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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE : Wednesday, July 24, 2013CONTACT: Sara Rabern (605)773-3215

Attorney General Jackley Leads Effort Asking Congress to Fight Prostitution and Child Sex

Trafficking by Amending Federal Law

PIERRE, S.D - Attorney General Marty Jackley today joined a bi-partisan national coalition of 47Attorneys General and 2 Territory Attorneys General calling on Congress to amend the law to help fightprostitution and child sex trafficking. In a letter to key members of Congress, the Attorneys Generaladvocated that Congress amend the Communications Decency Act to provide criminal jurisdiction to state

and local prosecutors. The letters lead sponsors were Attorneys General from the states of Missouri,South Dakota and Washington.

The Communications Decency Act of 1996 was drafted when the internet was in its infancy. The originalpurpose of the Act was to protect children from accessing indecent material online, but courts haveinterpreted certain provisions of the Act to provide immunity from State prosecution to online classifiedad sites, such as Backpage.com, that promote and profit from human trafficking.

Prostitution is a local crime. Absent interstate travel, federal property, or the involvement of a minor,prostitution is not a federal crime. While the Communications Decency Act provides criminal authorityto the federal government, the Attorneys General believe that criminal jurisdiction needs to be extended to

help combat these crimes.

"Sex trafficking and the victimization of children has moved on-line. Forty Nine State Attorneys Generalhave come together to request the federal government to give state and local prosecutors the tools to moreeffectively address the intentional and for profit victimization of women and children, said Jackley.

Prostitution and sex offenses continue to rise in South Dakota. There were 20 prostitution offenses in2012, up from 13 in 2011. In addition there were 132 sex offenses in 2011 and 144 in 2012.

Revenue from online prostitution advertising has steadily increased over the past several years, but evenmore steadily over the past year according to Aim Group. Backpage.com, for example generated an

estimated $3 million to $4 million per month in revenue.

The NAAG letter can be found here:http://atg.sd.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Y7PTCmSM8NA%3d&tabid=442

http://atg.sd.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Y7PTCmSM8NA%3d&tabid=442http://atg.sd.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Y7PTCmSM8NA%3d&tabid=442http://atg.sd.gov/LinkClick.aspx?fileticket=Y7PTCmSM8NA%3d&tabid=442

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