and abroad. This paper seeks to offer a fresh legal framework which, I posit, could aid in the capture
and prosecution of cult leaders. In Part I, I describe how cults function. In Subpart (A), I describe a young
girl’s (Elissa Wall) tragic marriage into a lifetime, and expected eternity, with a relative whom she initially
resisted. In Subpart (B), I explain the four processes of control employed by cults, which involve the mind,
behavior, emotion and information. In Subpart (C), cults are categorized as religious, political, terrorist,
psychotherapy, and commercial. The U.S. legal system’s inability to provide sufficient remedies to those
harmed by cult activity is set forth in Subpart (D). In Part II, international and American efforts to prevent
and combat trafficking are presented. In Part III, I posit that law enforcement and the international
community use anti-trafficking laws and resources to capture cult leaders, prosecute them for the harm that
they inflict on their adherents, and provide services to former cult members. In this way, the religious or
political dogma of cults—often an obstacle to holding them accountable for their criminal behavior—is no
longer a barrier to prosecution.

5
Id. at 129.
6
See generally Michael D. Langone, Ph.D., Prevalence, INT’ L CULTIC STUD. ASS’ N, http://www.icsahome.com/articles/
prevalence (last visited May 10, 2016) (“an unknown, but not insignificant, number of people have been born and raised in cultic groups”).
7
Susan Landa, Children and Cults: A Practical Guide, 29 J. FAM. L. 591, 591 n.1 (1991).
8
See Herbert L. Rosedale& Michael D. Langone, On Using the Term “Cult,” INT’ L C ULTIC STUD. ASS’ N,
http://www.icsahome.com/articles/onusingtermcult (last visited May 10, 2016); Langone, supra note 4 (reporting 3% of San Francisco Bay area
high school students being members of cults (1985) and 1.5%−3% of high school students in two Boston suburbs (1984). ICSA’s website describes
the organization, founded in 1979, as “a global network of people concerned about psychological manipulation and abuse in cultic or high-demand
groups, alternative movements, and other environments.” INT’L CULTIC STUD. ASS’ N, http://www.icsahome.com/aboutus (last visited May 10,
2016). ICSA provides guidance, counseling, and support to former cultic members and their families. Id. Through extensive programming at
workshops and conferences held around the world annually, it provides education in fora where researchers, lawyers, doctors, counselors,
academics, former cult members, and families come together to educate themselves and the public about cults and healing.
9
See Landa, supra note 5, at 591. See generally INT’ L CULTIC STUD. ASS’N, http://www.icsahome.com/elibrary/studyguides/
research (last visited May 10, 2016) (Harm to cult members is real and not merely a subjective judgment.); Michael D. Langone, Academic Disputes
and Dialogue Collection: Preface. ICSA E-NEWSLETTER, 4(3) (2005); Jodi Aronoff McKibben et al., Are Cultic Environments Psychologically
Harmful?, CULTIC STUD. REV., 1(3) (2002); Carmen Almendros et al., Assessment of Psychological Abuse in Manipulative Groups, 2 INT’L J.
CULTIC STUD. 61−76 (2011); Seth M. Asser & Rita Swan, Child Fatalities from Religion-Motivated Neglect, 17 CULTIC STUD. J. 1−14 (2000);
Carmen Almendros et al., Former Members’ Perceptions of Cult Involvement 6 CULTIC STUD. REV. 1−20 (2007); Stephen A. Kent, House of Judah,
the Northeast Kingdom Community, and the Jonestown Problem: Downplaying Child Physical Abuses and Ignoring Serious Evidence 1 INT’ L J.
CULTIC STUD. 27−48 (2010); Carmen Almendros et al., Reasons for Leaving: Psychological Abuse and Distress Reported by Former Members of
Cultic Groups 8 CULTIC STUD. REV. 111−38 (2009).
10
Landa, supra note 5, at 591.
11
See generally id.

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 2

I
Cults−An Overview
To begin, “cult” is a fluid definition. Cults are organized groups, often with a basis in religion. 12 Cults, by
virtue of the power that they exert over their devotees, have the propensity to be harmful, and some are
harmful, but others are not.13 In sum, cults are at risk of perpetuating harm.14
Those that have crossed the line, destructive cults, have common traits. As one researcher explained, these
cults share three characteristics: “(1) a charismatic leader who increasingly becomes an object of worship
as the general principles that may have originally sustained the group lose their power; (2) a process . . .
call[ed] coercive persuasion or thought reform; (3) economic, sexual, and other exploitation of group
members by the leader and the ruling coterie.” 15 The leader often tells a unique story about the foundation
of the organization that elevates this group or religion above all others.16 The leader claims to be the chosen
one, selected by some supreme being, and frequently preaches that followers will find salvation after
death. 17 The leader is the only member with a true understanding of the religion and, thus, all information
must flow through the leader.18
A more detailed list of common traits shared by cults is provided in the Appendix. 19
Given this definition, one might wonder what distinguishes traditional religious affiliation from cult
affiliation. The late Herbert Rosedale, Esq.20 would ask his audience whether they have ever joined a
church. Often some members would nod their heads. 21 And then he would ask them if they knew that they
were joining a church when they decided to participate. As a bottom line distinction between what is a
religious organization versus a cult, the difference often comes down to the narrow question of whether the
adherent knew what kind of group he or she was joining at the outset.
A. The Case of Elissa Wall Against FLDS
Accounts of cult abuses told by ex-cult members abound. In her autobiography, Elissa Wall described her
experience with a cult.22 At age fourteen she was forced to marry her first cousin, Allen Steed, who was
nineteen. 23 Both members of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (“FLDS”), a
polygamous sect, Wall pleaded for a different outcome in the days leading up to the ceremony:
Tears began to pour from my eyes. In all the times I had met with [an elder] since this mess started,
I had always tried to maintain my composure, but now, exhausted, hungry, and defeated, I broke

12
Id. at 593.
13
See Arthur A. Dole & Steve K. Dubrow-Eichel, Some New Religions are Dangerous 2 CULTIC STUD. J. 17−30 (1985).
14
See Rosedale & Langone, supra note 6.
15
See Lita Linzer Schwartz, The Millennium is Here−and So are the Cults, 18 CULTIC STUD. J. 82, 83 (2001) (citing Lifton, R.J., Cult Formation,
8(1) CULTIC STUD. J. 1, 2 (1991)).
16
See Joseph Szimhart, Razor’s Edge Indeed: A Deprogrammer’s View of Harmful Cult Activity, 8 C ULTIC STUD. REV. 231 (2009).
17
Id. at 241. “The leader and group will supply the new recruit with an interesting foundation myth that supports the leader’s clai ms to authority.
The foundation myth generally reflects a profound spiritual experience and private journey the leader has taken.” Id.
18
Id. at 243.
19
See Michael D. Langone, Characteristics Associated with Cultic Groups, I NT’ L CULTIC STUD. ASS’N,
http://www.icsahome.com/articles/characteristics (last visited May 10, 2016). Since researchers cannot agree on a single definition, here are some
descriptive phrases, appearing on ICSA’s website, used to define cults: “innovative, fervent groups”; “an ideological orga nization held together by
charismatic relationships and demanding total commitment”; “groups at high risk of becoming abusive because of members’ adulation of its
leaders”; and “a continuum, in which large gray area separates cult from noncult.”
20
People Profiles, INT’L CULTIC SUTD. ASS’N, http://www.icsahome.com/elibrary/peopleprofiles (last visited May 10, 2016). Herb Rosedale was
a practicing attorney and former President of American Family Foundation—name changed to International Cultic Studies Association (ICSA).
Mr. Rosedale was of Counsel with Jenkens & Gilchrist Park Chapin, LLP, and was one of the nation’s leading authorities on cul ts from the late
1970s until his death in 2003.
21
See Richard L. Dowhower, Religion Versus Cults, http://www.icsahome.com/articles/religion-versus-cult-dowhower (last visited May 10, 2016).
22
ELISSA WALL, WITH LISA PULITZER, STOLEN I NNOCENCE (William Morrow 2008).
23
Id. at 123−24.

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 3

 down in front of him. Seeing this opening, he took the chance to exploit it. I felt the world closing
in on me. I hated [the elder] and Uncle Warren [Warren Jeffs], and even my mother for putting me
in this position. I was fourteen years old with no money and nowhere to go. When my brothers and
sister had tested the boundaries of rebellion, they had been shipped off to reform. While that was
hard for them, at least it wasn’t permanent. Marriage to Allen wasn’t just permanent, it was
infinite—a punishment that would continue through this life and into the next. 24
Wall explained that propelling this unhappy union was FLDS spiritual leader, Warren Jeffs. 25 According to
Wall, she was forced to have sexual intercourse with Mr. Steed, as procreation was encouraged by FLDS. 26
After suffering emotional and physical abuse during the marriage, Wall described how she took a bold step
and left Steed.27
Outside of FLDS, an attorney met with Wall and explained that “what had happened to [Wall] was
criminal.”28 Wall decided to press criminal charges. 29 Warren Jeffs was brought to trial by prosecutors in
Utah. 30 In summarizing the case for the jury during the criminal trial, the prosecutor told the jury “[t]he
evidence has shown that the only reason that Elissa Wall went into that bedroom and had sexual intercourse
with Allen Steed is because that man there [Defendant Warren Jeffs] told her she was supposed to.” 31 The
prosecutor urged the jury that Jeffs “placed her in a position where she had no choice.” 32 The jury found
Jeffs guilty of two counts of rape as an accomplice. 33
Following the verdict, on the courthouse steps, Wall gave a speech. 34 In words intended for FLDS girls and
women, whom she would never be permitted to speak with directly since her ouster from FLDS, Wall
advised, “[y]ou do not have to surrender your rights or your spiritual sovereignty. I know how hard it is,
but please stand up and fight for your voice and power of choice. I will continue to fight for you.”35 Jeffs
was sentenced to ten years in prison, 36 but he appealed. 37
Reviewing the case on appeal, the Supreme Court of Utah reversed the verdict. 38 The appellate court agreed
with Jeffs that the consent instructions given to the jury were erroneous, warranting a reversal. In analyzing
the state’s rape statute, the court noted that the defendant must be the “actor” who commits the act of
nonconsensual sexual intercourse with the victim. 39 The Court concluded that Jeffs was not the “actor” as
defined in the statute, and that it was erroneous for the trial court to have instructed the jury to equate the
statutory term “actor” with the term “defendant.”40 The Supreme Court of Utah’s reasoning is indicative of

24
Id. at 144.
25
Id. at 144. See State v. Jeffs, 243 P.3d 1250, 1253, ¶ 9 (Utah 2010) (when Wall sought counseling from the FLDS leaders about the impending
marriage, Jeffs told her, “you will go forward with this [marriage.]”).
26
WALL, supra note 20, at 144; Jeffs, 243 P.3d at 1253, ¶ 11 (at the wedding ceremony, Jeffs pronounced “Now go forth and multiply and repl enish
the earth with good priesthood children”).
27
WALL, supra note 20, at 239−40 (telling her husband she was not returning to him). Wall also filed a civil suit against Jeffs and the FLDS Church
seeking monetary damages. Id. at 350.
28
Id. at 349.
29
Id. at 352. In the criminal case, Jeffs was charged with two counts of rape as an accomplice, a first-degree felony (for the forced marriage of a
teenage girl with an older man). Id.
30
Jeffs, 243 P.3d at 1250.
31
WALL, supra note 20, at 415.
32
Id.
33
Jeffs, 243 P.3d at 1250.
34
WALL, supra note 20, at 420.
35
Id. at 422.
36
See generally The Assoc. Press, Texas: 10-Year Sentence for Polygamist Marriages, N.Y. TIMES, Nov. 8, 2011.
37
Id.
38
Jeffs, 243 P.3d at ¶¶ 53−54, 1260−61.
39
Id. at ¶ 33, 1257.
40
Id. Note that having grounded its decision on the erroneous consent instructions, the other issues raised by Jeffs were addressed by the court in
dicta. Id. at ¶ 39.

