Safe Havens

(B)  Crimes of Moral Turpitude.

            Mail offenses involving fraud or theft will constitute crimes of moral turpitude.[83]  Some mail-related offenses, however, have been found not to involve moral turpitude.[84]

Board of Immigration Appeals:

Matter of F, 7 I. & N. Dec. 386 (BIA 1957) (conviction of obstruction of correspondence, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1702, does not involve moral turpitude).

Matter of MB, 3 I. & N. Dec. 66 (BIA 1947) (where a conviction for taking mail from an authorized mail depository, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 317, is predicated upon an information which does not shed any light on the circumstances under or the purpose for which the mail was taken, it cannot be found that the crime is one which necessarily involves moral turpitude).

Matter of B, 2 I. & N. Dec. 867 (BIA 1947) (conviction of willfully damaging mailboxes and damaging other property in violation, respectively, of Canada Criminal Code § § 510(d)(3) and (d)(5) are not shown to involve moral turpitude, where the statutory provisions do not require base or depraved conduct, the records of convictions do not allege such conduct, and the acts described by the offender do not show such conduct, since the term “willfully,” as contained in § 510, is defined so broadly that it covers a case of what courts in the United States would regard as gross or wanton negligence).

Matter of M, 2 I. & N. Dec. 196 (BIA 1944) (conviction of sending a threatening letter through the mail in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 338a(b) does not necessarily involve moral turpitude, since the offense does not require an intention which is inherently turpitudinous in nature).

Matter of D, 1 I. & N. Dec. 190 (BIA 1942) (mailing an obscene letter in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 334 is not a crime involving moral turpitude, since a letter suggesting fornication would be obscene, but the actual commission of the fornication would not be a crime of moral turpitude).

District Courts:

United States v. Carrollo, 30 F.Supp. 3 (D.Mo. 1939) (mailing a letter concerning a lottery, in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 336, held not a crime involving moral turpitude, since writing a letter concerning a lottery, even for the purposes of selling an interest in it, was not an act of “baseness, vileness or depravity” since even conducting a lottery is not an act of moral turpitude and since churches and states have conducted lotteries and do so now where not prohibited by statute).

[83] See N. Tooby, J. Rollin & J. Foster, Crimes of Moral Turpitude § 9.41 (2005).

[84] See, e.g. 9 U.S. Dep’t of State, Foreign Affairs Manual (FAM) § 40.21(a) N.2.3-3(b)(8) (mailing an obscene letter is not a crime of moral turpitude).