For over 40 years, Patrick Trueman has shown dedicated and imaginative leadership in working to protect children, families, and society from the immense harms of pornography, sexual abuse and trafficking. Pat’s unique legal experience involves both federal prosecution and civil litigation – including cases before the U.S. Supreme Court -- as well as a passion for justice have made him a strong force for good in this difficult but critical fight for human dignity and flourishing. 

Starting at the U.S. Department of Justice in the 1980s, Trueman served as the Chief of Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section in the Department’s Criminal Division, overseeing the prosecution of child sex crimes, child pornography and obscenity. In this capacity, Trueman became convinced of two truths which set his professional course in motion. First, he saw that if left unchecked, the production and widespread dissemination of child pornography and obscenity would threaten the social and emotional norms that form the very basis for healthy individuals, marriages, and families; what was circulating was far from the “victimless crime” that some wanted to portray. Second, the fight against trafficking and pornography COULD be won - if we marshal the right forces against it. At the DOJ, Trueman’s team developed a novel nationwide strategy to go after the major producers and distributors of pornography by teaming with the 93 United States Attorneys across the nation. Together, they successfully prosecuted child pornography, obscenity and sex trafficking crimes using legal tools and approaches that had never been done before. The results – putting a number of major pornography cartels out of business – is a credit to his leadership.

Moving ahead to 2010, Pat became president and CEO of the national organization Morality in Media, later renamed National Center on Sexual Exploitation (NCOSE). Much as he did at the Department of Justice, Trueman expanded and directed NCOSE into an organization that would combat sexual exploitation like no other in our country’s history. This organization addresses all forms of sexual exploitation, with a laser focus on the ever expanding and unregulated on-line world of child sexual abuse material, obscenity, and human trafficking.

In 2013, Pat and his team developed a campaign for holding business entities accountable for sexual exploitation by launching the “Dirty Dozen List,” which continues to result in major changes. For example, Google turned pornography-blocking software to the “On Mode” in their Chromebooks which they distribute to school children across the globe. Other significant changes from global business entities like TikTok, SnapChat, Amazon, United Airlines, Visa and hotel conglomerates have all come about because they don’t want to be identified on the “Dirty Dozen List.”

In 2014, NCOSE realized the power in harnessing hundreds of advocates in this fight, launching the Coalition to End Sexual Exploitation Global Summit. Today, under a loose-knit coalition, there are over 500 multi-disciplined organizations working together with NCOSE, throughout the world. They collaborate, share resources and strategies to end sexual abuse and exploitation.

Bringing the fight into the legal arena, Pat visualized adding a national law center to NCOSE, focusing on civil litigation and justice for survivors of sexual abuse and exploitation. It operates with one end goal - to take down the pornography and sex trafficking industries. The NCOSE Law Center opened its doors in 2016 and is now involved in numerous ground-breaking and high-profile cases throughout the United States. 

Under Pat’s leadership and working alongside NCOSE’s outstanding CEO, Dawn Hawkins and a diversity of talented board and staff, the organization has grown tremendously, providing excellent resources for research, civil litigation, advocacy, legislative policy and training. 

Throughout these last 13 years, individuals and foundations have put their trust and support in NCOSE by providing the funding to develop a Law Center, Policy Center, Research Center, Corporate Advocacy and International Center. They support NCOSE because of the organization’s strong leaders, trustworthy relationships, and its’ proven track record holding to account the wide web of individuals and corporate bad actors whose actions -- and inactions -- allow pornography and trafficking to threaten our social fabric. As we continue to grow and strategically expand, NCOSE’s next phase is to develop an all-encompassing parents’ center to provide more excellent resources to help protect families from sexual exploitation.