Prosecuting pimps under RICO: the story of the nation's first federal prosecutor to fight child prostitution through organized crime laws.

THE DOMESTIC PROSTITUTION of children has become a high profile subject in the media, in state legislatures and among advocacy groups. With online sites such as Craigslist and Backpage recently coming under fire as key facilitators in the sex trade industry, individuals are now taking notice of an issue once perceived as mostly an international dilemma. As a result, many states--most recently Texas'--have turned attention to the domestic victims of these crimes, changing law to reflect a child's status as a victim--not a criminal or a prostitute.

Indeed, the adults who torment and sell young girls have also seen a change in the way courts view their crimes. For example:

* California, 2010: A man was sentenced to 10 years for Interstate Transportation of a Minor for Sex, to be served concurrently with the 51-year sentence he is currently serving for murder. His victim was a 15-year-old runaway from Montana, who he offered as a prostitute on Craigslist.

* Oregon, 2010: A Seattle resident was sentenced to nearly 15 years in prison after pleading guilty in March to Sex Trafficking of a Minor. He forced a 15-year-old to post ads on Craigslist and drove her to "meetings" in the fall of 2008.

* Michigan, 2009: A man was found guilty on eight counts of child prostitution and child pornography and sentenced to 35 years in prison. He was also charged with Running a Child Exploitation Enterprise. This was the first conviction nationwide under the Adam Walsh Act, created by Congress in 2006. He forced the victims to list themselves "on craigslist.org and other Internet websites."

The path to pimping prosecution has not always been an easy one to tread, however. From 1997-2001 in Atlanta, the prostitution of children was on the rise on the streets and through escort services. Under state law, pimping was only a misdemeanor offense; yet, stories of the abuse suffered by girls and women at the hands of pimps permeated the media and fueled advocacy groups to fight for change.

At that time, Assistant U.S. Attorney Janis C. Gordon (now Judge Janis C. Gordon, State Court Judge, Dekalb County, Georgia) was no stranger to criminal prosecution. During her 20 years as an assistant U.S. attorney in the U.S. Attorney's Office in Atlanta, she prosecuted various cases involving violent crimes and drug conspiracies and eventually became a member of the Organized Crime Strike Force.

When U.S. Attorney Richard Deane came to her in 1999 in frustration and asked if, as...