CHARLESTON —West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey backed federal legislation aimed at combating online sex trafficking as part of his broader focus on better identifying and ending human trafficking in the Mountain State.
Morrisey commended President Trump for his recent signing of the legislation – Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017 (FOSTA).
“This legislation promises to ensure citizens and children across the country are effectively protected from sex trafficking,” Morrisey said in a statement. “It is my belief that states, localities and territories must retain authority to investigate and prosecute facilitators of child sex trafficking wherever they operate, including online.”
Morrisey joined a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general last year in calling upon Congress to address concerns that the Communications Decency Act (CDA) was being used as a shield by those who profit from prostitution and crimes against children.
The intention of the CDA is to protect children from indecent material online. It was never intended to place facilitators of child sex trafficking outside the reach of law enforcement.
FOSTA amends the CDA to hold accountable online classified ad sites that promote and profit from human trafficking.
FOSTA enables prosecution of such websites, themselves. In particular, sites that knowingly feature sex ads for trafficked — and frequently, underage — persons can now be prosecuted due to reforms brought by FOSTA.
In some cases, courts had previously interpreted certain provisions of the CDA to provide immunity from state prosecution to sites such as the now shuttered Backpage.com.
Human trafficking is defined as commercial sex or labor that is induced by force, fraud or coercion. It is considered the fastest growing and second largest criminal industry in the world today, second only to drug trafficking according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
The West Virginia Attorney General’s Office offers training to law enforcement officers and others on fighting human trafficking. West Virginia’s increased rate of drug addiction, poverty and its large number of children in foster care make the state especially susceptible to human trafficking, the AG's office says.
