Prosecution of Child-Sex Traffickers Plummeted Under Trump

[crockett]

Why is it every time a Republican is in the WH they grind to a halt going after Child rapist?


https://www.courthousenews.com/prose...d-under-trump/

For many victims, last week’s incarceration of sex offender Jeffrey Epstein represents belated justice after more than a decade of impunity and governmental complicity.

Beneath that gloomy surface, however, an even darker picture emerges: federal prosecutions of those who trafficked children for sex dropped 26.7% over the last year.

The startling numbers appeared Tuesday in a report from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University.

“If the present pace of such prosecutions continues, the fiscal 2019 total will be 162, compared to 221 last year,” TRAC’s report states.

The Obama administration dramatically ramped up such prosecutions, climbing threefold from 85 cases in 2009, the year the 44th president took office, to more than 260 during his final year in the White House.

While those prosecutions held steady in the first year under President Donald Trump, TRAC’s analysis of Justice Department data says they have taken a dramatic plunge every year since.

“Compared to five years ago, the estimate of FY 2019 prosecutions of this type is down 32.2 percent, from 239,” the study says. “However, prosecutions over the past year are still much higher than they were ten years ago, up 90.6 percent from the 85 reported in 2009.”

TRAC obtained the data under the Freedom of Information Act.

The Southern District of New York, where Epstein was indicted last week, is tied with the Southern District of Texas as the most active pursuers of accused child sex-traffickers.

The Southern District of Florida, where Trump’s former Labor Secretary Alex Acosta let Epstein sign a 2008 nonprosecution agreement that shelved a 53-page indictment, does not even crack the top 10.

Reporting by the Miami Herald revealed that the plea deal immunized Epstein’s suspected co-conspirators from prosecution and allowed the tycoon to serve out a 13-month sentence for state-level prostitution charges in a county jail. Epstein took advantage of Florida’s work-release program six out of seven days a week.

Before criticism over the deal ended his tenure, Acosta pushed policies at the Department of Labor that pushed to divert resources from the mission of combating human trafficking. TRAC notes that individual U.S. attorneys have discretion over which cases to bring, but that prosecutors have increasingly declined referrals of cases involving child sex trafficking.

“When all referrals for federal prosecution for sex trafficking of children are examined, U.S. attorneys have generally turned down slightly more than half,” the study states. “In the last full year of the Obama Administration, federal prosecutors prosecuted 49 percent of these referrals. This percentage has been slipping since: during FY 2017 it was 46 percent and in FY 2018 it was 42 percent. So far in this fiscal year, Justice Department records show that the rate has fallen to 39 percent.”

The Justice Department did not immediately return a request for comment.

In a telephone interview, a former federal prosecutor whose experience included numerous sex-trafficking cases argued that TRAC’s listing of cases filed, rather than the number of defendants, may have distorted the numbers. TRAC did not immediately respond to a press inquiry about this methodology.

Still, the former prosecutor emphasized, the Trump administration’s antagonism to an immigrant visa program meant to protect sex-trafficking survivors could put anti-trafficking enforcement in jeopardy.

“In order to make these cases, you need the victims to be willing to appear as witnesses, that willingness is provided because these women see a path to a better life by cooperating with the U.S. government,” said the ex-prosecutor, who requested anonymity to discuss the views of career Justice Department officials.

First issued in the year 2003, the T-visa program was designed to provide sex-trafficking survivors four years of legal status, food stamps, job training and a pathway for their families to immigrate to the United States.

Such protections had been crucial to recruit witnesses against sex traffickers, who may be waiting to kill victims and their loved ones in their countries of origin.

“If all they see is death, they will stop cooperating,” the prosecutor said, referring to the witnesses.

For the prosecutor, such a Sophie’s choice was not an abstraction.

“I have specific memories of specific girls and women who were petrified that their families would be killed if they turned up on the witness stand,” the prosecutor said, emphasizing the need to make them feel protected. “That is the key to having witnesses: No witness, no cases.”

Before his resignation, Acosta’s Labor Department threw up hurdles to limit authority to certify visas and proposed an 80% budget cut to the International Labor Affairs Bureau, charged with combating human trafficking and child labor domestically and internationally.

House Democrats drafted a proposal on May 15 that would expand the program’s funding from $68 million to $122 million.

[crockett]

It's probably because they keep catching all the Republican christian child molesters and Republicans in office...



People like:

Republican anti-abortion activist Howard Scott Heldreth is a convicted child rapist in Florida.

Republican County Commissioner David Swartz pleaded guilty to molesting two girls under the age of 11 and was sentenced to 8 years in prison.

Republican judge Mark Pazuhanich pleaded no contest to fondling a 10-year old girl and was sentenced to 10 years probation.

Republican anti-abortion activist Nicholas Morency pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography on his computer and offering a bounty to anybody who murders an abortion doctor.

Republican legislator Edison Misla Aldarondo was sentenced to 10 years in prison for raping his daughter between the ages of 9 and 17.

Republican Mayor Philip Giordano is serving a 37-year sentence in federal prison for sexually abusing 8- and 10-year old girls.

