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Two Elk Grove men can expect decades behind bars for sexually exploiting children—at the same time that federal prosecutions of such crimes continue to fall under President Donald Trump.
According to a review of Justice Department data by Syracuse University’s Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, child sex trafficking prosecutions “under a law used against financier Jeffrey Epstein” plummeted 26.7% over the past fiscal year—the second year in a row that such prosecutions have fallen. TRAC correlates the decline with a growing independent streak among federal prosecutors, who are taking fewer accused child traffickers to court under Trump.
In the Obama administration’s last full year, appointed U.S. attorneys pursued 49% of the child sex trafficking cases brought to them by state and federal authorities. During the first eight months of the current fiscal year, Justice Department records show the rate has fallen to 39%, TRAC reports.
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