FINAL REPORT An Analysis of Federally Prosecuted Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) Cases FEBRUARY 2008 since the Passage of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 Final Report Kevonne Small, J.D., Ph.D. William Adams, M.P.P. Colleen Owens Kevin Roland URBAN INSTITUTE Justice Policy Center An Analysis of Federally Prosecuted CSEC Cases Since the Passage of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 URBAN INSTITUTE Justice Policy Center 2100 M Street NW Washington, DC 20037 www.urban.org © 2008 Urban Institute This report was prepared under cooperative agreement number 2006-JP-FX-K058 with the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, U.S. Department of Justice. Opinions expressed in this document are those of the authors, and do not necessarily represent the official position or policies of the U.S. Department of Justice, the Urban Institute, its trustees, or its funders. Acknowledgments The authors would like to acknowledge many individuals for their contributions to this research. First, we are indebted to our research partners at Polaris Project who provided us with invaluable expertise and assistance throughout this study: Katherine Chon, President/Executive Director, Polaris Project Bradley Miles, Deputy Director, Polaris Project Tina Frundt, Street Outreach Coordinator, Polaris Project Second, we would like to express our appreciation to the federal prosecutors who generously granted us an informational interview for this study. The information obtained in these interviews provided a framework for the analyses of federal CSEC case data contained in this report. Third, we are grateful to the CSEC service providers and advocates from the greater Washington, D.C., area who graciously participated in a focus group meeting for this study. The insights gained in this meeting from individuals who are on the front lines helping CSEC victims everyday were vital to this research. Finally, we would like to acknowledge Dr. Terrence Dunworth, Director of the Justice Policy Center at the Urban Institute, and Dr. Janine Zweig, Senior Advisor for this study at the Urban Institute. Dr. Dunworth and Dr. Zweig provided general oversight and guidance to the Urban Institute project team for this study, as well as a critical review of report manuscripts. The Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center An Analysis of Federally Prosecuted CSEC Cases Since the Passage of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 The Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center An Analysis of Federally Prosecuted CSEC Cases Since the Passage of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 CONTENTS CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ..............................................................................................................1 CHAPTER 2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE ..................................................................................3 2.1 United States Actions to Combat CSEC......................................................................................3 2.2 Highlights of Comprehensive Literature Review......................................................................10 CHAPTER 3. ANALYSIS OF FEDERAL CSEC CASE DATA..........................................................12 3.1 Prosecutor Interviews ................................................................................................................12 3.2 Research Methods .....................................................................................................................16 3.3 Descriptive Analyses .................................................................................................................18 3.4 Predictive Models of Case Outcomes........................................................................................44 3.4 Summary of Findings ................................................................................................................56 CHAPTER 4: PRACTITIONER MEETING ........................................................................................60 4.1 Key Findings .............................................................................................................................60 4.2 Practitioners’ Suggestions for Future Research.........................................................................66 CHAPTER 5. CONCLUSIONS AND NEXT STEPS............................................................................69 5.1 Research Questions ...................................................................................................................69 5.2 Implications for Policy, Practice and Research .........................................................................71 The Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center An Analysis of Federally Prosecuted CSEC Cases Since the Passage of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 List of Exhibits and Figures Exhibits Exhibit 3-1 Federal Statutes Pertaining to the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Youth Exhibit 3-2 Logistic Regression Model Predicting Conviction of CSEC Defendants Exhibit 3-3 OLS Regression Model Predicting Prison Sentence Length Imposed on CSEC Defendants Figures Figure 3-1 Linked-Cohort Design for Analyzing Federal CSEC Cases Figure 3-2 Case Processing Trends for Federal CSEC Cases, 1998–2005 Figure 3-3 CSEC Suspects Investigated in Federal Criminal Matters Figure 3-4 Disposition of Criminal Matters by Federal Prosecutors Figure 3-5 Major Reasons for Case Declinations, 2005 Figure 3-6 Arresting Agency for CSEC Cases, 1998–2004 Figure 3-7 CSEC Arrests by Offense Type, 1998–2005 Figure 3-8 Defendants in CSEC Cases, 1998–2005 Figure 3-9 Number of Defendants per Case Figure 3-10 Defendants in Cases Filed in U.S. District Court with a CSEC Charge, 1998–2005 Figure 3-11 Mean Number of Cases Filed in U.S. District Court with a CSEC Charge, 1998–2005 Figure 3-12 Change in Number of Defendants in Cases Filed in U.S. District Court Charged with a CSEC Offense, 1998–2005 Figure 3-13 Demographic Characteristics of Defendants in Cases Filed in U.S. District Court for a CSEC Charge, 2004 Figure 3-14 Criminal History for all CSEC Defendants, 1998–2004 Figure 3-15 Criminal History for Child Sexual Exploitation Charge, 1998–2004 Figure 3-16 CSEC Offender Education, 1998–2004 Figure 3-17 Type of Counsel for CSEC Defendants, 1998–2004 Figure 3-18 Type of Counsel for CSEC Offenses, 1998–2004 Figure 3-19 Disposition of CSEC Cases, 1998–2004 The Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center An Analysis of Federally Prosecuted CSEC Cases Since the Passage of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 Figure 3-20 Type of Sentence in CSEC Cases, 1998–2004 Figure 3-21 Mean Prison Sentence for CSEC Offenses, 1998–2004 Figure 3-22 Mean Probation Sentence for CSEC Offenses, 1998–2004 Figure 3-23 Mean Fine Imposed for CSEC Offenses, 1998–2004 Figure 3-24 Mean Processing Time for CSEC Offenses, 1998–2004 Figure 3-25 Time Series Model Measuring Impact of Federal Initiatives on CSEC Prosecutions in U.S. District Court Appendices A-1 Review of the Literature on the Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children and Youth A-2 Glossary of Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children (CSEC) Terms A-3 Reference List A-4 International Actions Related to CSEC A-5 United States’ Actions Related to CSEC B-1 Prosecutor Informational Interview Guide B-2 Relevant Statutes Defining Pool of CSEC Cases in Initial Stages of Processing B-3 The Federal Justice Statistics Resource Center B-4 Research Methods for Federal Data Analysis B-5 Descriptive Tables B-6 SAS Output for Time Series Model The Urban Institute, Justice Policy Center An Analysis of Federally Prosecuted CSEC Cases Since the Passage of the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act of 2000 List of Tables (Appendix B-5) Table 1 Suspects in criminal matters investigated & concluded by U.S. attorneys, 1998–2005 (with a CSEC offense as the lead charge) Table 2 Suspects in CSEC criminal matters investigated & concluded by U.S. attorneys, 1998– 2005 (Disposition of the criminal matter) Table 2a Suspects in Child Pornography criminal matters investigated & concluded by U.S. attorneys, 1998–2005 (Disposition of the criminal matter) Table 2b Suspects in Child Prostitution criminal matters investigated & concluded by U.S. attorneys, 1998–2005 (Disposition of the criminal matter) Table 2c Suspects in Child Sex Exploitation criminal matters investigated & concluded by U.S. attorneys, 1998–2005 (Disposition of the criminal matter) Table 3 Suspects in CSEC criminal matters declined for prosecution by U.S. attorneys, 1998– 2005 (Basis for declination) Table 3a Suspects in Child Pornography criminal matters declined for prosecution by U.S. attorneys, 1998–2005 (Basis for declination) Table 3b Suspects in Child Prostitution criminal matters declined for prosecution by U.S. attorneys, 1998–2005 (Basis for declination) Table 3c Suspects in Child Sex Exploitation criminal matters declined for prosecution by U.S. attorneys, 1998–2005 (Basis for declination) Table 4 Defendants in cases filed in U.S. district court for a CSEC charge, 1998–2005 (most serious filing charge) Table 5 Defendants in cases filed in U.S. district court for a CSEC charge, 1998–2004 (Information at arrest) Table 6 Defendants in cases filed in U.S. district court for any CSEC charge, 1998–2004 (Demographics) Table 6a Defendants in cases filed in U.S. district court for a Child Pornography charge, 1998– 2004 (Demographics)