Justice Department Bulletin Details Impact of Federal Legislation on Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children

WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Department of Justice's Office of Justice Programs today released the bulletin Effects of Federal Legislation on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children from the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention (OJJDP). The bulletin describes the results of an OJJDP study that examined the impact of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 on the federal prosecution of commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) cases. Each year, as many as 300,000 children in the United States are sexually exploited for commercial purposes.

The authors draw on CSEC cases that federal courts processed between 1998 and 2005 to examine how current CSEC laws are enforced, describe key features of successful prosecutions, and examine how the legislation has affected sentences that courts have imposed on perpetrators and the provision of services to victims.  The bulletin concludes with a discussion of how the juvenile justice community and policymakers could improve the prosecution of CSEC crimes.

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SOURCE Office of Justice Programs - U.S. Department of Justice