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 4

the U.S. justice system’s rejection of the theory of undue influence in a cult context. 41 Had the court
understood that everyone in the church is controlled by the church, then Jeffs may have been found liable
because he would have been considered the actor, and the husband his agent. Instead, although the trauma
described by what was then a young fourteen-year-old girl is apparent to most outside observers, the
American legal system was unable to provide a remedy.
Complicating the situation is the lack of cooperation by would-be victims. For example, Wall described
false testimony at the Jeffs’ trial, given by fellow FLDS members.42 The power of FLDS over its followers
and the inability of the authorities to effectively intervene were observed when authorities raided a Texas
FLDS compound in the spring of 2008.43 The raid was sparked by an anonymous 911 call from an alleged
teenager crying for help.44 Authorities initiated an extensive interrogation. 45 The caller was never located.
Women and over 400 children were removed from the compound and questioned extensively, but many
questions remained unanswered.46 The women were unwilling to provide answers to many questions, and,
when they did reply, their answers were often false, according to Wall. 47 After a couple of months, the
children were returned to FLDS and no arrests were made. 48
The child marriage of Wall was not an isolated one, but rather common practice. Warren Jeffs’ father,
known in FLDS as “Uncle Rulon,” has married an estimated seventy-five women and fathered at least sixty-
five children.49 Uncle Rulon’s brides were just fourteen or fifteen years old, even when he aged into his
eighties.50 And, similar to the personal account of Wall, Uncle Rulon preached “perfect obedience” and
“submission.”51
After a failed prosecution in the Walls case, Warren Jeffs was eventually convicted in a Texas court in 2011
for sexual assault committed against two females ages twelve and fifteen. 52 In contrast, if a trafficker were
to falsely advertise on the internet that Wall was a willing bride and then sell her to a would-be husband,
the seller would be charged with a criminal act under federal anti-human trafficking statues. Our culture
has protected abuses within religious organizations, and our courts have operated with little remedy. 53 In
both instances, there is an under-age marriage and an unwilling bride. 54 The similarities and distinctions
between the two—cults and trafficking—are the subject of this paper.
B. Four Processes of Indoctrination
Why do cults continue to exist and what makes it difficult to prosecute their abusive tactics? When cases
go to trial, it is always possible that witnesses will lie or recant their stories, making prosecution difficult.
When cults are on trial, this possibility is exacerbated by “mind control,” a pernicious tactic at the root of
destructive cults. The legal term for mind control is “undue influence.” 55 Regardless of the term used, the

41
See id. at 1260−61.
42
WALL, supra note 20, at 400−13.
43
See generally Kirk Johnson, Texas Polygamy Raid May Pose Risk, N.Y. TIMES, Apr. 12, 2008.
44
Id.
45
Id.
46
See id.
47
WALL, supra note 20, at 438.
48
See Janet Heimlich, No Refuge: Five Years After the Infamous Raid on the FLDS Compound in Eldorado, OBSERVER (Aug. 1, 2012, 5:58 PM),
http://www.texasobserver .org/no-refuge/.
49
See Jon Krakauer, Under the Banner of Heaven: A Story of Violent Faith 12 (Doubleday 2003).
50
Id.
51
Id.
52
See Whitehurst, Lindsay, Warren Jeffs gets Life in Prison for Sex with Underage Girls, SALT LAKE TRIB., Aug. 11, 2011.
53
Id.
54
See infra.
55
See Alan W. Scheflin, Supporting Human Rights by Testifying Against Human Wrongs, 6 I NT’ L J. CULTIC STUD. 69, 70 (2015).

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 5

idea is the same: cult leaders gain control over their members by severely restricting their freedom of choice,
sometimes through deception, sometimes through intimidation, and sometimes through coercion. 56
Steven Hassan described his descent into the Unification Church, 57 an extensive and destructive cult, at
least when Hassan was a member. In addition to mind or thought control, Hassan has identified three other
processes to explain cult indoctrination: behavior control, emotional control, and information control. 58
Ultimately, the individual loses his or her freedom of choice.
1. Thought Control
Thought control or mind control is described as follows:
[A] system which disrupts an individual’s identity. An identity is made up of elements such as
beliefs, behavior, thought processes, and emotions that constitute a definite pattern. Under the
influence of mind control, a person’s authentic original identity given at birth, and as later formed
by family, education, friendships, and most importantly that person’s own free choices, becomes
replaced with another identity, often one that they would not have chosen for themself without
tremendous social pressure. 59
Depending upon the group, to exert undue influence or mind control, cult leaders may also rely on other
techniques, including deception in recruitment; fear; physical, sexual, and verbal abuse; and isolation. 60
Cultic members are often recruited to an organization that they know little about. It is common practice in
cultic groups to use deceptive pretenses to lure in followers.61 Typically, one would not join these groups
if one knew what was in store once inside. Once inside, the individual undergoes a process that results in a
loss of freedom of choice. 62 Unfortunately, it is this aspect of cults that provide obstacles to our judicial
system’s ability to provide a remedy. Courts have not accepted mind control as an element of traditional
crimes. 63
To inculcate an adherent, cults prey on people’s fears. Their followers are fearful that should they leave,
they will die by accident or fate (health or otherwise). 64 Religious cults often preach that deserters are denied
salvation. 65 Elissa Wall described Warren Jeffs threatening her with sacrificial death to rectify the cardinal
sin of adultery. 66 In FLDS, the “sinner” is to be laid out on altar for an ordained elder to commit “blood
atonement” by killing her.67
Cults use mental, physical and sexual abuse of both adults and children to force compliance. Jonestown is
a case in point.68 In 1977, delusional dictator of People’s Temple Jim Jones moved approximately 1,000
followers from the west coast of the United States to Guyana, Africa, setting up what was, in effect, a prison

56
“Coercion” is a complex word choice here. The recruited, who is often lured into the cult under false pretenses, is not initially forced to do
something he or she does not want to do, and often this new recruit would deny being “coerced.” He or she may be manipulated in not choosing
what the leader wants, and he may not realize that his choice was constricted as much as somebody who was ‘coerced’ through threat.
57
STEVEN H ASSAN, COMBATING CULT MIND CONTROL 52−65 (25th Anniv. Ed. Freedom of Mind Press 2015). Formal title of the organization is
“The Holy Spirit Association for the Unification of World Christianity.” The organization is dubbed the “Moonies” after its leader Sun Myung
Moon. As Hassan explains, the Moonies is one of the more visible and destructive cults, both in the United States and worldwide.
58
See id. at 85−87.
59
Id. at 109 (emphasis in original).
60
See HASSAN, supra note 55.
61
See id. at 87−89, 103−07. Hassan describes his recruitment into the Moonies.
62
Id.; Scheflin, supra note 53.
63
See Scheflin, supra note 53, at 70−71. To be discussed infra.
64
JANJA LALICH, BOUNDED CHOICE: TRUE BELIEVERS AND CHARISMATIC CULTS 229 (2004) (describing how in Heaven’s Gate in the DWP,
leaders demanded “total or near-total submission” to the rules governing the group life, with sanctions imposed for those who violated the rules).
65
Id.
66
WALL, supra note 20, at 317−18.
67
See id.
68
See HASSAN, supra note 55, at 19, 75.

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 6

camp (“Jonestown”).69 There, children were put into dark pits and told that the pits contained snakes. 70
Members dangled ropes from above to scare them. 71
In addition to such mental abuse, there are documented accounts of beatings of children in Jonestown. 72 A
former member witnessed her daughter’s beating with a board, seventy-five times, for hugging a friend
whom Jones considered a traitor.73 Children were routinely beaten for showing disrespect. 74 “Belts were
used at first, then were replaced by elm switches, which in turn were replaced by the ‘board of education,’
a long, hard piece of wood, swung by 250-pound [disciplinarian].”75
Sparked by reports of mistreatment in Jonestown, in 1978, U.S. Congressmen, Senator Leo Ryan, and
members of the press visited the compound. 76 They sensed something was desperately wrong when they
received messages from adherents.77 Fearing that he was losing control over his followers, Jones set in
motion a mass murder and suicide. 78
The entourage was making its attempt to leave when they were gunned down on the airstrip at Jones’
command.79 Moments later, Jones ordered his followers to drink a lethal substance, killing over 900 people,
276 of whom were children, administered poison by their mothers.80
Sexual and physical abuse, prevalent in destructive cults, reinforces undue influence, fear, and paranoia
among followers. Often, beatings are publicly displayed for other members to see as a lesson of what would
happen should they be disobedient.81 For instance, Children of God (“The Family”) leader David Berg
sexually and physically abused his granddaughter, Merry, at a young age. 82 Beginning at age seven she was

69
See id.
70
Id.
71
Id. at 105.
72
Id.
73
Stephen A. Kent, Houseof Judah, the Northeast Kingdom Community, and ‘the Jonestown problem’: Downplaying Child Physical Abuses and
Ignoring Serious Evidence, 1 I NT’ L J. CULTIC STUD. 27, 30 (2010).
74
KENNETH WOODEN, CHILDREN OF JONESTOWN (1981).
75
Id. at 11.
76
See WOODEN, supra note 72, at 150−55. Jonestown members complained to Jones of jungle work camp conditions. As Robin D. Willey explains:
Indeed, working and living conditions were harsh, and so were many of the group-enforced social practices, which often involved child
abuse, humiliation, harsh punishments for misbehavior, and isolation Eventually, a number of people who were hostile to Jones and
Jonestown and who had relatives in the commune formed a group called the Concerned Relatives. The purpose of this group was t o raise
awareness of the plight of those people who were with Jones. This effort resulted in a government-sponsored fact-finding mission to
Jonestown in November 1978. Congressman Leo J. Ryan . . . led this mission, and several members of the media accompanied him. The
efforts of the Concerned Relatives played into Jones’ paranoia of infringement from the outside.
Robin D. Willey, Religion, Revisionists, and Revolutionary Suicide: A Marxist Framework for the Rise and Fall of Communal Religious Groups,
4 INT’ L J. CULTIC STUD. 44−59 (2013).
77
WOODEN, supra note 72.
78
Id. at 159−60.
After murdering the congressman and some of his entourage, Jones proclaimed that it was time for his people to “die with dignity”; it was
time for “revolutionary suicide.” On November 18, 1978, more than nine hundred Jonestown residents drank or were forcibly inj ected with
cyanide-laced Flavor-Aid in “protest” of what Jones believed was going to happen to them.
Willey, supra note 74.
79
See Violent Outcomes, supra note 1, at 287; Decoding the Past: Cults Dangerous Devotion (History Channel television broadcast July 18, 2015)
[hereinafter Decoding the Past]. Explained in more detail:
[A] group of [Jones’s] guards had attacked the US senator Leo Ryan and a group of family members of the disciples, along with journalists
who had accompanied Ryan on his visit to the headquarters of the cult to check on the condition of the disciples. Just as they were about to
get on the plane to fly home, almost all of them were murdered.
Alvaro Rodriguez-Carballeira et al., A Psychosocial Analysis of the Terrorist Group as a Cult, 1 I NT’ L J. CULTIC STUD. 49−60 (2010).
80
See Langone, Responding to Jihadism: A Cultic Studies Perspective, 5 CULTIC STUD. REV. 268, 282 (2006) [hereinafter Jihadism]; Violent
Outcomes, supra note 1, at 287; Decoding the Past, supra note 77.
81
See Perry Bulwer, A Response to James D. Chancellor’s ‘Life in the Family: An Oral History of the Children of God,’ 6 CULTIC STUD. REV.
101, 124 (2007).
82
See id. at 124.

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 7

forced to perform sexual acts with her grandfather. 83 When Merry doubted her “faith” as a young teenager,
she was subjected to violent exorcisms involving being spanked with paddles and beaten with rods. 84 Later,
Merry testified in court that “[i]t all felt like torture and once I fainted, throwing up. They said I was
throwing up demons. The exorcising terrified me.” 85
The Family created camps around the world for problem teenagers. These camps were called “Teen
Training Camps” and “Victor Camps.” Teenagers endured public beatings, coerced calisthenics, and other
atrocities.86
These atrocities shape the adherents’ minds to submission and control by the destructive cult. 87 The
individual is no longer the former self, but a different self. 88 However, the theory of mind control is one
that our courts have trouble accepting. 89
2. Behavior Control, Emotional Control, and Information Control
Related to mind control is control of one’s behavior, emotions, and information. Destructive cults may
control behavior by assigning specific tasks for followers to do. Often, followers must ask permission for
basic daily occurrences, such as asking for bus fare. 90
Guilt and fear are tools of the cult leader. 91 What is outside—authorities, the devil (evil)—will result in
your eternal life in hell. The leaders themselves can harm you if you do not follow their rules. 92 Punishment
is threatened.93
A hallmark of destructive cults is information control. Many cults restrict access to news events of the
outside world. 94 The members may have limited information about what is happening within their own
organization.95 If the cult is located in a remote geographical setting, then isolation from the public and the
media can be acute.96 However, even where cults exist in urban areas, members may be restricted from
interacting with outsiders.97 Thus, there is physical as well as psychological isolation. 98
Isolation is sometimes used in combination with other forms of punishment. 99 In a lesser-known cult called
“The Love of God Community,” which was formed in 1970 and disbanded ten years later, cult members
were expected to read ten chapters of the Bible every day, along with other Christian books. 100 Members
who failed to comply were physically punished or not spoken to for days. 101 Eventually, the private beatings
intensified to public flogging with a hairbrush and bamboo cane. 102 The cult’s leader ordered other members

83
Id.
84
Id. at 125.
85
Id. (quoting Merry).
86
See Stephen A. Kent & Deana Hall, Brainwashing & Re-Indoctrination Programs in the Children of God, 17 CULTIC STUD. J. 56 (2000).
87
HASSAN, supra note 55, at 80−81.
88
Id.
89
See id. at 111.
90
See id. at 117.
91
See Alvaro Rodriguez-Carballeira et al., Preliminary Taxonomy of Psychological Abuse Strategies: Within Partner Relationships, at the
Workplace, and in Manipulative Groups, 4 I NT’L J. CULTIC STUD. 1, 7 & tbls. I−III (2013) (providing analysis and classification of abuse strategies).
92
See HASSAN, supra note 55, at 117−18.
93
See id. at 96−98, 125.
94
Id. at 119.
95
See id. at 118−20.
96
Id. at 119.
97
Id.
98
Telephone Interview with Mike Kropveld, Executive Director of Info-Secte Cult (Aug. 8, 2015).
99
See generally Rodriguez-Carballeira et al., supra note 77 (isolation as a category in group context).
100
See Gille Jenkinson, Cult Pseudo-Creativity vs. Creativity in Recovery, 9 CULTIC STUD. REV. 135, 138 (2010).
101
See id.
102
See id.

