Federal Coercion and Enticement of a Minor: 18 U.S.C. 2422(b) and the Travel Offenses in 2423

18 USC 2422(b) is the federal coercion and enticement statute for minors. It applies to a person who, using the mail or any facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce, knowingly persuades, induces, entices, or coerces an individual under 18 to engage in prostitution or any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, or who attempts to do so.^[1] The penalty is a fine and imprisonment for not less than 10 years or for life.^[1]

If you know or suspect that a child is being abused or exploited, you can report to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services at 855-444-3911 at any time.^[4] If a child is in immediate danger, call 911.^[5] Suspected online enticement of a child can be reported to the CyberTipline of the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children at report.cybertip.org; the center's phone number is 1-800-843-5678.^[6] The National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free, confidential support 24 hours a day at 800-656-HOPE (4673), and Michigan's VOICES4 hotline takes calls and texts at 855-864-2374.^[7][5]

This page sets out the elements of section 2422, the related transportation and travel offenses in section 2423, the terms of imprisonment each states, and how these compare with Michigan's own statutes. It reports statutory text. Federal case law interpreting these sections was not researched for this guide, and the page says so where that matters.

Minimum and maximum terms at a glance

Offense	Mandatory minimum	Maximum
Coercion and enticement of a minor, 18 USC 2422(b)	10 years	Life[1]
Persuading any individual to travel, 18 USC 2422(a)	None stated	20 years[8]
Transportation of a minor, 18 USC 2423(a)	10 years	Life[3]
Travel with intent to engage in illicit sexual conduct, 18 USC 2423(b)	None stated	30 years[3]
Illicit sexual conduct in foreign places, 18 USC 2423(c)	None stated	30 years[9]
Arranging or facilitating another person's travel for commercial advantage or private financial gain, 18 USC 2423(e)	None stated	30 years[9]

Each provision also authorizes a fine. An attempt under section 2422 is covered by the words "or attempts to do so" in each subsection, and an attempt or conspiracy to violate section 2423 is punishable in the same manner as a completed violation.^[1][8][9]

The elements of 18 USC 2422(b)

The subsection is one sentence. Broken into parts, it requires:^[1]

1. A federal means. The person acts "using the mail or any facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce, or within the special maritime and territorial jurisdiction of the United States."^[1]
2. A knowing act of persuasion. The person "knowingly persuades, induces, entices, or coerces."^[1]
3. A person under 18. The object is "any individual who has not attained the age of 18 years."^[1]
4. A prohibited purpose. The persuasion is "to engage in prostitution or any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense."^[1]
5. Or an attempt. The subsection applies equally to a person who "attempts to do so."^[1]

The fourth element borrows from other law. The statute does not itself list the sexual activity it covers; it refers to activity "for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense."^[1] A companion section, 18 USC 2427, adds that this phrase "does not require interpersonal physical contact, and includes the production of child pornography."^[2] That section was last amended on December 22, 2023.^[2]

Two things are absent from the text. Travel by anyone is not an element of subsection (b), and neither is a completed sexual act.^[1] The conduct the statute describes is the persuading, inducing, enticing or coercing, or the attempt.^[1]

18 USC 2422(a): persuading any individual to travel

Subsection (a) is broader in one respect and narrower in another. It applies to whoever knowingly persuades, induces, entices, or coerces "any individual" to travel in interstate or foreign commerce to engage in prostitution or in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, or attempts to do so.^[8] It is not limited to minors, and it does require travel as the thing the person is persuaded to do.^[8] The penalty is a fine, imprisonment for not more than 20 years, or both; no minimum is stated.^[8]

The transportation and travel offenses: 18 USC 2423

Section 2423 addresses movement across state or national lines.

Transporting a minor

A person who knowingly transports an individual under 18 in interstate or foreign commerce, with intent that the individual engage in prostitution or in any sexual activity for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense, must be fined and imprisoned for not less than 10 years or for life.^[3]

Traveling with intent

A person who travels in interstate commerce or into the United States, or a United States citizen or permanent resident who travels in foreign commerce, "with intent to engage in any illicit sexual conduct with another person" faces a fine, imprisonment for not more than 30 years, or both.^[3] No minimum term is stated in that subsection.^[3]

Conduct abroad, organizations and facilitators

The section also covers a United States citizen or permanent resident who travels in foreign commerce or resides in a foreign country and engages in illicit sexual conduct; such conduct in connection with certain organizations; and a person who, for commercial advantage or private financial gain, arranges or facilitates the travel of someone known to be traveling with that intent. Each carries up to 30 years.^[9]

Definitions and the one statutory defense

• Illicit sexual conduct means a sexual act with a person under 18 that would violate the federal sexual abuse chapter if it occurred in federal territorial jurisdiction; any commercial sex act with a person under 18; or production of child pornography.^[9]
• Intent is construed as any intention to engage in the prohibited activity at the time of the transportation or travel.^[9]
• Defense. In a prosecution based on a commercial sex act, it is a defense, which the defendant must establish by clear and convincing evidence, that the defendant reasonably believed the person had attained the age of 18.^[9]

Consequences of a conviction for later travel are covered in travel and passports with a sex offense conviction.

