(The Conversation is an independent and nonprofit source of news, analysis and commentary from academic experts.)

Author: Kate Price , Wellesley College

Congress on Nov. 18, 2025, passed legislation that calls on the Justice Department to release records related to Jeffrey Epstein , the late convicted sex offender. Those records on the federal investigation of Epstein and his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell , have brought renewed attention to sex trafficking. Alfonso Serrano, a politics editor at The Conversation, spoke with Kate Price, an associate research scientist at the Wellesley Centers for Women at Wellesley College, where she studies child sexual exploitation and child sex trafficking policy.

What is child sex trafficking and how does it differ from other kinds of traffi

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