The standard enunciated by the Sixth Circuit was that:
a “holding to involuntary servitude” occurs when (a) the servant believes that he or she has no viable alternative but to perform service for the master (b) because of (1) the master's use or threatened use of physical force, or (2) the master's use or threatened use of state-imposed legal coercion (i.e., peonage), or (3) the master's use of fraud or deceit to obtain or maintain services where the servant is a minor, an immigrant or one who is mentally incompetent.66
Catherine M. Page, United States v. Kozminski: Involuntary Servitude-A Standard at Last, 20 U. Tol. L. Rev. 1023, 1032 (1989)
As a result of the Kozminksi decision in 1998 – although 12 years later – Congress enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act in 2000 to expand the forms of coercion that could result in forced labor to include (1) by means of force, threats of force, physical restraint, or threats of physical restraint to that person or another person; (2) by means of serious harm or threats of serious harm to that person or another person; (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. This definition now sustains convictions where psychological coercion was used.
