Virginia Laws for the Suppression of Vice

The citizens of Virginia are facing a two-fold menace in connection with the concentration camps and the coming of soldiers to the cities of the State. First, the menace to the young men who are gathered into these camps and cities from women and girls of immoral character; second, the menace to the young girls of the communities in which the camps are located or the soldiers are mobilized. Every effort must be made to protect the soldiers from the contaminating influence of vicious women and bad girls; likewise, the girls must be protected against the dangers which will naturally exist under the circumstances.

The laws of Virginia intended to prevent vice and immorality can be divided into two general classes:

1. The laws for the prevention of vice generally.

2. The laws intended to protect young children from vicious and immoral influences, and to punish persons charged with offenses against children.

Sections 884, 885, 3787, 3790 and 3912 of Pollard's Code of Virginia, and Chapter 463, Acts of the Assembly, 1916, are of the first-class of statutes.

If the offending parties are both adults, they should be dealt with under one of these sections. If, however, the offending female is under eighteen years of age, she would have to be dealt with as a delinquent child, under Chapter 350 of the Acts of 1914. In this case the offending male should be dealt with either under Chapter 228 of the Acts of 1914 or Chapter 478 of the Acts of 1916. There are rare cases which would make it proper to proceed under sections 3677 and 3678 of Pollard's Code. These sections, however, prescribing the penalty for seduction and abduction of females, respectively, have proven so ineffective in the past that they are not published in this compilation of laws on the subject.

There remain two sections of the code under this general head which can be used most effectively in dealing with women of an immoral character against whom no specific charge can be proven, namely, Sections 884 and 885, Pollard's Code. These sections define VAGRANTS and prescribe how they shall be dealt with. If it can be proven that the woman is living in idleness without employment, has no property to support herself and follows no decent trade, occupation or business, she can be dealt with under these sections. For example, if vicious women begin to take up their abode at or near the concentration camps, the authorities could rid the communities of the menace promptly and effectively by dealing with each of these women as vagrants, requiring them to give bond for their good conduct for one year.

If the offending female is under the age of eighteen years, she should be dealt with as a delinquent child, under Chapter 350, Acts of 1914. While the girl is being thus dealt with, the man, who has immoral relations with a girl under eighteen must, under the laws of this Commonwealth be dealt with for his part in the affair, even though the girl consents to the immoral relations. The laws of Virginia expressly provide that a man who even permits such a girl to be guilty of vicious or immoral conduct shall be punished. In case the child is under the age of 15 years, the offense is rape, punishable by death or by confinement in the penitentiary not less than five, nor more than twenty years. (Chapter 478, Acts of 1916). If the child be fifteen years of age or over, and under the age of eighteen, then the person guilty

of misconduct with her should be punished for contributory delinquency under Chapter 228, Acts of the Assembly, 1914.

The laws against gambling are printed on page 14.

Officers of the law should make it a point to familiarize themselves with the terms of these laws and to see that they are rigidly enforced.

Vagrants.

Section 884, Virginia Code. Who are vagrants.-The following persons shall be deemed vagrants:

First-All persons who shall unlawfully return into any county or corporation whence they have been legally removed.

Second-All persons who, not having wherewith to maintain themselves and their families, live idly and without employment, and refuse to work for the usual and common wages given to other laborers in the like work in the place where they then are.

Third-Persons wandering or strolling about in idleness who are able to work and have no property to support them.

Fourth-Persons leading an idle, immoral or profligate life, who have no property to support them, and who are able to work, and do not.

Fifth-All able-bodied persons found begging for a living, or who quit their houses and leave their wives or children without the means of subsistence.

Sixth-All persons who shall come from any place without this Commonwealth to any place within it and shall be found loitering and residing therein, and shall follow no labor, trade, occupation or business, and have no visible means of subsistence, and can give no reasonable account of themselves or their business in such place.

Seventh-All persons having a fixed abode who have no visible property to support them, and who live by stealing or by trading or bartering stolen property.

Eighth-All persons who are able to work and who do not work, but hire out their minor children and live upon their wages.

Section 885, ibid. Vagrants; how dealt with, and so forth.-It shall be, and is hereby, made the duty of the sheriffs and constables of every county, the police, or town sergeants or other like officials in every city and town in this State, to give information, under oath, to any officer empowered by law to issue criminal warrants, of all vagrants within their knowledge or persons whom they have good reason to suspect of being vagrants, in their respective counties, cities and towns; and thereupon, or upon the complaint of any person upon oath, the said officer shall issue a warrant for the arrest of the person alleged to be a vagrant, and he shall be brought before any magistrate having jurisdiction of misdemeanors within said county, city or town, and upon conviction shall be punished as for a misdemeanor: provided, however, that the magistrate may, in his discretion, or the court before which the case may be tried on appeal may, in its discretion, permit such person so convicted to give bond, with sufficient security, in an amount not exceeding five hundred dollars nor less than one hundred dollars, conditioned upon his future industry and good conduct for one year; and upon giving such bond such person shall be set at liberty without undergoing the punishment imposed by his conviction: and provided, further, that it shall be a sufficient defence to the charge of vagrancy under this and the preceding section that the defendant has made reasonable bona fide efforts to obtain employment at reasonable prices for his labor and has failed to obtain the same.