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to publicly beat each other, which led to paranoia and fear.103 This combination of isolation, paranoia, and
fear contributed to leader’s ability to exert undue influence on the members.
Women are treated differently than men in most cults, and they are often subjected to worse abuse. 104 The
treatment of women runs the gamut in cults from forced celibacy to prostitution. 105 Leaders often
manipulate women into engaging in sexual relations by describing the acts as a form of honor or duty. 106
This pattern of sexual abuse applies to children as well. Paul Schaefer, founder of a notorious cult, emigrated
from Germany, taking post-World War II German immigrants with him. 107 He set up an orphanage outside
of Santiago in Chile (establishing “Colonia Dignidad”), which functioned as a cult. He subjected children,
particularly the girls, to sexual abuse and torture. 108 Schaefer was later convicted and sentenced to twenty
years in prison for sexually abusing children in the cult.109 German-born Harmut Hoppe was convicted as
an accomplice to rape and sexual abuse for crimes he committed at Colonia Dignidad. 110
The ultimate result of undue influence is that the victim loses freedom of choice. The cult member has a
new identity.111
C. Five Types of Cults
A common misconception is that the term “cult” refers only to religious organizations. 112 Although religious
cults are the most notorious, there are also political, terrorist, psychotherapy/educational, and commercial
cults.113
Before exploring the types of cults in depth, however, it is worth considering why a person would join any
cult in the first place. Given the abusive nature of cults, who joins them and why? In the United States,
there was a noticeable boom of recruitment in the late 1970s and early 1980s when many college-age adults
joined cultic groups.114 Perhaps the recruits’ vulnerability stemmed from being away from home for the
first time and, at that stage of their lives, looking for identity. Since that time, cults have expanded their
target populations to the elderly and business executives.115 Both of these latter groups are attractive to cults
for financial reasons. 116
Cults target young, generally college-age, persons in systematic fashion. 117 Typically the cult recruiter
initiates conversation, often with a person of the opposite sex, perhaps with flattery or finding a topic of
common interest.118 Eventually, the potential-inductee is invited to a gathering of other members. 119 From
there, the inductee is typically encouraged to attend long seminars in which he or she is separated from the
outside world.120

103
See id.
104
See Schwartz, supra note 13, at 89−91.
105
Id. at 60.
106
See id. at 89.
107
Decoding the Past, supra note 77. See also News Summaries, 5 CULTIC STUD. REV. 308 (2006).
108
Decoding the Past, supra note 77. See also News Summaries, 5 CULTIC STUD. REV. 308 (2006).
109
See INT’L CULTIC STUD. ASS’ N., Colonia Dignidad, www.icsahome.com/groups /coloniadignidad (last visited May 10, 2016).
110
Id.
111
See HASSAN, supra note 55, at 108−10.
112
See id.
113
See HASSAN, supra note 55, at 85−87.
114
See Jihadism, supra note 78, at 272.
115
See Leland E. Shields & F. Jeri Carter, Healing from Experiences with Unhealthy Spiritual Groups and Cults: Treatment Using Myths and Folk
Tales, 18 CULTIC STUD. J. 109, 114 (2001).
116
Id.
117
Richard Delgado, Cults and Conversion: The Case for Informed Consent, 16 GA. L. REV. 533, 546−48 (1982).
118
Id.
119
See id.
120
Id.

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Cult leaders’ influence over developing adolescents and children is alarmingly destructive. 121 Marked
differences exist in the personality traits of those entering cults in adolescence or early adulthood and those
born into cults.122 Those who enter cults during the adolescent stage or later identify with the cult leader
and often form a new personality that is superimposed over their own, but they never completely forget
their former personality.123 In contrast, those born into cults (called “second generation” members) 124
display personalities that are more fundamentally shaped by the cult, 125 reflecting the fact that they have
been more affected by it. In either case, the charismatic leader often plays the role of the parent. 126
Rebellious behavior is squashed by strict discipline, leading to passive personalities in developing
children. 127
1. Religious Cults
Religious cults have, at their core, a religious dogma. 128 Some religious cults, often referred to as
“doomsday cults,” are focused on the end of the world. 129 As the 2000 calendar year approached, adherents
of these religious cults focused on a possible apocalypse. 130 For instance, the Branch Davidians in Waco,
Texas, led by David Koresh, preached that he was the Lamb of God and that the end of time was soon. 131
In 1993, eighty members, including twenty-two children, died in a blazing inferno in a confrontation with
authorities. 132 Marshall Applewhite led “Heaven’s Gate,” another doomsday-type cult. 133 In 1997, in
California, thirty-nine members of Heaven’s Gate committed group suicide. 134
Aum Shrinrikyo formed a Buddhist-based religion centralized around a theory that thousands of people
could be emancipated and gain supernatural powers; he predicted a Third World War or Armageddon in
1999.135 After other killings, in March 1995, Aum launched a gas attack on a Tokyo subway system in
which 12 people died and 5,000 suffered injuries. 136
Not all religious cults focus on the imminent end of the world. Others have ongoing ideology and
spirituality. 137 As examples indicate in this Article, at the center of religious cults is the preaching of their
spiritual leader who often claims to have unique knowledge or some connection to the after-world.
2. Political Cults
Rather than religion as its tenet, political cults’ ideology builds upon a belief that the political system must
be changed. One such group is Move, whose headquarters in Philadelphia was bombed by police going
after the group’s arsenal of weapons.138 Move espoused eating raw, “natural” food, holding convictions

121
Id. at 540.
122
See Lorna Goldberg, Raised in Cultic Groups: The Impact on the Development of Certain Aspects of Character, 5 CULTIC STUD. REV. 1, 5
(2006).
123
See id.
124
Researchers use the following terms: “first generation” is used to refer to adults who join cults. “Second generation” is used to refer to childr en
born while their mothers (or parents) are in cults, or young children brought into cults when a parent(s) joins, and these children are raised in cults.
125
See Goldberg, supra note 120.
126
Id.
127
See id. at 5.
128
See HASSAN, supra note 55, at 296.
129
See id.
130
See Violent Outcomes, supra note 1, at 287.
131
See Schwartz, supra note 13, at 92.
132
See Decoding the Past, supra note 77.
133
See Schwartz, supra note 13, at 92; LALICH, supra note 62, at 25−109.
134
See Violent Outcomes, supra note 1, at 287.
135
See Hiroshi Hirata, Crimes and Teachings of Aum Shinrikyo, 18 CULTIC STUD. J. 36 (2001).
136
See id.
137
See HASSAN, supra note 55.
138
See id. at 86. On May 13, 1985, confrontation by authorities led to the killing of eleven Move members and destructi on of sixty homes. See
INT’ L CULTIC STUD. ASS’N, Move, wf

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contrary to the current political system, shunning traditional education of its children, providing
rudimentary education to boys only, and the forgoing of materialism. 139
Janja Lalich joined the Workers Democratic Union (“WDU”) and ascended the ranks but later described
the group as a small political cult led by a charismatic woman. 140 The WDU was a feminist, Marxist-
Leninist party with women leading its upper-ranks.141 In October 1985, after twelve years of existence, one
hundred members of WDU met in San Francisco and voted to expel their leader, Doreen Baxter, and
dissolve the organization. 142 Baxter was accused of corruption and abuse. 143
3. Terrorist Groups as Cults
Since the September 11, 2001, attacks on America’s soil, cult researchers have drawn parallels between
terrorist groups with an ideological premise, such as Al Qaeda, and religious cults. 144 Al Qaeda had a
charismatic, self-appointed leader in Osama bin Laden, and followers were so devoted to their cause145 they
were willing to commit suicide and mass murder as part of the September 11th attacks. This arguably
indicates Al Qaeda’s leaders’ extreme undue influence over its followers. Thus, Al Qaeda can be
characterized as a religious cultic terrorist group. 146
Another organization that combines terrorism and religious worship is the Lord’s Resistance Army
(“LRA”), which is centralized in northern Uganda. 147 Accounts differ on the number of children LRA has
abducted, but estimates are over 20,000 children. 148 The children are forced to terrorize their own
communities.149 It is estimated the LRA is responsible for the deaths of approximately 100,000 people. 150
LRA preaches the Acholi religion; its adherents believe that Joseph Kony, their leader, has supernatural
powers, making the followers subservient.151 Children are preferred recruits over adults because their
smaller size allows them to hide effectively in the bush, and because they are fearless when put on the front
lines and told to fight without cover. 152 By exploiting religious beliefs of their followers, the LRA maintains
strict allegiance. 153 Thus, LRA would be characterized as a terrorist cult.
One of the distinctions between a political cult operating as a terrorist organization and a “traditional” cult
is that the terrorist group is centered on the destruction of others outside its group, whereas a religious cult
is destructive to its own members. 154 Heaven’s Gate, for example, did not exhibit “terrorist” behavior
because its destruction was inward towards its own members.155 Nevertheless, Heaven’s Gate fit the

139
See INT’L CULTIC STUD. ASS’N, supra note 136.
140
LALICH, supra note 62, at 113−218.
141
See Janja Lalich, The Cadre Ideal: Origins and Development of a Political Cult, 9 CULTIC STUD. J. 1 (1992).
142
Id.
143
Id.
144
In contrast, Masoud Banisadr argues that some terrorist groups should be considered political cults in that they share the cult characteristics of
strong charismatic leader, a shared ideology, and isolation. Masoud Banisadr, Terrorist Organizations are Cults, 8 CULTIC STUD. REV. 154, 164
(2009). It is in isolation from wider society that makes a terrorist group dangerous. In order to combat terrorism, Banisadr suggests reducing
isolation by forcing them to abide by the moral fabric of the larger society. Id.
145
Stephen Bruce Mutch, Cultism, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, 5 CULTIC STUD. REV. 169, 173 (2006).
146
See id.; Arthur A. Dole, Are Terrorists Cultists?, 5 CULTIC STUD. REV. 198, 217 (2006) (“Are Terrorists cultists? In my opinion some, like Al
Qaeda, certainly are.”).
147
Terra Manca, Innocent Murders? Abducted Children in the Lord’s Resistance Army, 7 CULTIC STUD. REV. 129, 130, 141−42 (2008).
148
Id.
149
See id. (citing United Nations’ figures, however, other estimates are higher).
150
See id. at 130.
151
See id.
152
See id. at 141−43.
153
An organization that claimed to have raised money and awareness about LRA was “Invisible Children.” They have recently posted videos on
YouTube explaining that they are no longer operating.
154
See Dole, supra note 144; Rodriguez-Carballeira et al., supra note 77, at 50.
155
See Dole, supra note 144, at 211.

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characteristics of a cult because its members were “strongly attached to their leaders, who exerted
exceptional psychological control.”156
4. Psychotherapy Cults
Followers of psychotherapy cults espouse that their followers’ devotion leads to greater intellectual
enlightenment. 157 These groups are profit-motivated centers run by the unskilled who do more harm than
good.158
An example is the Sullivan Institute in Manhattan, New York, which was a community of middle-class
artists and professionals who lived together in the 1970s and ‘80s and engaged in unorthodox
psychoanalytic therapy.159 The collective included an estimated 200 members who lived in three buildings
on the Upper West Side and ran a political theater group in the East Village. 160 Children were separated
from parents.161 A former Sullivanian explained that the basic tenet of the teachings was that the nuclear
family was the “root of all evil.”162 Children were separated from their parents because it was preached that
they should not have special bonds with their parents. 163 Sexual promiscuity was strongly encouraged for
adults and minors.164 As a former member explained, “[e]veryone, even the kids, was supposed to have as
many ‘dates’ as possible. In one week, my son had dates with 23 different people. I didn’t want him to live
like that.”165 Married couples were encouraged to sleep with a different member of the opposite sex each
night. 166 Psychotherapy cults can cause harm to the members’ psyche. 167
5. Commercial Cults
Commercial cults recruit with a promise of profit for the individual. 168 Often the leaders build their
organization around pyramid schemes that depend upon recruitment of people to sell and purchase wares. 169
Their commercial product could be magazine subscriptions or any other goods.170 Their technique could be
door-to-door sales or word-of-mouth.171 The destructive nature of this category of cults is in the leaders’
treatment of the salespeople. 172 The salespeople are often manipulated through fear, guilt, and sometimes
physical and sexual abuse into selling products to the public to create revenue for the cult. 173

156
Id.
157
See HASSAN, supra note 55, at 86.
158
See id.
159
Amy B. Siskind –The Sullivanian Institute/Fourth Wall Community: The Relationship of Radical Individualism and Authoritarianism (Praeger:
Westport, Conn. 2003); reviewed by Daniel Shaw, 5 Cultic Stud. Rev. 333 (2006).
160
See Margaret Thaler Singer, Maurice K. Temerlin & Michael D. Langone, Psychotherapy Cults, 7 CULTIC STUD. J.101−25 (1990).
161
See id.
162
Singer et al., supra note 158.
163
In the formative years of the community (1957 to 1970), the leadership advocated that their patients either send their children to boarding
schools or hire full-time caregivers. In the later years (1971 to 1992), the Sullivanians reared children in communal households with one parent and
a group of same-sex roommates. Young children were separated from their parents and spent most of their time with paid caregivers and other
community children. Amy B. Siskind, Pathological Psychoanalysis: An Insider’s View of the Sullivanian? Fourth Wall Psychotherapy Community,
5 INT’ L J. CULTIC STUD. 45−51 (2014).
164
See Singer et al., supra note 158.
165
Id.
166
See id.
167
See id.
168
See HASSAN, supra note 55, at 87.
169
See id.
170
See id.
171
See id.
172
See id.
173
See id.