Republican campaign consultant Tom Shortridge was sentenced to three years probation for taking nude photographs of a 15-year old girl.

Republican racist pedophile and United States Senator Strom Thurmond had sex with a 15-year old black girl which produced a child.

Republican pastor Mike Hintz, whom George W. Bush commended during the 2004 presidential campaign, surrendered to police after admitting to a sexual affair with a female juvenile.

Republican legislator Peter Dibble pleaded no contest to having an inappropriate relationship with a 13-year-old girl.

Republican Congressman Donald "Buz" Lukens was found guilty of having sex with a female minor and sentenced to one month in jail.

Republican fundraiser Richard A. Delgaudio was found guilty of child porn charges and paying two teenage girls to pose for sexual photos.

Republican activist Mark A. Grethen convicted on six counts of sex crimes involving children.

Republican activist Randal David Ankeney pleaded guilty to attempted sexual assault on a child.

Republican Congressman Dan Crane had sex with a female minor working as a congressional page.

Republican activist and Christian Coalition leader Beverly Russell admitted to an incestuous relationship with his step daughter.

Republican congressman and anti-gay activist Robert Bauman* was charged with having sex with a 16-year-old boy he picked up at a gay bar.

Republican Committee Chairman Jeffrey Patti was arrested for distributing a video clip of a 5-year-old girl being raped.

Republican activist Marty Glickman (a.k.a. "Republican Marty"), was taken into custody by Florida police on four counts of unlawful sexual activity with an underage girl and one count of delivering the drug LSD.

Republican legislative aide Howard L. Brooks was charged with molesting a 12-year old boy and possession of child pornography.

Republican Senate candidate John Hathaway was accused of having sex with his 12-year old baby sitter and withdrew his candidacy after the allegations were reported in the media.

Republican preacher Stephen White, who demanded a return to traditional values, was sentenced to jail after offering $20 to a 14-year-old boy for permission to perform oral sex on him.

Republican talk show host Jon Matthews pleaded guilty to exposing his genitals to an 11 year old girl.

Republican anti-gay activist Earl "Butch" Kimmerling was sentenced to 40 years in prison for molesting an 8-year old girl after he attempted to stop a gay couple from adopting her.

Republican Party leader Paul Ingram pleaded guilty to six counts of raping his daughters and served 14 years in federal prison.

Republican election board official Kevin Coan was sentenced to two years probation for soliciting sex over the internet from a 14-year old girl.

Republican politician Andrew Buhr was charged with two counts of first degree sodomy with a 13-year old boy.

Republican politician Keith Westmoreland was arrested on seven felony counts of lewd and lascivious exhibition to girls under the age of 16 (i.e. exposing himself to children).

Republican anti-abortion activist John Allen Burt was charged with sexual misconduct involving a 15-year old girl.

Republican County Councilman Keola Childs* pleaded guilty to molesting a male child.

Republican activist John Butler was charged with criminal sexual assault on a teenage girl.

Republican candidate Richard Gardner admitted to molesting his two daughters.

Republican Councilman and former Marine Jack W. Gardner was convicted of molesting a 13-year old girl.

Republican County Commissioner Merrill Robert Barter* pleaded guilty to unlawful sexual contact and assault on a teenage boy.

Republican City Councilman Fred C. Smeltzer, Jr. pleaded no contest to raping a 15 year-old girl and served 6-months in prison.

Republican activist Parker J. Bena pleaded guilty to possession of child pornography on his home computer and was sentenced to 30 months in federal prison and fined $18,000.

Republican parole board officer and former Colorado state representative, Larry Jack Schwarz, was fired after child pornography was found in his possession.

Republican strategist and Citadel Military College graduate Robin Vanderwall was convicted in Virginia on five counts of soliciting sex from boys and girls over the internet.

Republican city councilman Mark Harris, who is described as a "good military man" and "church goer," was convicted of repeatedly having sex with an 11-year-old girl and sentenced to 12 years in prison.

Republican businessman Jon Grunseth withdrew his candidacy for Minnesota governor after allegations surfaced that he went swimming in the nude with four underage girls, including his daughter.

Republican director of the "Young Republican Federation" Nicholas Elizondo molested his 6-year old daughter and was sentenced to six years in prison.

Republican benefactor of conservative Christian groups, Richard A. Dasen Sr., was charged with rape for allegedly paying a 15-year old girl for sex. Dasen, 62, who is married with grown children and several grandchildren, has allegedly told police that over the past decade he paid more than $1 million to have sex with a large number of young.

Republican state senator Ralph Shortey from Oklahoma admitted to being involved in sodomy with a 17 year old male prostitute and transporting child pornography.

Republican Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert in jail for the payments he made to cover up raping his wrestlers when he was a high school coach.

Republican Judge and campaign official for President Donald Trump, Tim Nolan, indicted for human trafficking and forcing a minor (9) to engage in sexual activity and giving alcohol to minors (results from the court pending).

[Bladewire]

So many Republican elected officials jail for incest and pedophilia so sad

[bronco67]

Republicans don't like pussy. They like money, guns and little boys. Not in any particular order.

[Rochard]

Two words: Jeff Sessions.