Section 886a, Virginia Code. Punishment of vagrants.-Whenever any person is apprehended or arrested in any city or town as a vagrant under section eight hundred and eighty-four of the Code of Virginia it shall be unlawful for said authorities to discharge said person upon condition that such person leave said city or town, but shall proceed as and only as provided by section eight hundred and eighty-five of the Code of Virginia.

Virginia Laws for the Suppression of Vice

Houses of Prostitution Declared Nuisances-How Abated.

Chapter 463 of Acts 1916.

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An act to enjoin and abate houses of lewdness, assignation and prostitution; to declare the same to be nuisances; to enjoin the person or persons who conduct or maintain the same and the owner or agent of any building used for such purpose.

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, that whoever shall knowingly erect, establish, continue, maintain, use, own, occupy, or lease any building, erection or place used for the purpose of lewdness, assignation or prostitution in the State is guilty of a nuisance, and the building, erection, or place, the ground itself, in or upon which such lewdness, assignation, or prostitution is conducted, permitted, or carried on, continued or exists, and the furniture, fixtures, musical instruments and contents are also declared a nuisance, and shall be enjoined and abated as hereinafter provided.

2. That whenever a nuisance is kept, maintained, or exists as defined in this act the Commonwealth's attorney or the attorney general of the State, or any responsible citizen of the State, may maintain a suit in equity in the name of the State, upon the relation of such attorney for the Commonwealth, attorney general, or citizen, to perpetually enjoin said nuisance, the . person or persons conducting or maintaining the same, and the owner or agent of the building or ground upon which said nuisance exists.

In such suit the court, or a judge in vacation, shall, upon the presentation of a bill therefor alleging that the nuisance complained of exists, and sworn to by two reputable citizens, allow a temporary writ of injunction, without bond, if it shall be made to appear to the satisfaction of the court or judge by evidence in the form of affidavits, depositions, oral testimony, or otherwise, as the complainant may elect, unless the court or judge by previous order shall have directed the form and manner in which the evidence shall be presented. Three days' notice, in writing, shall be given the defendant of the hearing of the application, and if then continued at his instance the writ as prayed shall be granted as a matter of course. When an injunction has been granted it shall be binding on the defendant throughout the State until dissolved by the court, and any violation of the provisions of injunction shall be a contempt as hereinafter provided.

3. That the suit when ready for hearing shall be tried at the first term of court, unless good cause for continuance shall be shown, and in such suit oral evidence given in court of the general reputation of the place shall be admissable for the purpose of proving or tending to prove the existence of said nuisance. If the complaint is filed by a citizen it shall not be dismissed before final hearing, except upon a sworn statement made by the complainant and his attorney, setting forth the reasons why the action should be dismissed, and the dismissal approved by the attorney for the Commonwealth, or the attorney general of the State, in writing or in open court. In any case if the court is of the opinion that the action ought not to be dismissed, it may direct the attorney of the Commonwealth to prosecute said action to judgment; and if the action is continued more than one term of court, any citizen, or the Commonwealth attorney may be substituted for the complaining party and prosecute said action to judgment. If the action is brought by a citizen, and the court finds there was no reasonable ground or cause for said action, the costs may be taxed to such citizen.

4. That in the case of the violation of any injunction granted under the provisions of this act, the court, or, in vacation, a judge thereof, may summarily try and punish the offender. The proceeding shall be commenced by filing with the clerk of the court an information, under oath, setting out the alleged facts constituting such violation, upon which the court or judge

shall cause a warrant to issue, under which the defendant shall be arrested. The trial may be had upon affidavits, or either party may at any stage of the proceeding demand the production and oral examination of the witnesses. A party found guilty of contempt under the provisions of this section, shall be punished by a fine of not less than one hundred dollars nor more than one thousand dollars, or by imprisonment in jail not less than three months nor more than six months, or in the discretion of the court by both fine and imprisonment.

5. If the existence of the nuisance be established in a suit in equity as provided in this act, or in a criminal proceeding, an order of abatement shall be entered as a part of the judgment in the case, which order shall direct the removal from the building or place of all fixtures, furniture, musical instruments, or movable property used in conducting the nuisance, and shall direct the sale thereof in the manner provided for the sale of chattels under execution, and shall decree the effectual closing of the building or place against s use for any purpose, and so keeping it closed for a period of one year, unless sooner released. If any person shall break and enter or use a building, erection, or place so directed to be closed he shall be punished as for contempt, as provided in the preceding section.