Provisions that add to the sentence

Supervised release. For any offense under sections 2422 or 2423, the authorized term of supervised release is any term of years not less than 5, or life.^[10]

Registrants. A person required by federal or other law to register as a sex offender who commits a felony offense involving a minor under section 2422 or 2423 must be sentenced to 10 years in addition to the sentence for that offense, and the additional term runs consecutively.^[11]

Repeat offenses against minors. Under 18 USC 3559(e), a person convicted of a listed federal sex offense in which a minor is the victim must be sentenced to life imprisonment if the person has a prior sex conviction in which a minor was the victim. The list includes sections 2422(b) and 2423(a); for that subsection a minor is a person under 17, and subsection (e)(3) states circumstances, to be established by the defendant by clear and convincing evidence, in which an offense under those two sections does not count.^[12] Separately, 18 USC 2426 provides that the maximum term for a violation of this chapter after a prior sex offense conviction is 3 times the term otherwise provided, unless section 3559(e) applies.^[12]

Other federal statutes. Other federal statutes have their own minimums, including production of child pornography, with a minimum of 15 years and a maximum of 30, and sex trafficking of a minor, with a minimum of 15 or 10 years and a maximum of life.^[13][14] These are described in federal child exploitation charges and the overview of federal sex crimes.

What the statute's text leaves to case law

Several questions people ask about this statute are answered by federal court decisions, which were not read for this guide. The page therefore reports the text and stops there.

Question	What the text says	What this guide did not research
Does the statute apply when the person contacted was an adult officer posing as a minor?	The subsection covers a person who "attempts to do so."[1]	How federal courts apply the attempt language to undercover investigations
What counts as a "facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce"?	The phrase appears in the subsection without a definition there.[1]	How federal courts apply it to phones and the internet
Which "criminal offense" supplies the prohibited sexual activity?	The activity is one "for which any person can be charged with a criminal offense," and includes production of child pornography.[1][2]	Which state or federal offenses courts have accepted for this element

These are questions for a lawyer admitted in federal court. Michigan's treatment of undercover operations under state law, including the entrapment defense, is explained in online sting operations and the entrapment defense in Michigan. Those pages describe Michigan law; they do not describe how a federal court would treat a federal charge.

How the federal statute compares with Michigan's

	Federal, 18 USC 2422(b)	Michigan accosting, MCL 750.145a	Michigan computer use, MCL 750.145d
Age line	Under 18[1]	Under 16, or a person believed to be under 16[15]	A minor, or a person believed to be a minor[16]
Means	The mail or any facility or means of interstate or foreign commerce[1]	None specified[15]	The internet or a computer, computer program, network or system[16]
Minimum prison term	10 years[1]	None stated[15]	None stated[17]
Maximum prison term	Life[1]	4 years; 10 years with a prior conviction[15][18]	Tied to the underlying crime, up to 20 years[17]

Michigan's statutes address an undercover officer in their own words. The accosting statute applies to "an individual whom he or she believes is a child less than 16 years of age," and the computer-use statute applies where the intended victim "is believed by that person to be a minor."^[15][16] Michigan appellate courts have upheld computer-use charges where the "minor" was an undercover officer or adult decoy.^[19] The state statutes are explained in accosting a child for immoral purposes and using a computer to commit a crime.

This guide did not research how the choice between state and federal prosecution is made, or the rules on prosecution by both governments for the same conduct, and states none.

Federal court

Offenses against the laws of the United States are tried in the United States district courts.^[20] Cases arising in Kent, Ottawa, Muskegon and the surrounding counties fall within the Southern Division of the Western District of Michigan, where court is held at Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Lansing and Traverse City.^[21]

What people get wrong

"Nothing happened, so there is no federal crime." The subsection covers persuading, inducing, enticing or coercing and also an attempt, and the sexual activity referred to does not require interpersonal physical contact.^[1][2]

"The federal statute uses Michigan's age of 16." Section 2422(b) applies to an individual who has not attained the age of 18 years.^[1]

"Travel is required." Travel is an element of section 2422(a) and section 2423, not of section 2422(b).^[8][3][1]

"The minimum is the likely sentence." Ten years is the floor the statute sets; the maximum is life.^[1] This guide makes no statement about the sentence in any case. Michigan's separate trafficking provisions for minors are in human trafficking for commercial sex.