Forced labor
United States Code
Citation analytics
How this statute sits in the citation network, derived from CiteLaw's graph of published opinions.
★Landmark AuthorityTop 1% most-cited · cited by 495 decisions
495
Citing decisions
6+
Courts citing
Citations by decade
30
113
351
2000s2010s2020s
Courts citing this statute
Most recently cited by10
- 2026United States v. Ruiz-Hernandez 9th Cir.
- 2026Claros N.D.N.Y.
- 2026Vinicius Batista De Lucena v. Tootsies Entertainment, LLC, et al. M.D. Tenn.
- 2026Maria N Villani v. Vanderbilt Mortgage and Finance Inc. Tex. App.-Eastland
- 2026F.C. D. Colo.
- 2026Feliciano Velasco Rojas v. First Pick Farms LLC W.D. Mich.
- 2026Hankins E.D.N.C.
- 2026Anna Claire Bates and Jane Doe v. Sequel Youth and Family Services, LLC, et al. N.D. Ala.
- 2026Aaebo-Akhan D. Kan.
- 2026United States v. Papantoniadis 1st Cir.
Counts reflect decisions in the CiteLaw corpus and may lag very recent opinions.
Text
by means of force, threats of force, physical restraint, or threats of physical restraint to that person or another person; by means of serious harm or threats of serious harm to that person or another person; by means of the abuse or threatened abuse of law or legal process; or 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, Whoever knowingly benefits, financially or by receiving anything of value, from participation in a venture which has engaged in the providing or obtaining of labor or services by any of the means described in subsection (a), knowing or in reckless disregard of the fact that the venture has engaged in the providing or obtaining of labor or services by any of such means, shall be punished as provided in subsection (d). The term “abuse or threatened abuse of law or legal process” means the use or threatened use of a law or legal process, whether 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. Whoever violates this section shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both. If death results from a violation of this section, or if the violation includes kidnaping, an attempt to kidnap, aggravated sexual abuse, or an attempt to kill, the defendant shall be fined under this title, imprisoned for any term of years or life, or both. Whoever knowingly provides or obtains the labor or services of a person by any one of, or by any combination of, the following means— In this section: (Source: (Added Pub. L. 106–386, div. A, § 112(a)(2), Oct. 28, 2000, 114 Stat. 1486; amended Pub. L. 110–457, title II, § 222(b)(3), Dec. 23, 2008, 122 Stat. 5068.))