Dr. Boozman's Check-up
New Trafficking Protections Signed Into Law
Apr 13 2018
This week, the President signed legislation aimed at curbing online sex trafficking into law.
The new law includes the Stop Enabling Sex Traffickers Act (SESTA), which reforms a misused provision in a 1996 telecommunications act that allows companies to evade prosecution for online business practices that facilitate human trafficking.
Fast Facts on Sex Trafficking:
- The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that there are 4.5 million victims of sex trafficking worldwide.
- A 2014 report by the ILO found that two thirds of the estimated $150 billion profit from the underground industry of human trafficking in the U.S.—an estimated $99 billion—came from commercial sexual exploitation.
- Since 2007, the National Human Trafficking Hotline has received reports of 22,191 sex trafficking cases inside the U.S.
How SESTA Will Help:
- Makes narrowly-crafted changes to the law to ensure websites that knowingly facilitate criminal sex trafficking online are held accountable.
- Gives law enforcement and prosecutors additional tools to crack down on crimes involving exploitation of the vulnerable.
- Allows state attorneys general to prosecute the owners of websites that violate federal sex trafficking laws.
Learn more by watching the remarks I gave in support of SESTA during its consideration on the Senate floor: