Federal Prosecution of Child Sex Trafficking Significantly Declined Under Trump Administration: Report
A Syracuse University report found federally prosecuted child sex trafficking cases have declined since 2018, contradicting a key belief held by QAnon conspiracy theorists.
Hollie Adams/Getty Images
TRAC, a nonpartisan research institute at Syracuse University, has released a new report finding that federal prosecution of child sex trafficking cases has significantly declined since 2017, the year President Trump took office. This doesn’t mean incidents of child sex trafficking have gone done, but does indicate fewer are being criminally tried at the federal level. Comparing case rates over the last three presidential administrations, researchers found the number of cases prosecuted was higher during the Obama years compared to the present Trump administration. The percentage of child sex trafficking cases in which federal prosecutors decided to press criminal charges was also higher from 2009 to 2016 compared to the current Trump administration. Federal prosecutors have discretion over whether to accept referrals for federal criminal charges. TRAC’s findings poke holes in a key aspect of the QAnon conspiracy theory narrative, which posits that Trump is battling Democrats complicit in a worldwide satanic pedophile ring.
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