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D. Cults and the Law
Court cases reveal two legal impediments to prosecuting cult leaders and defending vulnerable adherents.
First, U.S. law strongly protects religion. 174 Second, U.S. evidence rules generally impair prosecutors’
ability to introduce evidence of brainwashing and coercion. 175
1. U.S. Law Strongly Protects Religion
In the United States, every person has the right to freely believe in and practice the religion of his or her
choice. 176 Furthermore, any religious group has the right to persuade and attract new members to its ranks. 177
This Constitutional right to freedom of religion has, at times, been misinterpreted. 178
Although the First Amendment, which describes the freedom of religion, is laudable in its conception,
deference to this constitutional right has impeded legal intervention when cults tilt towards
destructiveness.179 An American court has professed, “[t]he right to the free exercise of religion
unquestionably encompasses the right to preach, proselyte, and perform other similar religious
functions.”180 Courts have protected persons’ freedom to practice their religion, as our Constitution
provides, but at what cost?181 While defending religious liberty is a right that Americans should be proud
to protect, the right to proselytize should have limits. Similarly, the right of religious leaders to preach to
followers should be within the bounds of common dignity. 182
As an illustration, former members of the Unification Church brought an action against the Church for
fraud, false imprisonment, and intentional infliction of emotional distress. 183 Although the court was
sympathetic to claims of fraudulent inducement to join the Church, the court stopped short of granting the
plaintiffs a remedy. 184 In considering (in dicta) whether to criminalize brainwashing, the court found such
a solution too “coercive” because it “could result in the jailing of church members” and “would clearly
impose a greater burden on religion than would civil tort liability for fraud.”185
2. U.S. Evidence Rules Generally Impair Prosecutors’ Ability to Introduce Evidence of
Brainwashing and Coercion
The flip-side of prosecution also presents challenges. Those further down the command ladder of a cult
have been unable to rely upon undue influence or brainwashing as a defense against prosecution for their
criminal actions. 186 For instance in 1974, Patty Hearst was captured by the cult known as the Symbionese
Liberation Army (SLA).187 She was locked in a closet, starved, and raped. 188 Eventually her captors wore
her down, she became an SLA member, and she helped commit crimes perpetrated by the group. 189 Hearst

174
American jurisprudence stems from the constitutional tenet of free exercise of religion. U.S. CONST. amend. I.
175
See discussion infra.
176
U.S. CONST. amend. I; see also Laura B. Brown, Note, He Who Controls the Mind Controls the Body: False Imprisonment, Religious Cults,
and the Destruction of Volitional Capacity, 25 VAL. U. L. REV. 407, 410−11 (1991).
177
McDaniel v. Paty, 435 U.S. 618, 626 (1978); Brown, supra note 174.
178
See MARCI A. HAMILTON, GOD VS. THE GAVEL: THE PERILS OF EXTREME RELIGIOUS LIBERTY 18−21 (2d ed., Cambridge Univ. Press 2014).
179
See HASSAN, supra note 55, at 316.
180
McDaniel, 435 U.S. at 626.
181
See Scheflin, supra note 53, at 75.
182
See Michael D. Langone, Cults, Evangelicals, and the Ethics of Social Influence, 2 CULTIC STUD. J. 371−88 (1985) (advocating that
“evangelism, if practiced according to Christian tenets, should be ethical”).
183
See Molko v. Holy Spirit Assn., 762 P.2d 46 (Cal. 1988), cert. denied, 109 S.Ct. 2110 (U.S. May 22, 1989).
184
See id (“A government action burdening free exercise, even though justified by a compelling state interest, is impermissible if any action
imposing a lesser burden on religion would satisfy that interest.”).
185
Id. at 61 (Criminalizing brainwashing may not produce the best result, anyway. If the cult recruiter has also been subjected to brainwashing,
then perhaps the remedy does not fit the target.).
186
See HASSAN, supra note 55, at 313 (blaming the American Civil Liberties Union for being on the wrong side of these litigations).
187
U.S. v. Hearst, 466 F. Supp. 1068, 1071 (N.D. Cal. 1978), aff’d in part, vacated in part, 638 F.2d 1190 (9th Cir. 1980).
188
See id.
189
See id.

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was ultimately arrested in connection with a bank robbery. 190 At trial, her defense centered on the idea that
she had been brainwashed and, thus, should not be held responsible for her actions. 191 When she was
captured, brainwashing became a popular topic of news stories. 192 At her trial, the court, unconvinced that
brainwashing was a reason to excuse her criminal acts, convicted and imprisoned her.193
In 1990, a defendant in a criminal case claimed to have been “brainwashed” by the cult of Scientology. 194
The defendant tried to introduce evidence about the church’s use of influence techniques as a defense to
the government’s theory that he possessed the requisite intent to commit fraud. 195 The Fishman court
applied the legal standards of current rules of evidence, 196 which come from the seminal case of Frye v.
United States197 and United States v. Amaral.198 However, the trial court concluded that under existing
precedent, the expert testimony could not be introduced in evidence. 199
In 1993, the United States Supreme Court established a set of criteria for federal courts to follow when
considering whether to admit expert testimony during a trial known as the “Daubert test.”200 The Daubert
test did not relax the rules on expert testimony. 201 Put another way, in prosecuting someone lower on the
cult ladder, the standards of Daubert would cause an undue influence defense to fail. The most challenging
element of the Daubert test would be establishing that the expert testimony on brainwashing meets the
criteria of general acceptance in the scientific community. 202
For example, in a criminal fraud case against a former cultist, participation in a cult leader’s illegal scheme
was not excused by the court.203 The defendant, known as “Katie,” was convicted and sentenced on fraud
and conspiracy charges stemming from a scheme devised by the cult leader to take out education loans and
turn the money over to the cult. 204 Although she likely was psychologically coerced into committing the
crime, that coercion was no defense.

190
See id.
191
See id.
192
See id.
193
See HASSAN, supra note 55, at 84; United States v. Hearst, 412 F. Supp. 863, 870 (N.D. Cal. 1975) (the defense had argued “indicated that
closely related to the anticipated defense of coercion will be the question of whether the defendant was subjected to such intense mental and
psychological pressure by her captors as to have become ‘brainwashed’ by them and ‘converted’ to their cause.”).
194
United States v. Fishman, 743 F. Supp. 713 (N.D. Cal. 1990).
195
Dr. Margaret Singer, a well-known forensic psychologist, and Dr. Richard Ofshe, a social psychologist, were expected to testify. Singer was to
testify that “upon joining the Church of Scientology, defendant was subjected to intense suggestion procedures as well as other joining social and
behavioral influence processes.” Dr. Ofshe was expected to testify that “Scientology can induce a person to believe that they have the power to
control mental matter, energy, space and time.” Id. at 715.
196
Id. at 717 (citing Federal Rules of Evidence Rule 702, and explaining that pursuant to this rule, the proffered expert must have specialized
knowledge).
197
Id. (citing Fry v. United States, 293 F. 1013, 1014 (D.C. Cir. 1923)).
198
Id. (citing United States v. Amaral, 488 F.2d 1148 (9th Cir. 1973)). In synthesizing Amaral with Frye and the Rules of Evidence, the Fishman
court explained that the test is as follows “[f]or determining the admissibility of expert testimony from mental health professionals”: “that expert
testimony (1) comes from a qualified expert; (2) be of proper subject; (3) conform to a generally accepted explanatory theory; and (4) have probative
value that exceeds its prejudicial effect.” Id.
199
Id. at 721. The Fishman court held that under the Frye test, it would not “permit any evidence in support of a diminished capacity defense.” Id.
The Fishman court explained as follows: “Frye holds that ‘while courts will go a long way in admitting expert testimony deduced from a well
recognized scientific principle or discovery, the thing from which the deduction is made must be sufficiently established to have gained general
acceptance in the particular field in which it belongs.’” (quoting Fry v. United States, 293 F. 1013, 1014 (D.C. Cir. 1923)).
200
See Scheflin, supra note 53, at 71 (citing Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993)). The four-prong test is (a)
Whether the expert’s theory can be tested; (b) Whether the expert’s theory has been supported by publication or peer review; (c) Whether the
expert’s theory has a known error rate; and (d) Whether the expert’s theory is generally accepted in the relevant scienti fic community. Id.
201
See Scheflin, supra note 53, at 71 (citing Fishman, 743 F. Supp. at 713 (N.D. Ca. 1990)); Robidoux v. O’Brien, 643 F.3d 334 (1st Cir. 2011).
202
See Scheflin, supra note 53, at 71.
203
Lorna Goldberg, Influence of a Charismatic Antisocial Cult Leader: Psychotherapy with an Ex-Cultist Prosecuted for Criminal Behavior, 3
INT’ L J. CULTIC STUD. 15 (2012).
204
See id. at 17.

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The prosecution cannot rely on a psychological coercion theory to support its case either. United States v.
Kozminski set the standard for many years to come. 205 In that case, the defendants were charged with holding
two mentally-challenged farm workers in involuntary servitude. 206 The facts alleged were that the men
worked seven days a week, often seventeen hours a day, for essentially no pay.207 The Government relied
primarily upon the theory that defendants used psychological coercion to keep the men on the farm. 208 The
court held that the Government could not prove a violation of the defendants’ constitutional rights based
on this mental coercion alone; it also had to prove that defendants used or threatened to use physical or
legal coercion, which the prosecution could not do. 209
Successful prosecutions have utilized laws prohibiting certain illegal behaviors that religious organizations
sometimes engage in as part of a religious service. 210 For instance, where a religion included the ingestion
of an illegal substance, peyote, in its ceremonial rituals, a court (in a decision often referred to as the “peyote
case”) upheld an administrative decision denying adherents unemployment benefits when they were
terminated for work-related misconduct based on use of the drug. 211 The freedom of religion protections in
the constitution did not extend to them for engaging in illegal activity. 212 Behaviors such as stalking or rape
are also avenues for litigation. 213
In response to the “peyote case,” Congress passed the federal Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993
(“RFRA”).214 By passing RFRA, Congress made it more difficult to prosecute behavior claimed to be a
religious practice.215 Under it, courts were obligated to apply a more rigorous test (known as the
“compelling interest” test) against the government when it defended laws such as the peyote restriction. 216
Constitutional scholar Marci Hamilton claims that RFRA was “the most far-reaching statute in favor of
religious entities in United States history.” 217 The problem with this sweeping legislation, she argued, was
that it provided “blind accommodation . . . for dozens of religious groups—without asking whether
disabling every law in the country might be a mistake.” 218 Hamilton’s larger concern was that certain
religious groups brought harm upon their members under the guise of religious freedom, which was not
contemplated by our Founding Fathers, yet was sanctioned by RFRA.219

205
United States v. Kozminski, 487 U.S. 931, 933 (1988), superseded by statute, Victims of Trafficking & Violence Protection Act of 2000, infra.
The Kozminski court held: “Since the [lower court’s] jury instructions encompassed means of coercion other than actual or threatened physical or
legal coercion, the instructions may have caused respondents to be convicted for conduct that does not violate [the statutes] . The convictions must
therefore be reversed.” Kozminksi, 487 U.S. at 933. The Kozminski decision remained intact until the “TVPA expressly overturned the Supreme
Court’s narrow definition of ‘involuntary servitude’” Marley S. Weiss, Human Trafficking and Forced Labor: A Primer, 31 ABA J. LAB . & EMP.
L. 1, 31 (2015).
206
Kozminski, 487 U.S. at 934.
207
Id. at 935.
208
Id.
209
Id. at 944.
210
See Employment Div. v. Smith, 494 U.S. 872 (1990), superseded by statute, Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000,
Pub. L. No. 106-274, as recognized in Sossamon v. Texas, 563 U.S. 277(2011).
211
Id.
212
Id.
213
See Robin A. Boyle, Women, the Law, and Cults: Three Avenues of Legal Recourse – New Rape Laws, Violence Against Women Act, and
Antistalking Laws, 15 CULTIC STUD. J. (1998).
214
42 U.S.C. § 2000bb, bb-1 (2012) [hereinafter RFRA].
215
The “Congressional Findings” of the RFRA stated:
(4) in Employment Div. v. Smith. . . the Supreme Court virtually eliminated the requirement that the government justify burdens on religious
exercise imposed by laws neutral toward religion; and (5) the compelling interest test as set forth in prior Federal court rulings is a workable
test for striking sensible balances between religious liberty and competing prior governmental interests. 42 U.S.C. § 2000bb.
216
See HAMILTON, supra note 176, at 18−21.
217
Id. at 22.
218
Id.
219
See id. at 27−35.

