LAW 517 - Technology & Crimes Against Children

Prerequisite(s): Drug trafficking and arms dealing have long-standing unrivaled histories at the top of the list of criminal enterprises worldwide. Unfortunately, human trafficking has exploded up the ranks in recent years, threatening to rapidly surpass these two industries. Sexual crimes against children are a major component of the human trafficking underworld – production and distribution of child pornography, coercion and enticement of children, “sextortion” and “sexploitation,” and the sex trafficking of minors. These crimes are some of the fastest-growing in the United States and are more prevalent than most want to acknowledge. Behind this meteoric rise in crimes against children lies emerging technologies used in a myriad of ways to help facilitate production, disseminate product, and conceal conduct. This course will examine the ways in which social media, filters, deepfakes, A.I., encryption, and anonymity and anti-forensic software are used by child predators and how such tools and practices are changing the legal landscape of this criminal practice area.