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Case 1:20-cr-00330-PAE Document 435 Filed 11/11/21 Page6of11 particularly when studying the causes and effects of sexual abuse of minors. The Court agrees with Judge Engelmayer’s response to this argument: The absence of large quantity statistical studies is explained by a practical reason that should be obvious to all. Studying the circumstances and psychological drivers of trafficked women is not like studying diseases or potential cures in laboratory animals. In those studies, laboratory conditions literally can be achieved. ... That strictly quantitative mode of inquiry is not realistic or even ethical in the context of studying sex trafficking. The causes and contributors to sex trafficking by their nature must be studied retrospectively. They cannot ethically be studied otherwise. Subjects cannot be tested to see under what circumstances they would and would not, on a going forward basis, fall prey to the predations of sex traffickers. Given the necessarily retrospective nature of such a study, given the small size of the populations under review, and given the inherently individualized circumstances presented by different perpetrators, victims, and contexts in this tumultuous and emotionally fraught area of criminal conduct, the vocabulary of error rates and statistical significance is an unusually poor fit. Tr. at 29-30, United States v. Randall, 19-Cr.-131 (PAE) (S.D.N.Y. 2020), Dkt. No. 335. For the reasons Judge Engelmayer gave—which Dr. Rocchio echoed in her testimony— the Court finds that the error-rate factor listed by Daubert is not determinative as to the reliability of Dr. Rocchio’s method. For similar reasons, the Court rejects the Defense’s argument that Dr. Rocchio’s method is unreliable because she relied on the reports of her clients. Given the realities of studying sensitive criminal acts like sexual abuse, a researcher can only rarely verify reports with absolute certainty. Yet that does not mean a clinical or forensic psychologist accepts all statements at face value. Rather, as the Government notes, part of Dr. Rocchio’s profession is to examine and diagnose her patients consistent with her significant training and specialized knowledge. Further, on the forensic side of her practice, Dr. Rocchio regularly investigates and verifies sexual abuse. She reports “remarkable consistency” between the reports of her clinical patients DOJ-OGR-00006347