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 15

Eventually, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down RFRA, 220 but Congress enacted Religious Land Use and
Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000 (“RLUIPA”) 221 to amend and retain parts of the former legislation. 222
RLUIPA focuses on land-use laws and makes it easier for religious landowners to get approval for zoning
law changes, for example. 223 One of the many problems with this legislation, Hamilton claims, is that mega
churches have taken advantage of the zoning laws and built extensively in communities, draining resources
for others.224
Successful prosecutions have more frequently occurred in extreme cases where there was evidence of
physical abuse, torture, and murder, so proving psychological coercion was not required in order to show
criminal liability. For instance, Paul Schaefer, leader of the cult formerly known as “Colonia Dignidad”
(now called “Villa Baviera”), was found guilty of sexually abusing twenty-five children and sentenced to
twenty years in prison.225 He was ordered to pay $1.4 million to his victims.226 When Augusto Pinochet
came to power in Chile, his regime used Schaefer’s compound as a torture center, subjecting victims to
brainwashing, electric shock, tranquilizers, and isolation. 227 While serving his sexual abuse sentence,
Schaefer was also sentenced to seven years for a murder committed while he operated Colonia Dignidad. 228
In another extreme case, a Norwegian father of thirteen children and adherent of the “Smiths Friends
Christian Community” was sentenced to four months in prison for physically abusing his children by
flogging them with coat hangers, lamp cables, yardsticks and birch rods over a fourteen-year period.229
On the civil side in the United States, former cult members have initiated suits based upon the wrongs done
to them. Recognizing the difficulty of asserting undue influence, plaintiffs base these lawsuits upon grounds
of lost wages, conversion of property and money, and psychological harm caused by the group’s
programs. 230 Such lawsuits have been brought against the Church of Scientology, Transcendental
Meditation-Ex, Werner Erhard for EST, and John Hanley for Lifespring. 231
A legal process used by youth who are nearing the age of majority and are trying to escape cults is to declare
emancipation.232 Youth who manage to escape cults can seek the assistance of U.S. laws to become legally
emancipated.233 FLDS youth have taken advantage of state laws that allow sixteen and seventeen-year-olds
to petition juvenile courts for emancipation from their parents. 234
Despite some successful criminal and civil lawsuits in the United States and abroad, the law does not go
far enough to deal with cults that are so highly destructive. In the Jonestown tragedy, over 900 people were
killed. 235 There were group suicides at the “Branch Davidian” compound in Waco, Texas, in 1992 and
“Heaven’s Gate” in the 1990s.236 The “Order of the Solar Temple,” geographically dispersed from Canada,

220
See City of Boerne v. Flores, 521 U.S. 507 (1997) (holding that RFRA exceeded enforcement powers of Congress).
221
Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act of 2000, 42 U.S.C. §§ 2000cc-c-5.
222
Id.
223
HAMILTON, supra note 176, at 188.
224
Id. at 123−26.
225
See discussion supra notes 88−108 and accompanying text.
226
See News Summaries, 5 CULTIC STUD. REV. 308 (2006).
227
See id. at 416.
228
See News Summaries, 8 CULTIC STUD. REV. 88 (2009).
229
See News Summaries, supra note 224, at 321−22.
230
See HASSAN, supra note 55.
231
Id.
232
See Robin A. Boyle, How Children in Cults May Use Emancipation Laws to Free Themselves, 16 CULTIC STUD. J. 1 (1999) [hereinafter
Emancipation].
233
See id.
234
See News Summaries, supra note 224. Some countries have clamped down with more restrictions after 9/11. In Australia, legislation now
designates religious groups as “terrorist” and bans them. Membership in these prohibited groups is met with punishment. Harsher security laws
trump other rights. Mutch, supra note 143, at 189.
235
See Robert S. Baron, Arousal, Capacity, and Intense Indoctrination, 18 CULTIC STUD. J. 172, 173 (2001).
236
See id. at 173.

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 16

Switzerland, to France, killed a total of seventy-four people in brutal and ritual deaths between 1994 and
1997.237 In 2000, more than 400 members of “The Movement for the Restoration of the 10 Commandments”
were brutally murdered. Another 300 or more were burned to death in a locked church building in
Uganda.238
Our current legal system seems inept with respect to prosecution of cult leaders. As I wrote in an article for
the Cultic Studies Journal back in 1998, “[t]here are no [U.S.] state or federal laws that prohibit cults.” 239
In that article, I described criminal statutes pertaining to rape, Violence Against Women Act, and anti-
stalking laws. Today, trafficking laws provide an additional avenue for prosecution.
II
Human Trafficking
It is difficult to calculate the number of people trafficked around the world because it is a hidden crime.
Unlike slavery of the American south before the Civil War, when plantations and slaves were out in the
open and could be counted, today’s enslavement is clandestine. At any given time, as many as 27 million
people around the globe are victims of human trafficking. 240 Where are trafficked victims? Anywhere and
everywhere. They could be in any country and in any state of America. 241 There is indication that they are
in “mines in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, fishing vessels off the coast of New Zealand, garment
factories in Jordan, the forests of Brazil, carpet factories in Nepal, agricultural fields in Florida, and
everywhere in between.”242 Traffickers and their victims continue to elude authorities. Less than one
percent, or one victim for every 2000, has been identified. 243
A. Laws Prohibiting Human Trafficking
1. International Laws
How is human trafficking defined? An accepted international definition of human trafficking is broad and
is provided in the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and
Children:
[T]he recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring (sic) or receipt of persons, by means of the
threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse
of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to
achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of
exploitation.244
The Protocol defines “exploitation” as “the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation,
forced labour (sic) or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs.” 245
While sex trafficking is what comes to mind when discussing human trafficking, there are several other
categories of trafficking, as our international and federal laws provide protections against the following: 246

237
See Violent Outcomes, supra note 1, at 287.
238
See id. at 288.
239
Boyle, supra note 211, at 1.
240
U.S. Dep’t of State, Trafficking in Persons Report (2013).
241
See UNICEF, http://www.unicefusa.org/mission/protect/
trafficking/end (last visited May 10, 2016).
242
Kelly Hyland & Kavitha Sreeharsha, Freedom for All: An Attorney’s Guide to Fighting Human Trafficking 1 (ABA 2015).
243
See id. at 2.
244
U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,
Supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime, art. 3(a), U.N. Doc. 55/25 (Nov. 15, 2000) ,
http://www.ohchr.org/
EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/ProtocolTrafficking In ersons.aspx (last visited on May 10, 2016).
245
Id.
246
See HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 11.

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 17

workplace labor,247 domestic servitude, 248 debt servitude,249 and child soldiering. 250 Also criminalized are
acts involving child sexual exploitation, forced marriage, servile forms of marriage, child marriage, and
forced prostitution.251
2. Protections for Trafficking Victims Under International Law
Trafficking victims, therefore, have rights under international law. 252 Further protections are given to child
victims of trafficking, such as rules and obligations specified in the Convention on the Right of the Child
which provides that “the best interests of the child are to be at all times paramount.” 253 According to the
Convention, children trafficked from other countries are to be given the same legal protections as nationals,
including rights to privacy and physical and moral integrity. 254 Privacy rights are particularly important to
trafficked victims to prevent further humiliation and harm. 255
3. Legal Effect of the International Treaties
What is the effect of international treaties? Countries (referred to as “States”) that are signatories to the
treaties are obligated to conform their national legislation to those of the international law, staying
consistent with the standards of the international treaty. 256 Designated international courts all have
enforcement power making signatories accountable. 257 There are related treaties that can be used to combat
and prevent trafficking.258
Also significant, human rights treaties contain substantive reference to trafficking. 259 International
community organizations recognize the need to prevent and combat trafficking and provide protections to
victims.260
Decisions from legal cases of international tribunals can serve as a source of legal authority by U.S courts. 261
The European Court of Human Rights:
affirmed that States are required to “take such steps as are necessary and available in order to secure
relevant evidence, whether or not it is located in the territory of the investigating State” and that
“in addition to the obligation to conduct a domestic investigation into events occurring on their
own territories, member States are also subject to a duty in cross-border trafficking cases to

247
In trafficked workplace labor, fear is imposed upon workers causing them to fear leaving.
248
In domestic servitude, workers are forced to provide cleaning of the home, cooking, and childcare.
249
In debt servitude, traffickers use an alleged debt to force victims into labor, often the debt is incurred through emigration.
250
In child soldiering, youth are recruited to fight for armed causes.
251
U.N. HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER, Human Rights and Human Trafficking: Fact Sheet No. 36 (last visited May 10,
2016) [hereinafter U.N. Fact Sheet No. 36].
252
See id. at 6.
253
See id. at 7. The Convention on the Rights of the Child has not been ratified by the United States, despite it being the most widely ratified
human rights treaty in history. UNICEF, http://www.unicef.org/crc/index_73549.html (last visited July 12, 2016).
254
See id.
255
Similar provisions for trafficked children are provided elsewhere—such as The Protocol and Convention on Action against Trafficking in
Human Beings. See U.N. Fact Sheet No. 36, supra note 249, at 7.
256
Id.
257
See id. at 9.
258
See id. (examples include: the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, the United Nations Convention against
Corruption, and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court).
259
See id. at 5 (The treaties are (1) the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (art. 6), and (2) the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (art. 35).).
260
See id. ((1) Council of Europe’s Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, and (2) the European Union Directive. Also the
United Nations General Assembly and the Human Rights Council have affirmed that trafficking violates and impairs fundamental human rights.).
261
Id. at 9, 13 (citing Rantsev v. Cyprus and Russia, decided by the European Court of Human Rights, Application No. 25965/04, Judge ment of
January 7, 2010, para. 286).

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 18

 cooperate effectively with the relevant authorities of other States concerned in the investigation of
events which occurred outside their territories.”262
There are influential documents that do not have enforcement power, but nevertheless help form the
international legal framework. Examples include the guidelines on child trafficking issued by the United
Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and those on trafficking and asylum issued by the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 263 These guidelines can serve as persuasive authority
for legislation and models for best practices in combating trafficking.
4. United States Laws Prohibiting Human Trafficking
In 2000, the U.S. Congress reacted to human rights abuses by passing the Victims of Trafficking and
Violence Protection Act (TVPA). 264 The goals of the federal legislation in the United States are similar to
those of the international laws. The purpose of the TVPA was to “combat trafficking in persons.” 265 Since
2000, the TVPA was reauthorized by Congress four times. 266 Like international law, there are essentially
two categories of crimes affected by this legislation: sex trafficking and labor. 267
In addition to the federal statute, the Obama Administration, announcing a plan to coordinate U.S. federal
agencies, denounced trafficking by stating that “[h]uman trafficking is a denial of our common humanity
and an affront to our ideals as Americans.” 268 The Obama Administration declared human trafficking “a
crime that involves the exploitation of a person for the purpose of compelled labor or a commercial sex
act.”269 The aim of the federal legislation was tri-fold: prevention, protection, and prosecution. 270 The
Obama Administration adds to the so-called “3 ‘p’s” a fourth goal: partnership.271
On the federal level, prosecution for trafficking is coordinated by the Human Trafficking Prosecution Unit
of Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Rights Division. 272 The DOJ provides technical assistance with
coordinates with the U.S. Attorney’s Offices. 273 Individual U.S. states have also enacted their own statutes
for protecting trafficked persons. 274

262
Id. at 13.
263
Id. at 10.
264
Victims of Trafficking & Violence Protection Act of 2000, Pub. L. No. 106-386, 114 Stat. 1464 (2000) (codified as amended in various titles
of U.S.C.). The Act is comprised of three divisions—(i) the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, 22 U.S.C. §§ 7101−7110 (2000), (ii)
Violence Against Women Act of 2000, 42 U.S.C.A. § 13981 (West 2015), and the trafficking sections begin with § 14044 et. seq. (Combat Human
Trafficking Act) and (iii) Miscellaneous Provisions, 18 U.S.C.A. § 1596 and “Sex Trafficking of Children or by Force, Fraud, or Coercion,” 18
U.S.C.A. § 1591.
265
Aguirre v. Best Care Agency, Inc., 961 F. Supp. 2d 427, 459 (E.D.N.Y. 2013) (quoting H.R. Conf. Rep. N o. 106-939, at 3 (2000)).
266
See Federal Strategic Action Plan on Services for Victims of Human Trafficking in the United States, Coordination, Collaboration, Capacity,
at 5 (2013-2017) [hereinafter Federal Action Plan]. Congress supported the goals of the legislation by reauthorizing it in 2003, 2005, 2008, and
2013. Id. Bills are pending in Congress now for approval. Currently up for reauthorization is the Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking
Prevention Act, 42 U.S.C. § 5701 et seq., which expired in September 2013. The purpose of the federal statute is to provide shelter and services to
runaway youth. Bills S. 262 and H.R. 1779 are under consideration. See generally UNICEF, https://www.unicefusa.org(last visited Apr. 23, 2015).
267
See Federal Action Plan, supra note 264, at 5.
268
Id. at 5.
269
Id.
270
See HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 3.
271
See Federal Action Plan, supra note 264, at 5.
272
HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 39.
273
Id. at 41.
274
For instance, in New York State, trafficked victims convicted of prostitution are permitted to move to vacate the judgment pursuant to Criminal
Procedure Law § 440.10(i). The New York State Legislature updated this statutory provision when it passed the Trafficking Victims Protection and
Justice Act in 2015. For further information, go to http://www.nysenate.gov/
legislation/bills/2015/s7 (last visited on May 10, 2015). See also New Report on Remedies for Criminalized Human Trafficking Victims Released,
CUNY SCHOOL OF LAW (Feb. 24, 2014), www.cuny.edu/mu/law/2014/02/24/new-report-on-remedies-for-criminalized-human-trafficking-victims-
released (last visited on May 10, 2016).

