Under federal and state law, those convicted of child sex trafficking are required to provide restitution — financial compensation — to their victims.
Federal law also requires restitution be paid to victims of child pornography.
A Dallas Morning News investigation reveals that rarely happens.
Here is a look at some of the key statistics featured in that investigation:
• Only eight federal judicial districts in the nation had a restitution rate of over 50% for child sex trafficking victims from 2015 to 2024.
• The top three were the Middle District of Alabama, based in Montgomery (83%); the Northern District of Illinois, based in Chicago (77%); and a tie between the Northern District of California, based in San Francisco, and the Southern District of Indiana, based in Indianapolis (75%).
• From 2015 to 2024, federal judges in North Texas cited “not applicable” 80% of the time as the reason they did not order restitution in child sex trafficking cases; “victim declined participation” in 13% of cases; and “losses not ascertainable” in 3% of cases.
• Federal sexual abuse offenses have jumped 62% nationwide since 2020.
• The number of people prosecuted for human trafficking in the U.S. more than doubled between 2012 and 2022 — from 805 to 1,656 people.
• In 2019, victims were 12 years old or younger in 83% of child pornography production cases.
• Less than 1% of all payments from the Texas Crime Victims’ Compensation fund went to human trafficking victims from 2021 to 2025.
• About 0.03% of all payments from the Texas Crime Victims’ Compensation fund went to child pornography victims from 2021 to 2025.
Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission, Texas Attorney General, U.S. Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Dallas Morning News statistical analysis