6. The proceeds of the sale of the personal property, as provided in the preceding section, shall be applied to the payment of the costs of the suit and the abatement, including a reasonable attorney fee to be decreed to the attorney, as the court shall think just, and the balance, if any, shall be paid to the defendant.

7. If the owner appears and and pays all costs of the proceedings and files a bond, with sureties to be approved by the clerk, in the full value of the property, to be ascertained by the court, or by the judge, in vacation, conditioned that he will immediately abate said nuisance and prevent the same from being established or kept within a period of one year thereafter, the court, or, in vacation, the judge, may, if satisfied of his good faith, order the premises closed under the order of abatement to be delivered to said owner and said order of abatement cancelled so far as the same may relate to said property; and if the proceeding be a suit in equity and said bond be given, and costs therein paid before judgment and order of abatement, the action shall be thereby abated as to said building only. But the release of the property under the provisions of this section shall not release it from judgment, lien, penalty, or liability to which it may be subject by law.

8. On motion of the attorney for the Commonwealth or other attorney representing the prosecution for violation of this statute, the court may grant immunity to any witness called to testify in behalf of the prosecution.

Section 3786, Virginia Code. Adultery and fornication, how punished.-It any person commit adultery or fornication, he shall be fined not less than twenty dollars. And if he commit adultery or fornication with any person, whom he is forbidden by Section 2224 or 2225 to marry, he shall be confined in jail not exceeding six months, or fined not exceeding five hundred dollars, in the discretion of the jury.

Section 3787. Lewd and lascivious cohabitation, how punished; penalty for second offence.-If any persons, not married to each other, lewdly and lasciviously associate and cohabit together, or, whether married or not, be guilty of open and gross lewdness and lasciviousness, they shall be fined not less than fifty nor more than five hundred dollars; and upon a repetition of the offence, and conviction thereof, they may also be confined in jail not less than six nor more than twelve months.

Virginia Laws for the Suppression of Vice

When Security May Be Required for Good Behaviour.

Section 3912, ibid. Who conservators of the peace may bind to good be haviour. Every judge throughout the State and every justice, commissioner in chancery, notary, and county surveyor while in the performance of the duties of his office within his county or corporation shall be a conservator of the peace, and may require from persons not of good fame security for their good behaviour for a term not exceeding one year.

Section 3790. Keeping house of ill fame, how punished; general character of house may be proven.-If any person keep a house of ill fame, resorted to for the purpose of prostitution or lewdness, he shall be confined in jail not exceeding one year and fined not exceeding two hundred dollars; and, in a prosecution for this offence, the general character of such a house may be proven.

Section 3791. Publishing, selling, distributing, etc., obscene books, etc., how punished.-If any person import, print, publish, sell, or distribute any book or other thing containing obscene language, or any print, picture, figure, or description, manifestly tending to corrupt the morals of youth; or introduce into any family or place of education, or buy, or have in his possession, any such thing for the purpose of sale, exhibition, or circulation, or with intent to introduce it into any family or place of education, he shall be confined in jail not exceeding one year and fined not exceeding two hundred dollars.

Pandering-Defined, Penalties Prescribed.

Chapter 163 of Acts of 1910.-An act in relation to pandering, to define and prohibit the same, to provide for the punishment thereof and for the competency of certain evidence at the trial thereof. Approved March 14, 1910.

1. Be it enacted by the General Assembly of Virginia, That any person who takes, harbors, inveigles, entices, persuades or encourages, either by threats or promises, or by any device or scheme takes, or causes to be taken, any female into a house of ill-fame or of assignation, or elsewhere, against her will, for the purpose of prostitution or illegal sexual intercourse; or,

Subsection 1. Takes or detains a female unlawfully against her will with the intent to compel her, by force, threats, persuasion, menace or duress, to marry him or to marry any other person, or to be defiled; or,

Subsection 2. Being parent, guardian, or any other person having legal charge of the person of a female, consents to her being taken or detained by any person for the purpose of prostitution or sexual intercourse, is guilty of pandering, and shall be punished by confinement, for a term of not less than one year nor more than ten years in the penitentiary, and by a fine of not more than one thousand dollars.

2. Any person who shall place any female in the charge or custody of any other person or persons for immoral purposes, or in a house of prostitution with the intent that she shall live a life of prostitution; or any person who shall compel any female to reside with him, or with any other person for immoral purposes, or for the purposes of prostitution, or compel her to live a life of prostitution, is guilty of pandering, and shall be punished by a fine of not less than one thousand dollars and by confinement in the penitentiary for not less than one or more than ten years.

3. Any person who shall receive any money or other valuable thing for or on account of procuring for or placing in a house of prostitution or elsewhere any female for the purpose of causing her to cohabit with any male person or persons, shall be guilty of a felony, and upon conviction thereof shall be confined in the penitentiary for not less than one year nor more than ten years.