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The Crime Report
July 17, 2019

Do Changing Federal Priorities Explain Drop in Child Sex Trafficking Cases?
By Andrea Cipriano


Despite the high-profile case involving Jeffrey Epstein, federal prosecutions for sex trafficking of children, under Title 18 Section 1591, declined 26.7 percent over the past fiscal year, according to the latest available data from the Justice Department, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. The criminal charge specifies that the person knowingly, through means of force, “coerced” a minor into a sex act. This also happens to be the same law used in the case against New York billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, who is charged with operating a sex trafficking ring that involved girls as young as 14. During the first eight months of FY 2019, the U.S. government has only reported 108 “new” prosecution cases using this criminal charge. “If the present pace of such prosecutions continues, the fiscal 2019 total will be 162, compared to 221 last year,” said TRAC.


Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, Syracuse University
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