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 19

Worldwide, it is estimated that approximately 4,000 traffickers are convicted every year, but only 138 were
convicted federally in the United States, and this was from the sex industry. 275 The United States is missing
a large percentage of labor traffickers. 276
5. How U.S. Federal Law Is Changing
The Federal trafficking statutes can be used to expand the remedies available to cult victims and to
prosecutors seeking to hold cult leaders accountable for their criminal acts. Remedies are no longer limited
to those of the federal case of Kozminski, as discussed above, because courts have expanded the breadth of
what constitutes forced labor in reliance upon the TVPA. Section 1589 of the TVPA provides:
(a) Whoever knowingly provides or obtains the labor or services of a person by any one of, or by
any combination of, the following means—
...
(3) by means of the abuse or threatened abuse of law or legal process; or
(4) by means of any scheme, plan, or pattern intended to cause the person to believe that, if that
person did not perform such labor or services, that person or another person would suffer serious
harm or physical restraint. . . .277
For instance, teachers who came from the Philippines to work in the United States filed actions against a
teacher recruiting service alleging fraud and violations of TVPA and other criminal laws. 278 Plaintiffs
argued that they paid steep recruitment fees in order to teach in the United States and that they were induced
by fraud and verbal threats.279 The defendants argued that the human trafficking statutes did not apply to
teachers, and, instead, were meant only to apply to those in the sex trade or other forms of nonprofessional
labor.280 The court disagreed. 281 In relying upon the TVPA, the court reasoned that the “TVPA not only
protects victims from the most heinous human trafficking crimes, but also various additional types of fraud
and extortion leading to forced labor.”282
In another case, Menocal v. GEO Group, Inc., detainees at a for-profit immigration detention facility
brought an action against the facility for their meager compensation in the Voluntary Work Program. 283
They were performing menial jobs without compensation and were held under threat of solitary
confinement.284 Citing the TVPA (among other statutes), the plaintiffs alleged that by requiring them to
perform manual labor under threats, defendants knowingly provided or obtained the “labor or services of a
person . . . by means of force, threats of force, physical restraint, or threats of physical restraint.” 285
Defendants argued that the TVPA was intended to apply to trafficking persons for labor and/or sex. 286 In

275
See HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 3−4.
276
See id. at 4.
277
18 U.S.C.A. Sec. 1589 (2015). Furthermore, section 1589 (c) (1) provides:
The term “abuse or threatened abuse of law or legal process” means the use or threatened use of a law or legal process, wheth er
administrative, civil, or criminal, in any manner or for any purpose for which the law was not designed, in order to exert pressure on another
person to cause that person to take some action or refrain from taking some action.
The term “serious harm” means any harm, whether physical or nonphysical, including psychological, financial, or reputational harm, that
is sufficiently serious, under all the surrounding circumstances, to compel a reasonable person of the same background and in the same
circumstances to perform or to continue performing labor or services in order to avoid incurring that harm.
278
Nunag-Tanedo v. East Baton Rouge Parish School Bd, 790 F. Supp. 2d 1134 (C.D. Cal. 2011).
279
Id. at 1143−44.
280
Id. at 1144.
281
Id. at 1146.
282
See id. at 1143 (holding that under 18 U.S.C. Sec. 1589 plaintiffs sufficiently alleged that defendants violated the TVPA).
283
Menocal v.GEO Group, Inc., 113 F. Supp. 3d 1125 (D. Colo. July 6, 2015).
284
Id.
285
Id. at 1133 (citing 18 U.S.C. § 1589 (a). Section 1595 provides the civil remedy.).
286
Id. at 1132.

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 20

holding for the plaintiffs, the court reasoned that the language at issue under the TVPA is “broader than the
language at issue in Kozminski” and other cases.287
In synthesizing case holdings, courts are employing an expansive view of the rights of victims under the
TVPA to seek justice. The evolving case law pertaining to the U.S. federal trafficking statutes opens the
door for potential litigation strategy in cases seeking justice for the ills of cults.
B. Cults Compared with Human Trafficking Rings
Cultic organizations and trafficking rings have much in common. Much like cult adherents, trafficked
victims are threatened by their traffickers with serious consequences should they escape and seek help. 288
Not all trafficked persons live in isolation, 289 but, much like those living under the undue influence exhibited
in cults, trafficked persons are fearful of reaching out for help. 290
1. Physical Force, Threats, Malnourishment
Both cult leaders and traffickers use actual physical assaults, including beatings, stabbings, burnings, and
sexual abuse,291 to maintain control over their victims. Traffickers are known to threaten harm as well, both
by making direct threats to victim and his or her family,292 and by inflicting harm on others in the victim’s
presence. 293 Similarly, as was illustrated above by the story of Elissa Wall—who was threatened with an
altar ritual that would result in her death for having had an adulterous affair and leaving her husband—cult
adherents are subjected to threats of violence in various ways.
Malnourishment is common among both trafficked persons 294 and cult members. Traffickers withhold food
as a form of punishment.295 For example, some trafficked factory workers have reported subsisting on broth
and rice for a year, and domestic workers have had nutritional meals withheld entirely. 296 Similarly, cult
adherents are, at times, pressured to forgo nutrition. For example, members of the isolationist group “The
Body” pressured a member to take her infant son (who also happened to be the child of the cult’s leader)
off of solid food and formula and sustain him on breast milk only. 297 Sadly, the mother could not produce
adequate milk and the child died of malnutrition before turning a year old.298
2. Psychological Coercion and Surveillance
Bonding and dependency, the twisted result of an abusive relationship, is common among both cultic and
trafficked victims. “[P]sychological coercion has proven to be just as powerful as physical force and used
more often, creating invisible barriers to a trafficked person’s escape.” 299 Persons lured to their traffickers
through fake romantic relationships have continued to remain loyal despite the illegality of trafficking. 300
Similarly, FLDS member Wall explained that her fellow church members lied at trial to defend the church,
despite the widespread practice of forced marriage to underage teenage girls. 301

287
Id. at 1133.
288
HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 3.
289
Id.
290
Id.
291
See id. at 22−23; Ian Urbina, Forced Labor for Cheap Fish: ‘Sea Slaves’ Endure Danger and Debt Trawling for Pet Food, N.Y. TIMES, July
27, 2015, at A1 (describing a first-hand account of kidnapping, captivity, violence).
292
See HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 23.
293
Id.
294
Id. at 24.
295
Id.
296
Id.
297
HAMILTON, supra note 176, at 72−73.
298
Id.
299
HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 26.
300
Id. at 30.
301
See WALL, supra note 20.

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 21

One result of psychological coercion is that victims may say things or exhibit behaviors that, perpetrators
can argue, signal their consent to their circumstances. In trafficking cases, international human rights law
has recognized that one cannot consent to having his or her freedom taken away. 302 Thus, the prosecution
can use these laws to attack a victim’s expressions of consent, especially if the victim’s freedom was
obviously restricted (for example, through locked doors or shackles). However, alleged “consent” of cult
devotees is often a more challenging hurdle for prosecutors. While the law recognizes that one cannot
consent to physical and mental abuse in most cases, cult leaders may argue for a different understanding of
consent when the “abuse” is part of an allegedly religious belief. Because of the protection and deference
afforded to religious freedoms and freedom of expression inside and outside of the United States, these
arguments may resonate with the courts. Further, cult leaders can point to the voluntary nature of joining a
cult in the first place. Often, ex-cultists later claim that they could not have, in the legal sense, consented to
joining the cultic group because they were uninformed about its tactics when they were considering
membership, and thus could not make an informed choice. Yet, this can be a difficult argument to make,
particularly if visible physical restraints, like those observed in trafficking cases, did not limit the member’s
ability to leave the group.
Much like cult adherents, trafficked persons are under surveillance. Traffickers watch their captives through
video cameras in massage parlors, through human watch as armed guards around a work site, and by other
means. 303
3. Labor and Profit Motives
Both traffickers and cult leaders are known to exploit their victims for profit. Labor traffickers, for example,
may force their victims to endure up to eighteen-hour workdays, often under grueling conditions, only to
have their earnings taken by the trafficker at the end of the day. 304 Sex traffickers force their victims to
engage in sexual activities for the trafficker’s income. 305 Harsh conditions can be inflicted as punishment
for those who are noncompliant with the rules. 306 Similarly, cults need to survive somehow and leaders
often rely upon the labor of followers, including the children. 307 Some cults run businesses as a means of
income, such as the pyramid schemes described above. 308
Both traffickers and cult leaders also use economics to coerce their victims. For example, traffickers may
overcharge a person for something (such as passage to the United States), such that the person is left with
a debt to the trafficker that is impossible to pay down and requires the person to remain under the trafficker’s
control.309 Similarly, cult victims may have turned over mortgages and life savings to their ringleaders, such
that they do not feel they can afford to leave the group.310
Viewed more broadly, cults and trafficking rings are similar in that they both function as businesses. When
the dogma of cults is stripped away, it is clear that their leaders run a business—whether it is a church in a
U.S. rural or urban town, 311 a Jonestown in a developing country that housed a 1,000 people, 312 or an
overcrowded apartment in Manhattan313—just like traffickers run a business. Cults are organizations that
must be managed; their members are fed and sheltered, have jobs, and provide some form of education for

302
See U.N. Fact Sheet No. 36, supra note 249, at 3−4.
303
See HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 23.
304
Id. at 24.
305
Id. at 23.
306
Id. at 24.
307
See HASSAN, supra note 40.
308
Id.
309
HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 29−30.
310
See id. at 41.
311
See Emancipation, supra note 230. When interviewing subjects for that article, the religious cults were described by the former members as
businesses.
312
See supra Part I.
313
See supra Part I.

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 22

their young.314 The devotee, in some way, contributes to the economic functioning of the cult. 315 As one
former cultist expressed:
I now understand that I was used as a tool to serve the leader’s need for increased membership and therefore
increased income. I was in a community that valued spirituality over materialism with double standards. As
‘co-workers,’ most of us lived very modestly, giving whatever we could to support the leader’s lifestyle. 316
4. Fraudulent Recruitment
The tactics of traffickers are much like those of cult recruiters. Both use fraud as a recruitment tool to
deceive their target. Some traffickers lure in victims with the pretense of a friendship, romance, or
mentorship, but the end result could be a prostitution ring.317 Some traffickers promise jobs and assistance
with emigration to another town or country; sometimes traffickers even seal their alleged agreement in
writing or by verbal contract.318 Traffickers use traditional forms of publicity such as ads in the newspaper
or other promotions and word-of-mouth.319 What trafficked victims are not told, however, is that traffickers
may have created false identifications for them which can later be used to coerce the victims (who fear the
trafficker will report the false identification to authorities). 320 Trafficked victims are also not told that their
traffickers may withhold their true passports once they have emigrated. 321 And, of course, trafficked persons
are not told of the abuse they are likely to face if they are being trafficked for labor or sex, for example.
Just as traffickers have posed as boyfriend/
girlfriends or parental figures to entice persons into their ring, cults may use flirtation and sex as lures. For
instance, in the cult known as “Children of God,” recruiters attracted new members using a technique called
“flirty fishing.”322 Flirty fishing involved using young members as prostitutes to entice others to join the
group.323 Another technique, known as “love bombing,” involves “an exchange of affection (verbally and
through smiles) that failed to express genuine intimacy or connection to others.” 324
Both traffickers and cult leaders rely on the Internet to fraudulently recruit members. The Internet is the
“latest hot spot for promoting global trafficking and recruitment of women and children.”325 It is especially
used to advertise “businesses” offering women and girls as brides for marriage; these “businesses” are
actually sex trafficking operations in disguise. 326 Analogously, some cults have used the internet to attract
followers. Members of Heaven’s Gate, for example, lured followers by broadcasting their apocalyptic
doctrine over the Internet.327 The doctrine advised listeners to leave the earth via a spacecraft behind the

314
See supra Part I.
315
See supra Part I.
316
Colleen Russell, Touched: Disconfirming Pathogenic Beliefs of Thought Reform Through the Process of Acting, 9 I NT’ L CULTIC SUTD. ASS’ N
106, 112 (2010) (recollecting Eckankar in Southern California).
317
HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 25.
318
Id. at 24.
319
Id.; Ellen Barry, A Town Where Human Trafficking Corrupts All, N.Y. TIMES, July 24, 2015, at A1 (describing a “predatory operation of
considerable scale” where traffickers use high-pressure tactics in a pyramid scheme).
320
HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 26.
321
Id. at 24−25, 26.
322
Miriam Williams Boeri & Karen Pressley, Creativity and Cults from Sociological and Communication Perspectives: The Processes Involved
in the Birth of a Secret Creative Self, 9 CULTIC STUD. REV.173, 192 (2010); Christina Arnold, Human Trafficking as a Commercial Cult Mind
Control Phenomenon, VIMEO (July 5, 2014) (vimeo.com/102628 104) (presenting on abuses in Children of God). Arnold is the Founder/Board
President of Preventhumantrafficking.org.
323
See James D. Chancellor, A Response to Perry Bulwer’s Evaluation of ‘Life in the Family,’ 6 CULTIC STUD. REV. 160, 162 (2007).
324
See Russell, supra note 314, at 113 (quoting Loomis).
325
Susan Tiefenbrun, The Saga of Susannah A U.S. Remedy for Sex Trafficking in Women: The Victims of Trafficking and Violence Pr otection
Act of 2000, 2002 UTAH L. REV. 107, 119 (2002).
326
Id.
327
Luis Santamaria del Rio, The Internet as a New Place for Sects, 7 CULTIC STUD. REV. 20, 23 (2008).

