The Crime Report (https://thecrimereport.org/tag/sex-crimes/)
On the heels of a federal move to shut down the Backpage website, President Trump signed a bill on Wednesday that gives federal and state prosecutors greater power to pursue websites that host sex-trafficking ads and enables victims and state attorneys general to file lawsuits against those sites.
Human trafficking expert Kimberley Mehlman-Orozco argues the commercial sex trade will move to dark corners of the web, making it harder for authorities to catch traffickers and rescue victims.
Privacy advocates say California’s Supreme Court justices put citizens’ most personal info at risk when they rejected an appeal last Monday to strike down a law requiring all arrested individuals to provide DNA samples. Supporters of the ruling say concerns about the law, similar to statutes now in effect in 30 states, are overblown.
Who’s responsible for reporting sexual abuse? A new federal law clears up the ambiguity that let sports bodies sidestep their obligations to protect young athletes from harm—a law that comes too late to protect the victims of gymnastics sports doctor Larry Nassar, writes a Florida sex crimes investigator.
Less than half the rape suspects reported to police end in an arrest, two researchers found in a study of cases investigated by the Los Angeles Police Department and the LA County Sheriff’s Department during 2008. Detectives told the researchers they made arrest decisions based on perceptions about whether the suspect could be successfully prosecuted.
Those accused of sexual harassment and assault often quickly vow to seek professional help for the disorder underlying their behavior. But there are no evidence-based standard treatments for perpetrators of sexual offenses.
A New York pilot program launched by students at John Jay College aims to help college-bound high schoolers and first-year college students deal with the forms of sexual aggression they might encounter on and off campus. The program is an outgrowth of a college course called “Seeing Rape”—the first of its kind in the U.S.
A report names a dozen former educators of Choate Rosemary Hall who allegedly sexually abused students at the boarding school since the 1960s. It graphically recounts the experiences of 24 victims and says school officials failed to report the sexual misconduct to authorities.
Still, with 175 juvenile missing person cases opened each month, Congressional Black Caucus chairman Cedric Richmond and D.C. Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton asked A-G Jeff Sessions and FBI Director James Comey to report on whether the statistics indicate “an underlying trend.”
Forty-two people convicted of rape in Massachusetts in recent years have received no prison time, including several who had long rap sheets.