Jail Bait (Jail-bait; Jailbait)

“Jailbait” (also written as “jail-bait” and “jail bait”) is someone or something illegal (risking jail) that tempts (or “baits”) someone.
 
“Her name is Violet Lorane. A girl of her talents is very badly needed in the U. S. A. at present. There’s a lot of new Jail Bait appearing in the Clubs lately” was printed in Variety (New York, NY), on June 19, 1914. “‘Jail-bait’ is a term applied to a girl under the age of consent” was printed in The Enquirer (Cincinnati, OH) on November 13, 1927.
 
“Upchurch spoke of the liquor as ‘jail bait’” was printed in The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC) on November 19, 1916. “Real estate, stock or ‘jail bait’ deals” was printed in the Los Angeles (CA) Daily Times on December 8, 1924.
 
 
Wikipedia: Jailbait
Jailbait or jail bait is slang for a person who is younger than the legal age of consent for sexual activity and usually appears older, with the implication that a person above the age of consent might find them sexually attractive. The term jailbait is derived from the fact that engaging in sexual activity with someone who is under the age of consent is classified as statutory rape or by an equivalent term. The minor deemed sexually attractive is thus a temptation to an older person to pursue them for sexual relations at the risk of being sent to jail if caught.
 
(Oxford English Dictionary)
jail-bait n. slang (originally U.S.) a girl who is under the legal age of consent.
1934   J. T. Farrell Calico Shoes 48   She’s not hard on the eyes but she’s jail bait.
1957   J. Braine Room at Top xxiv. 198   I’m not interested in little girls. Particularly not in jail-bait like that one.
1972   A. Draper Death Penalty vi. 45   She looks young enough to be jail bait.
         
19 June 1914, Variety (New York, NY), pg. 34, col. 1 ad:
Her name is Violet Lorane. A girl of her talents is very badly needed in the U. S. A. at present. 
 
There’s a lot of new Jail Bait appearing in the Clubs lately.
(Vardon, Perry and Wilber.—ed.)
 
Newspapers.com
19 November 1916, The News and Observer (Raleigh, NC), “Upchurch Freed on Liquor Charge,” pg. 10, col. 4:
Upchurch spoke of the liquor as “jail bait,” he said.
 
Newspapers.com
4 October 1921, Jennings (LA) Daily Times-Record, pg. 1, col. 3 photo caption:
AMERICAN OWNS SMALLEST AIR PLANE
(“Jail Bait” is the name of the airplane.—ed.)
 
Newspapers.com
8 December 1924, Los Angeles (CA) Daily Times, pt. 2, pg. 8, col. 9 classified ad:
I have a real deal for you fellows who have been working yourselves to death on real estate, stock or “jail bait” deals.
(H. A. Beck ad for salesmen. - ed.)
 
Newspapers.com
1 January 1925, Great Falls (MT) Tribune, pg. 3, col. 7:
GASOLINE IS BEST ‘24 JAIL BAIT,
FORCING 651 TO SIGN ON BLOTTER;
LIQUOR DRAWS 282 TO POLICE NET
 
Newspapers.com
20 October 1925, San Francisco (CA) Examiner, “Ye Towne Gossip” by K.C.B., pg. 17, col. 6:
Look at Adela Rogers St. John in her story named “Jail Bait,” via the November “Cosmopolitan,” saying that the mommer-lady in her yarn is a wicked nasty thing from San Francisco and that all the “stark and unashamed” ways of her were learned south of Market street!
     
Newspapers.com
13 November 1927, The Enquirer (Cincinnati, OH), “‘Spieler’ of Traveling Circus Is Richard Bennett in ‘Barker,’” Art Gravure sec., pg. 2, col. 4:
“Jail-bait” is a term applied to a girl under the age of consent.
   
Newspapers.com
5 January 1929, Evening Times (Vineland, NJ), “Your Broadway and Mine” by Walter Winchell, pg. 2, col. 2:
FORGOTTEN SLANG
IN CASE YOU DIDN’T KNOW
In the cheap Greenwich Villitch dance halls, gals under 18 are known as Jail Bait.
 
Newspapers.com
1 August 1930, The Morning Post (Camden, NJ), “On Broadway” by Walter Winchell, pg. 16, col. 3:
She is such a child…17, she says…I get it—jail-bait.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Jail bait,
Author: Albert Harry Martin
Publisher: Hollywood, Calif., D.G. Fischer [©1932]
Edition/Format:   Print book : Fiction : English : 1st ed
   
OCLC WorldCat record
Jail bait
Author: Sally Chayes
Publisher: New York : W. Godwin, 1933.
Edition/Format:   Print book : Fiction : English
 
Newspapers.com
18 March 1933, Boston (MA) Globe, pg. 15, col. 1:
NOVEL PORTRAYS LIFE OF SOME HIGH SCHOOL GIRLS
“Jail Bait,” by Sally Chayes—Typically modern story of a group of boys and girls, but more especially of the girls all under 18 years of age.
 
OCLC WorldCat record
Jailbait; the story of juvenile delinquency
Author: Bernard Williams
Publisher: Garden City, N.Y., Garden City Books [1951, ©1949]
Edition/Format:   Print book : English
 
Urban Dictionary
Jail Bait
A female who is under the age of consent but who dresses, acts and appears as if she is over the age of consent and who does nothing to correct that impression when she is bedded.
“Keep away from that, it’s jail bait.”
by AKACroatalin April 04, 2015