Op-Ed by California State Senator Connie M. Leyva and Legal Momentum Senior Staff Attorney Jennifer Becker Over the past several months, a loud national conversation has been taking place about sexual harassment and assault — in Hollywood, in business, the judiciary, and in the halls of Congress and state legislatures. The conduct revealed is not new and all stems from the same root cause — abuse of power.

NEW YORK, Oct 17 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The torrent of stories of sexual harassment and assault in the wake of claims about Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein could help propel campaigns to make sextortion illegal, according to activists trying to change laws in the United States.Sextortion - a form of extortion that involves sexual acts or images as its currency - is not recognized by criminal laws in many U.S. states and victims often have little or no recourse, experts say.

On Monday September 26, 27-year-old Kelvin Acosta of the Bronx pleaded guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child. Acosta used the internet to prey on young girls—one as young as 13. Acosta first made contact with his victims using Facebook, where he tricked them into revealing personal information. Using that information, he hacked his victims’ email accounts and told them he had their sex videos or nude photographs. He then told his teen victims that unless they created pornography for him or gave him money, he would send the images to their families, friends, and schools.

This report describes the problem of sextortion, highlights the gaps in the law that allow perpetrators to escape accountability, and proposes simple legislative solutions.