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 23

comet Haley-Bopp.328 Their details of intending suicide were so specific that another individual not living
in their compound committed suicide by following their web-based instructions to “exit.”329
5. Isolation
Both traffickers and cultic organizations use physical and psychological isolation as a tactic for controlling
their victims. Traffickers restrict communication between their victims and victims’ families, and they
physically segregate their victims in living and working quarters that are apart from mass society. 330 Cult
researchers believe that some destructive cults continue to exist in isolated communities, likely depriving
children and adults of their basic human rights. 331 Often, cults are physically set apart from society; they
may be geographically separated in a rural area or, if located inside an urban area, the adherents live in
close proximity to one another and are coached not to interact with non-member neighbors.332 Cult members
are often told not to associate with nonmembers, particularly family members who are not part of the cult. 333
This isolation distances the member from the outside world and makes it easier for him or her to be
controlled.334
6. Shaming Tactics
Both traffickers and cults may gain control of their victims by shaming. Trafficked individuals are
threatened with exposure back home of the forced sex acts they have performed or the lack of money they
have produced.335 Taking advantage of the pride of the individual, traffickers exploit this vulnerability by
threatening to shame them at home. 336 Traffickers have resorted to blackmail, threatening to send video or
photographs home. 337 Similarly, cults have publicly humiliated their members to set examples of
behavior.338
C. Human Trafficking As Distinguishable From Other Crimes
Human trafficking can easily be confused with related crimes. It is important to understand that the crux of
the crime of human trafficking is not the transportation of persons, but the use of force to obtain labor or
service of a person.339 Unlike other crimes that require the offender to take the victim across a jurisdictional
border (for example, from one state within the United States to another, or from one country to another),
the international definition of human trafficking does not require a cross-border transgression. 340 In fact,
“[g]lobally, 29 percent of trafficked persons are enslaved in the area where they normally reside.” 341
Nor is human trafficking the same as migrant smuggling, although traffickers can be charged with
smuggling. Again, central to the crime of trafficking is what happened once the victims were enslaved.
Thus, smuggling, though also a crime involving deceitful transport, is not the same thing as trafficking. 342

328
Id.
329
Id.
330
See HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 28.
331
See Bulwer, supra note 79, at 144 (referring The Family); Arnold, supra note 320 (describing how she was isolated and had no money, but
wanted to “get out” of her cult).
332
Telephone Interview with Mike Kropveld, supra note 96.
333
Id.
334
Id.
335
See HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 27−28.
336
See id. at 28.
337
Id.
338
See Bulwer, supra note 79 (discussion re: Berg and Merry).
339
See HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 31.
340
See U.N. Fact Sheet No. 36, supra note 249, at 3.
341
HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 31 (citing Int’l Labour Org., Global Estimate of Forced Labour (2012)).
342
See HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 31; U.N. Fact Sheet 36, supra note 249, at 3.

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 24

Trafficking is also distinguishable from prostitution. Prostitution, whether legal or not in its jurisdiction, is
viewed as a consensual act between adults. 343 Sex trafficking, in contrast, is forced prostitution by an
unwilling member.344
Finally, trafficking is not the same thing as child labor. Sadly, some countries outside of the United States
do not have laws that protect children from working as laborers in dangerous conditions. 345 Families that
have their children work in impoverished countries for low wage and for long hours in harmful conditions
fall outside of what is considered trafficking. 346
III
Using Human Trafficking Strategies to Combat Destructive Cults
Despite legislation, a high number of trafficking victims go undetected and evade authorities, 347 as do cults
victims and their leaders. Critics complain that not enough resources have been expended to prosecute
human traffickers, rendering the laws ineffective. 348 Significant resources and effort should be devoted to
preventing and combating both traffickers and cults.
A. Applying Criminal Trafficking Statutes to Prosecute Cult Leaders
Depending upon the criminal acts perpetrated by the cult leader, conceivably various statutory sections of
the trafficking laws would be violated. 349 For instance, cults that rely on sex to recruit new members may
be committing illegal “commercial sex acts” which are defined in the anti-trafficking statute as “any sex
act on account of which anything of value is given to or received by any person.” 350 The phrase “anything
of value” could translate to the cult context if that phrase is read as encompassing a broad range of benefits
brought to a cult through sexual exploitation of its adherents to recruit new members.
The provisions that protect children from sex trafficking provide, in relevant part, that a person may not
“knowingly. . . . (2) benefit[] financially or by receiving anything of value, from participation in a venture
which has engaged in an act described in violation of paragraph (1),”351 which, in turn, prohibits
transporting, but also recruiting, enticing, or harboring a minor. 352 This language is also broad enough that
it could be used to prosecute cults. Specifically, it could be used to prosecute a leader that receives
“benefits” (which includes not just money but “anything of value”) from the transport of minors.
Anti-trafficking laws can also be used to prosecute cults in situations where cult leaders inflict “threats of
serious harm to or physical restraint against” any person353 or threaten to engage the “legal process.” 354 The
statutory definition of “abuse or threatened abuse of law or legal process” is very broad and encompasses
both the “use” or “threatened use” of “law or legal process”—in any conceivable category—administrative,
civil, or criminal. 355 It is meant to protect victims when traffickers are abusing the legal process “for any
purpose of which the law was not designed” or to “exert pressure.”356

343
U.N. Fact Sheet 36, supra note 249, at 41.
344
See HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 31.
345
See id. at 32.
346
See id.
347
See id. at 38.
348
See Tiefenbrun, supra note 323.
349
See, e.g., 18 U.S.C. § 1589(a), an omnibus provision prohibiting forced labor, and other provisions of TVPA, discussed infra.
350
22 U.S.C.A. § 17102 (West 2015). Defined in the anti-trafficking statute as “any sex act on account of which anything of value is given to or
received by any person.” The phrase “anything of value” could translate to the cult context if that phrase is read as encompassing a broad range of
benefits brought to a cult through sexual exploitation of its adherents to recruit new members.
351
18 U.S.C.A. § 1591(2) (West 2015).
352
See id. § 1591(a)(1).
353
Id. § 1591(e)(2)(A).
354
Id. § 1591(e)(2)(C).
355
Id. § 1591(e)(1).
356
Id.

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 25

The statutory definition of “serious harm” is broad and encompasses “any harm,” including physical,
psychological, and other nonphysical harms. 357 Alternatively, if the victim is a minor and was “caused to
engage in a commercial sex act,” the cult leader can also be punished. 358
In passing the anti-trafficking laws, Congress recognized that “[t]raffickers often make representations to
other victims that physical harm may occur to them or others should the victim escape or attempt to escape”
and that “such representations can have the same coercive effects on victims.” 359 Using that sentiment and
the statute (in particular, the “psychological harm” language), cult prosecutors could encourage courts to
expand the restrictive common law regarding mind control that is currently available.
Finally, prosecutors could utilize the portions of the anti-trafficking laws related to prohibiting certain
businesses to prosecute cults. As noted, cults, like trafficking rings, are businesses. 360 Whether cult leaders
run a commercial enterprise in which followers directly sell to the public, or they coerce their followers
into donating their labor and money to the organization, the group runs as a business. Given the expansive
language in the trafficking statutes, a creative prosecutor would not have trouble explaining how a cult
functioned as a business, how the adherents were an integral part of that business, and how the leader
exploited the adherents for labor, sex, or both through that business.
B. Suggestions for Expanding Resources to Identify and Support Cult Victims
1. Violence Against Women
Under international law, states are obligated to investigate and prosecute violence against women. 361
Victims of any international crime, including human trafficking, have the right to seek and obtain
reparations.362 Given the different treatment that women receive in cults (often harsher than what their
fellow male members receive), these services should be provided to women who leave cults.
These services could be modeled after those already being provided to women who have overcome other
forms of trauma, such as domestic abuse. For example, in U.S. states such as New York, programs are
developing to provide counseling and other assistance to trafficked women. 363 Those who have been in
prostitution rings have protections, under state law, from being prosecuted for crimes they were forced to
commit.364 In 2007, the New York legislature passed a statute that establishes an interagency task force,
including the Division of Criminal Justice Service and the Office for Temporary and Disability
Assistance.365 Currently, eight other state agencies participate in the task force. 366 Charges of the unified
taskforce include the collection of data on the nature of human trafficking, and the identification of
programs for victims. 367 The resources being spent developing these programs could be shared with
programs supporting former cult members if cults are held accountable under the justice system.

357
Id. § 1591(e)(4).
358
See id. § 1591(a).
359
22 U.S.C.A. § 7101(7) (Westlaw 2015).
360
See, e.g., supra note 318 and accompanying text.
361
See U.N. Facts Sheet No. 36, supra note 249, at 28.
362
REDRESS, What is Reparation?, www.redress.org/what-is-reparation/what-is-reparation (last visited May 10, 2016) (citing Basic Principles and
Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Violations of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, 2005 UN
General Assembly).
363
New York Social Services Law § 483-ee (West 2016) (effective October 2015, this statute established an interagency task force to assist
trafficked persons).
364
See id.
365
Id.
366
N.Y. ST. OFF. OF THE ATT’ Y GEN., Fighting Human Trafficking in New York State, http://www.ag.ny.gov/ht/fighting-human-trafficking-new-
york-state (last visited Apr. 24, 2016).
367
See id.

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 26

 2. Training Programs
Training programs educating attendees about trafficking prevention are now being offered abroad and in
the United States, and they should continue to be developed. They should also be expanded to include
information about destructive cults. Educators, hospital administrators, and others who are in frequent
contact with immigrants and other populations vulnerable to trafficking should be trained to recognize the
signs of trafficking.368 Specifically, training in the professional fields of “health, education, immigration,
labor and employment, social service, and corporate sectors”369 is needed. In the United States, the
Department of Justice provides funding for human trafficking task forces, which pool together resources
from law enforcement, prosecutorial offices, women services, housing shelters, public health agencies, and
other agencies. 370
The trafficking task forces should become familiar with International Cultic Studies Association’s
(“ICSA”) work with cultic groups. Formed in 1979, ICSA provides extensive counseling services and
public education about cults.371 Although based in the United States, it has been holding conferences
internationally. ICSA is “a global network of people concerned about psychological manipulation and abuse
in cultic or high-demand groups, alternative movements, and other environments.” 372 ICSA offers help to
former members of cultic groups and their families. Through international and domestic conferences, as
well as small group workshops, ICSA provides education about cultic groups. 373 It also fosters research and
publications through its academic journals. 374 ICSA’s website includes an extensive library of articles and
books.375
Another resource for cultic members and their families is Info Secte Cult in Montreal, Canada. 376 “Info
Secte Cult is a non-profit charitable organization founded in 1980 based in Montreal (Quebec, Canada) that
offers help and information about cults, new religious movements and related groups and subjects.” 377 Info
Secte Cult, like ICSA, provides an online library. 378
3. Providing Victims’ Rights to Former Cult Members
As victims’ rights continue to develop abroad and in the United States, they should be considered in the
cult context as well. Under both international and U.S. law, trafficked victims are protected from being
prosecuted for crimes they were forced to commit. 379 In the international arena, the Recommended
Principles and Guidelines advises that “trafficked persons [should not be] prosecuted for violations of
immigration laws or for the activities they are involved in as a direct consequence of their situation as
trafficked persons.”380 It is time that the same be recommended for victims of cults in recognition of the
power of undue influence.
Victims of cults should have other legal protections already afforded to trafficked persons as well. For
instance, international law provides that trafficked victims are entitled to participate in legal proceedings
safely and being fully informed about the legal process.381 In the United States, some states have enacted

368
See HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 4.
369
Id.
370
Id. at 39.
371
INT’ L CULTIC STUD. ASS’N, supra note 6.
372
Id.
373
See generally id.
374
Id.
375
Id.
376
INFO SECTE CULT, www.infocult.org (last visited May 10, 2016).
377
Id.
378
Id.
379
See U.N. Fact Sheet 36, supra note 249, at 17.
380
Id. at 18. The Trafficking Protocol does not specifically address prosecution but makes a similar recommendation for countries to implement
domestic legislation.
381
See id. at 15.

