The recruitment, transport, transfer, harboring or receipt of a minor for the purpose of commercial sexual exploitation, recognized under international and national law as a distinct and aggravated form of human trafficking in which, unlike trafficking involving an adult victim, proof of force, fraud or coercion is not required because a minor is legally deemed incapable of consenting to commercial sexual activity. The United States Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000 and the United Nations Palermo Protocol both codify this distinction, and documented forms include exploitation by a family member, a coercive intimate partner posing as a boyfriend, or an organized trafficking network, with international bodies including the International Labour Organization and UNICEF identifying child sex trafficking as a significant and likely underreported component of the wider commercial sexual exploitation of children worldwide.
Facts
Classification Code Typical PenaltyFine and imprisonment for not less than 10 years or for life where the victim is a minor aged 14 to 17 1 Elements of OffenseKnowingly recruiting, enticing, harboring, transporting, providing, obtaining, advertising, maintaining, patronizing, or soliciting a person to engage in a commercial sex act 1 Classification
Offense GradeSerious or Indictable Offense 1 Connections
Associated With
Source Wikipedia: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Has Offense Grade
Entity-backed identity for the offense-grade enum value this offense already carries, resolved to a crime concept by an explicit value-to-entity map (phase 3 bucket conversion, docs\design_entity_backed_browse_buckets_20260928.md). The offense-grade fact itself stays on the offense unchanged.
Sources
1. 18 U.S. Code 1591, Sex trafficking of children or by force, fraud, or coercion (Cornell LII)
Section title
Sex trafficking of children or by force, fraud, or coercion
Penalty clause, victim aged 14 to 17
imprisonment for not less than 10 years or for life
Subsection (a)
recruits, entices, harbors, transports, provides, obtains, advertises, maintains, patronizes, or solicits by any means a person
View the SourceWikipedia: National Center for Missing and Exploited Children
Associated With: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, CyberTipline sectionQuote, Associated With: National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, CyberTipline section
The NCMEC operates the CyberTipline which was established by Congress to process reports of child sexual exploitation (including sexual abuse, online enticement, and contact offenses).
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