Cases
These databases all contain court opinions, also known as case law. You can find decisions relevant to your topic by using relevant keywords to conduct both basic and advanced searches. For additional databases, consult the Law Library's A-Z Databases List. Some useful keywords are: sex trafficking, prostitution, sex industry, sex workers, FOSTA-SESTA, and legislation.
- Bloomberg Law This link opens in a new windowBloomberg Law includes court dockets, secondary sources, news sources, and practice materials.
- Fastcase This link opens in a new windowFull text of state and federal primary legal materials, including statutes, cases, regulations, and court rules.
- Justia This link opens in a new windowJustiaprovides free case law, codes, regulations and legal information for lawyers, business, students and consumers world wide
- LexisNexis This link opens in a new windowLexisAdvance Research contains primary and secondary sources, including cases, law reviews and journals, news articles, international materials, legislation, and regulations.
- United States Courts (.gov) This link opens in a new windowThe official website of the federal judiciary, uscourts.gov contains forms, judicial news, reports, and statistics related to federal courts.
- Westlaw This link opens in a new windowNews, case opinions, secondary sources, legislation, administrative law, and law review articles are available on Westlaw.
Data and Statistics
Data and statistics can be useful for supporting arguments by providing concrete and primary source evidence. The following websites are rich sources of information.
- Bureau of Justice Statistics (.gov) This link opens in a new windowUS Department of Justice information on crime, criminal offenders, victims of crime, and the operation of justice systems at all levels of government.
- Center for Disease ControlThe CDC produces many statistics on a variety of topics, including reproductive health, STDs, and injuries & violence.
- Human Rights Watch Publications This link opens in a new windowHuman Rights Watch is an NGO that produces authoritative and well-documented reports, many of which contain references to other primary sources, data, and statistics, on human rights-related matters.
Legislative Resources
Legislative documents are comprised of a wide range of reports, laws, and hearings. Check out the sources listed below for statutes, legislative histories, and more.
- Allow States and Victims to Fight Online Sex Trafficking Act of 2017The Public Law version of FOSTA that was signed into law in April 2018.
- Congress (.gov) This link opens in a new windowPresented by the Library of Congress, Congress.gov is the official website for U.S. federal legislative information.
- Proquest Congressional This link opens in a new windowThis is the one stop shopping for modern legislative history indexing and documents. This is the online version of the print indexes, CIS indexing and abstracting of congressional publications, and the CIS Legislative Histories (1970-present). It also includes electronic full text of selected congressional reports, documents, prints, bills and the Congressional Record; prepared statements and selected question and answer transcripts from committee hearings (1988-present); full text hearings (1824 to present); bill tracking reports that follow bills through Congress and the text of bills; public laws and the United States Code Service; the Federal Register and the Code of Federal Regulations; biographical and financial information and voting records of members; rosters, charters and schedules for committees and subcommittees. Lastly, this database also includes access to newspapers (Roll Call, Washington Post, The Hill) that follow political news.
- Stop Advertising Victims of Exploitation Act of 2015 : report together with dissenting views (to accompany H.R. 285) (including cost estimate of the Congressional Budget Office).U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary report that accompanied FOSTA-SESTA.
NGOs
Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) often publish reports and studies about a wide variety of topics, including human rights and criminal justice matters. Check out the NGOs listed below for resources related to sex trafficking, the sex work industry, and the law.
- Amnesty InternationalAmnesty International focuses on a variety of human rights issues, including international justice, the United Nations, and sexual and reproductive rights.
- Global Network of Sex Work Projects"The Global Network of Sex Work Projects (NSWP) exists to uphold the voice of sex workers globally and connect regional networks advocating for the rights of female, male, and transgender sex workers."
- Human Rights WatchHuman Rights Watch publishes a large number of annual reports. Some relevant topics are: children's rights, health, international justice, LGBT rights, the United Nations, and women's rights.