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 27

trafficking statutes to protect victims in similar ways,382 and protecting the rights of trafficked victims is a
developing legislative concern. 383 For example, in New York, if a person is convicted of prostitution but
has been coerced into the commercial act as a result of being trafficked, then he or she may file a post-
judgment motion in state court to vacate the conviction384 where the charge was for “loitering for the
purpose of engaging in a prostitution offense” 385 or “prostitution.”386 Similarly, when cult adherents are
charged with crimes that they were duped into committing because of the power of undue influence, they
too should be immune from punishment.
4. Sharing Resources With Programs That Help Identify Child Victims
International law provides special measures for trafficked children to be afforded their true identity and
efforts are made to obtain correct information so that these children are correctly identified. 387 Some cults
also strip their followers of their names and identities. Often they are given new names. 388 They are groomed
differently and given different clothing than they wore when they were their former selves. 389 When
appropriate, children defecting from cults, or those gaining emancipation status, should be provided similar
assistance.
C. A Case in Point
A case from Atlanta, Georgia, is one example of how trafficking laws were used to prosecute a leader who
ran a commercial enterprise that could also be characterized as a “commercial cult.”390 This ringleader,
Jimme Lee Jones, often referred to religious scripture knowing that certain recruits would identify with
religion.391 Jones also rigidly controlled the recruitment and operations of a modeling agency, exploiting
the models and subjecting them to physical and sexual abuse and forced prostitution. 392 It could be
categorized as a “commercial cult.”393
Rachel Thomas was a college student in Atlanta who was approached by Jones on campus claiming to be
a modeling agent.394 Two young women also approached Thomas, and they vouched for the man. 395 They
convinced Thomas to sign a modeling agency contract and fill out a W-4 tax form, which required that she
reveal her permanent address where her parents lived; her current address, which she shared with
roommates; and her social security number. 396 Jones did obtain modeling jobs for Thomas, but she quickly
saw him physically abusing another model, and Thomas tried to back out.397 At that point, Jones threatened
her and her family, saying, “I own you; you do what I tell you; I know where your parents live.” 398 Thomas

382
See supra text and accompanying notes 368−70; HYLAND & SREEHARSHA, supra note 240, at 5.
383
See, e.g., Runaway and Homeless Youth and Trafficking Prevention Act; 42 U.S.C.A. § 5701 (2016).
384
N.Y. Crim. Proc. L. § 440.10(1)(i) (West 2015). These motions are otherwise known as “440 motions.”
385
N.Y. Penal L. § 240.37 (West 2015).
386
Id. § 230.00. Note—“loitering” for purpose of prostitution is a separate crime from that of prostitution.
387
See U.N. Fact Sheet No. 36, supra note 249, at 20 (citing UNICEF Guidelines). Often times, trafficked persons are given false names and
documentation.
388
See Arnold, supra note 320 (presenting on her experience in Children of God, and that she was given a few names).
389
Id.
390
DEP’T OF JUSTICE, Georgia Man Sentenced to 15 Years on Sex Trafficking and Mann Act Charges (Jan. 24, 2008),
http://www.justice.gov/archive/opa/pr/2008/January/08_crt _058.html; Rachel Thomas, Human Trafficking as a Commercial Cult Mind-Control
Phenomenon, VIMEO (July 5, 2014), vimeo.com/102628104.
391
See Thomas, supra note 388.
392
See id.
393
See id.
394
See id.
395
See id.
396
See id.
397
See id.
398
See id.

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 28

felt trapped and scared for herself, her family, and her roommates. Thereafter, he verbally and physically
coerced her to perform sex for money with “buyers” and physically abused her. 399
Thomas was under this man’s control for at least a year.400 He coerced her to perform sex acts for clients
and to continue modeling, with him serving as her agent and getting paid. 401 Knowing that she was raised
in a Christian home, he quoted scripture to manipulate her into doing what he wanted, and he claimed to
hear God’s word.402 He also used her to recruit other women in similar ways that she was recruited. 403
Eventually, law enforcement was tipped off about this man, and Thomas was brought to a station house to
discuss the business.404 Thomas began reading literature about other cults and realized that this pimp was
similar to cult leaders.405 The FBI arrested Jones and posted his capture on the evening news. 406 In response
to a telephone hotline, over seventy-five viewers provided information to the authorities within an hour. 407
Authorities learned that Jones had visited all six colleges in the Atlanta area and had recruited women from
each into this prostitution ring. 408
Jones was sentenced to 15 years on charges of sex trafficking and violations of the federal Mann Act. 409
The Department of Justice issued a press release acknowledging that the case proved that “human
trafficking can occur anytime, anywhere, and against any vulnerable victim, including U.S. citizens and
college students.”410
Thomas surmises that traffickers and cult leaders have similar traits.411 In her case, the “agent” manipulated
her into412 believing that God would be vengeful should she not comply with his demands. 413 He used other
tactics with other women; for example, he acted as a father figure to women with no fathers. With over 75
victims, this modeling ring could be categorized as a “commercial cult.”
What would be the result of a trafficking prosecution of Alan Steed of FLDS in the coerced marriage of
fourteen-year-old Ellisa Wall to her older first-cousin?414 Arguably, a court could use broad definitions of
sex trafficking to find that Jeffs profited from forced marriages of his followers (“anything” of value). 415
Would a court view membership and procreation as a form of forced servitude for the greater Church?
Whether it is a doomsday cult on our soil, or abroad, the human trafficking laws provide a framework,
resources, and an international community to prevent and combat future tragedies. Recent court cases in
the United States have shown courts’ expanding views of the rights of trafficked victims to see restitution
and freedom from their constricted employ. 416 These more recent cases, and the human trafficking statutes,

399
See id.
400
See id.
401
See id.
402
See id.
403
See id.
404
See id.
405
See id.
406
See id.
407
See id.
408 See id.
409
DEP’T OF JUSTICE, supra note 388; see 18 U.S.C. § 2421 (West 2016) (formerly § 398) makes it an offense to transport in interstate comer
females for purposes of prostitution or for other immoral purposes.
410
Id.
411
Thomas, supra note 388.
412
Id.
413
Id.
414
See supra text accompanying notes 20−52.
415
As discussed supra, the anti-trafficking statute prohibits “any sex act on account of which anything of value is given to or received by any
person.” See 22 U.S.C.A. § 17102 (West 2015). The phrase “anything of value” could be interpreted as encompassing a broad range of benefit s
brought to a cult through sexual exploitation of its adherents to recruit new members. Arguably, Jeffs’ church benefited with increasing membership,
thus procreation among its members brought the church “value.”
416
See generally State v. Jeffs, 243 P.3d 1250 (Utah 2010); Menocal v. GEO Group, Inc., 113 F. Suppl. 3d 1125 (D. Colo. 2015).

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 29

can be the basis for future causes of action on behalf of cult victims and in the criminal prosecution of cult
leaders.

Appendix
Characteristics Associated With Cultic Groups
Characteristics Associated With Cultic Groups−Revised
Michael D. Langone, Ph.D.
Concerted efforts at influence and control lie at the core of cultic groups, programs, and relationships. Many
members, former members, and supporters of cults are not fully aware of the extent to which members may
have been manipulated, exploited, even abused. The following list of social-structural, social-
psychological, and interpersonal behavioral patterns commonly found in cultic environments may be
helpful in assessing a particular group or relationship.
Compare these patterns to the situation you were in (or in which you, a family member, or friend is currently
involved). This list may help you determine if there is cause for concern. Bear in mind that this list is not
meant to be a “cult scale” or a definitive checklist to determine if a specific group is a cult. This is not so
much a diagnostic instrument as it is an analytical tool.
The group displays excessively zealous and unquestioning commitment to its leader and (whether he is
alive or dead) regards his belief system, ideology, and practices as the Truth, as law.
Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.
Mind-altering practices (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, and
debilitating work routines) are used in excess and serve to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s).
The leadership dictates, sometimes in great detail, how members should think, act, and feel (for example,
members must get permission to date, change jobs, marry—or leaders prescribe what types of clothes to
wear, where to live, whether or not to have children, how to discipline children, and so forth).
The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s) and members (for example, the
leader is considered the Messiah, a special being, an avatar—or the group and/or the leader is on a special
mission to save humanity).
The group has a polarized us-versus-them mentality, which may cause conflict with the wider society.
The leader is not accountable to any authorities (unlike, for example, teachers, military commanders or
ministers, priests, monks, and rabbis of mainstream religious denominations).
The group teaches or implies that its supposedly exalted ends justify whatever means it deems necessary.
This may result in members’ participating in behaviors or activities they would have considered
reprehensible or unethical before joining the group (for example, lying to family or friends, or collecting
money for bogus charities).
The leadership induces feelings of shame and/or guilt in order to influence and/or control members. Often,
this is done through peer pressure and subtle forms of persuasion.
Subservience to the leader or group requires members to cut ties with family and friends, and radically alter
the personal goals and activities they had before joining the group.
The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.
The group is preoccupied with making money.
Members are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group and group-related activities.

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 30

Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members.
The most loyal members (the “true believers”) feel there can be no life outside the context of the group.
They believe there is no other way to be, and often fear reprisals to themselves or others if they leave (or
even consider leaving) the group.
Note: This checklist has gone through many revisions since the author first presented it in the 1990s. Many
people have contributed suggestions and feedback to the various revisions, in particular Carol Giambalvo,
Janja Lalich, Herb Rosedale, and Patrick Ryan.
Treaties and Other Instruments Particularly Relevant to Trafficking417
Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children,
supplementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 2000 [Trafficking
Protocol]
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 1979
Convention on the Rights of the Child, 1989418
Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the sale of children, child prostitution
and child pornography, 2000
United Nations convention against Transnational Organized Crime, 2000
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their
Families, 1990
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, 1966
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, 1966
Council of Europe, Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings, 2005 [European
Trafficking Convention]
Charter of Fundamental Rights in the European Union, 2000, article 5, and Directive 2011/36/EU of the
European Parliament and Council on preventing and combating trafficking in human beings and protecting
its victims, 2011
South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation, Convention on Preventing and Combating Trafficking
in Women and Children for Prostitution, 2002
The Following Are Influential, But Do Not Impose Obligations on Countries or Confer
Rights on Trafficked Persons (“Soft Law”)
Recommended Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Human Trafficking
Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations
of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law
UNICEF Guidelines on the Protection of Child Victims of Trafficking
Criminal Justice Responses to Trafficking in Persons: ASEAN Practitioner Guidelines

417
See U.N. Fact Sheet No. 36, supra note 249, at 10.
418
The Convention on the Rights of the Child has not been adopted by the United States. This document along with the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) was adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in December l979. T hey
require that women have equal rights to work, to receive pay, to receive benefits, and to have safe working conditions. These conventions also
prohibit the sexual exploitation of children and the discrimination against women in political activities. Tiefenbrun, supra note 323, at 148.

International Journal of Cultic Studies ■ Vol. 9, 2018 31

UNHCR Guidelines on international protection: The application of article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention
and/or 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees to victims of trafficking and persons at risk of being
trafficked.
UN General Assembly and the Human Rights Council – UN resolutions
Violence Against Women−Related Legal and Policy Documents
Inter-American Convention on the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence against Women of
the Organization of American States (1994)
Declaration on the Elimination of Violence against Women adopted by the General Assembly (1993)
General recommendation No. 19 (1992) on violence against women of the Committee on the Elimination
of Discrimination against Women
Beijing Platform for Action (1995)
Nairobi Declaration on Women’s and Girls’ Right to a Remedy and Reparation (2007)

About the Author

Robin Boyle Laisure, JD, Professor of Legal Writing at St. John’s University School of Law, lectures on
topics concerning cults and the law. Her articles include “Employing Trafficking Laws to Capture Elusive
Leaders of Destructive Cults” (Oregon Review of International Law, 2016), “Current Status of Federal Law
Concerning Violent Crimes Against Women and Children: Implications for Cult Victims” (Cultic Studies
Review, 2002), “How Children in Cults May Use Emancipation Laws to Free Themselves” (Cultic Studies
Journal, 1999), and “Women, the Law, and Cults: Three Avenues of Legal Recourse—New Rape Laws,
Violence Against Women Act, and Antistalking Laws” (Cultic Studies Journal, 1998). In 2005, she
received the Faculty Outstanding Achievement award from the President of St. John’s University, and she
is on the Editorial Board of ICSA’s International Journal of Cultic Studies.

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